Over the previous two years, a boom in crypto prices minted a generation of millionaires and billionaires. Some industry executives and even regular investors acquired extraordinary wealth out of cryptocurrency trading.

But of late, the crypto market has crashed. Last week, central bank interest rates tightening reports, inflation concerns, and the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its LUNA token, helped ignite a wider meltdown, plunging Bitcoin price and wiping $300 billion in value from the wider crypto economy. The recent crypto market crisis has not only hurt investors but also erased billions of dollars from their fortunes.

Lost opportunities

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is one of the heavyweight investors who faced the wrath. After Ethereum's price surpassed $3,000 and hit a high of over $4,800 in November last year, Vitalik possessed a digital wallet whose ETH contents were valued at about $1.5 billion.

But on Friday last week, Buterin revealed on social media that he is no longer a billionaire. Due to the ongoing market sell-off, Ether has lost 60 % of its value, trading at around $2,028 during the intraday on Monday Asia section, according to Coinmarketcap.

Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance - the world's largest crypto exchange - also has seen more than $80 billion, or 84% of his wealth, evaporate this year.

A few days ago, Mr. Zhao tweeted that Luna’s collapse made him “poor again” after losing billions of dollars in crypto following a market crash, which has wiped out the fortunes of several investors.

On Monday last week, Zhao mentioned that Binance held 15 million Luna tokens. In early April, Binance's Luna holdings were worth $1.6 billion when the token hit its peak price. But its recent crash saw that value fall to about $2,200 the previous week.

Managing a down cycle

There are many ways for crypto investors to prepare for a market crash. The golden rule of investing in a risky asset class like crypto is to only invest money that an investor can afford to lose. It is advisable to ensure that crypto-only represents a small percentage of overall investments. High-risk investments like cryptocurrency should only make up a small portion of a total portfolio.

There are various ways an investor can calculate how much he or she wants to allocate, depending on their risk tolerance, crypto knowledge, and the degree to which they believe cryptocurrency could outperform stocks. The crucial thing is diversification.

Investing in cryptocurrencies with long-term potential is a great way to guard against panic selling when prices fall. Research can help identify crypto coins with the best chance of long-term survival.