Bitcoin is floating over the 52-week lows as the cryptocurrency markets continue their bearish stance. But some old market participants, such as Dan Heldgrowth marketing director at crypto exchange Kraken, don’t worry.
Held got into Bitcoin in 2012, which is about 100 years ago in crypto time (because time moves so fast, but it also feels that way, So long in crypto).
“In the early era it was just Bitcoin – there weren’t even there” [alternative] coins, or there were very, very few,” Held said during a fireside conversation with Decrypt’s editor-in-chief Daniel Roberts at CoinMarketCap’s The Capital conference.
While there is much talk of a crypto winter circulating through the community, Held said sentiment for this current market cycle is different. While he – and many others – endured major market cycles over the years, the stories have changed a lot.
“It was mainly retail [investors] until 2019, 2020, when you started bringing in the institutional players,” Held said. we were considered crazy.”
In recent weeks, there has been a major shift in the macro environment of many people who take risk, and crypto markets have slipped into the bearishness of the larger market, Held said. “Crypto is currently considered risk-on, so bitcoin and other crypto assets are being sold as people try to reduce the risk.”
But while there is fear in crypto markets, there is also fear in traditional and technical stocks, Held noted. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down about 15% and 10% respectively for the year so far, MarketWatch showed at time of publication.
Aside from broad indices, there are a number of individual stocks that have also plummeted, including Snapchat and Netflix, both of which are down 68% so far. Well-known video calling app Zoom isn’t zooming in on the leaderboard either, with stock down 42% so far. And yet the talks about fueling traditional stocks are not nearly as aggressive or prominent as the commentary surrounding the movement of crypto markets.
“We definitely see these stories have ebb and flow,” Held said, from people who are extremely risky, leveraged, have peak FOMO or excitement, to reset and hold as markets retreat.
In the bear market of 2018, nearly $700 billion in total market cap was wiped from that year’s peak of about $800 billion, pushing the total value of cryptocurrencies to its low of about $100 billion, according to data on CoinMarketCap.
While approximately $500 billion has been washed out of crypto asset value today as of a year ago date, this bearish market is different from the previous cycle as there are thousands of players across the tech sector looking to get into and build the crypto world. things in the ecosystem, Held said.
“We have VC funds raising tens of billions of dollars to put into this system,” Held said. “I Don’t Think This” [crypto] the winter will be as severe as the others. I think you’ve combined a lot of players with a lot of money and they’re going to find and build products that deliver value.”