Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

0:00
0:00

The Crypto Bear Market Could Last Two Years, Top Investors Say

Cryptocurrencies are famous for their wild price swings, and in their short history, they’ve gone through multiple cycles of scorching-hot summers followed by frigid, long winters. The last downturn began in early 2018 and lasted about two and a half years.
Over the past three months, with inflation spiking and recession concerns spreading, bitcoin has dropped from a high of $48,000 to roughly $21,000. Today, some top investors think we’re in for another painful, extended period of low prices.

“The next two years are going to be really rough,” says Avichal Garg, a managing partner at Electrical Capital, a crypto investment fund with more than $1 billion in assets. His fundamental views on the industry’s promise haven’t changed. “New software developers are coming in, and we're seeing more and more high-quality founders. We see Web2 executives from Facebook and Google coming in at a faster clip,” he says. But one big factor has backers particularly nervous: “It's the first time that crypto and Web3 has existed in a macroeconomic bear-market environment, where there's potentially a recession happening next year,” Garg says. (Bitcoin was created in early 2009, shortly before the Financial Crisis ended.)

Alex Pack, a managing partner at Hack VC, a $200 million (assets) crypto venture fund, agrees. “One to two years is what everyone is saying ... And that's what we are telling our portfolio companies–make sure you have two years of runway.”

Beyond broader economic worries and the recent collapse of “stable coin” TerraUSD, major doubts have spread about crypto lending platform Celsius. After it recently froze withdrawals, many are questioning its solvency. “Always be skeptical, even in a bull market, when any of these platforms are promising really high interest rates,” says Linda Xie, co-head of crypto fund Scalar Capital. “Sometimes this sounds too good to be true, and that's because it is. There may be a lot of leverage and high-risk activity going on behind the scenes.”

Despite the many reasons for apprehension, crypto investors seem to be more optimistic so far than they were during the last downturn of 2018 to 2019. “There was a genuine worry among many investors and builders that crypto as an asset class wouldn’t come back from its 2017 highs,” Pack says. That fear evaporated in December 2020, when bitcoin topped $20,000. Pack and Xie think the industry is in a stronger place now because there are more cryptocurrency use cases and users. For example, digital art NFTs (nonfungible tokens) have attracted millions of buyers. “Decentralized finance” applications, such as software that lets people earn interest on deposits, have grown steadily, although some have also flamed out in a spectacular fashion.

What needs to happen for prices to bounce back? The stock market needs to recover, some say. “We would need to see equities turn around before real capital flows back to bitcoin,” says Joshua Lim, a managing director and head of derivatives at crypto prime brokerage Genesis. Tarun Chitra, a digital asset investor and the CEO of crypto risk-modeling startup Gauntlet, has a similar view: “I expect crypto and growth equities to continue to be correlated for 12 to 18 months.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×