Bitwise Asset Management\u2019s Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, has stated that the cryptocurrency market has been in a full-blown \u201ccrypto winter\u201d since January 2025.<\/p>\n
The exec said that signs suggest the downturn may be closer to ending than beginning.<\/p>\n
In a recent post titled\u00a0\u201cThe Depths of Crypto Winter,\u201d Hougan\u00a0explained<\/a> that, despite ongoing positive developments in adoption, regulation, and institutional involvement, the market is in a severe bear market<\/span>.<\/p>\n Hougan noted that Bitcoin has fallen almost 39% from its October 2025 all-time high, while Ethereum is down 53%, and many other digital assets are performing even worse. He said this should not be interpreted as a short-term correction or a minor dip, but rather as a deep, drawn-out bear market similar to previous crypto winters, including those in 2018 and 2022. According to him, factors such as excessive leverage and widespread profit-taking by long-term holders contributed to the current downturn.<\/p>\n Despite developments such as a new Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, who is supportive<\/a> of Bitcoin, increasing institutional hiring in crypto, and growing adoption by traditional financial firms, investor sentiment remains deeply wary. Hougan said that \u201cGood news doesn\u2019t matter in the depths of winter,\u201d and added that these severe market conditions typically end not with enthusiasm but through exhaustion and sentiment normalization.<\/p>\n The Bitwise CIO also said that institutional flows played a crucial role in masking the true extent of the 2025 downturn. He cited data from the Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index, which showed that assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP experienced smaller declines, between 10% and 20%, largely due to support from ETFs and Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs).<\/p>\n Other assets, including Solana, Litecoin, and Chainlink, experienced typical bear-market declines of 37% to 46%, while Cardano, Avalanche, Sui, and Polkadot saw losses ranging from 62% to 75%. Hougan explained that institutional access and investment through ETFs and DATs provided a buffer for some assets, while retail-focused tokens bore the brunt of the market downturn.<\/p>\n For instance, ETFs and DATs purchased over 744,000 Bitcoin during the period, representing roughly $75 billion in support. Without that institutional buying, he estimated Bitcoin could have fallen by around 60% since January 2025. As such, several factors could mark the end of the current crypto winter, according to Hougan, who also said,<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re going to come roaring back sooner rather than later. Heck, it\u2019s been winter since January 2025. Spring is surely coming soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The depth of the current downturn is also reflected in Bitcoin\u2019s standing among global assets. As reported by CryptoPotato, Bitcoin has dropped<\/a> out of the top ten assets by market capitalization and now ranks 13th globally, according to CompaniesMarketCap data from February 2.<\/p>\n Its market cap has declined to roughly $1.56 trillion, down from about $2.35 trillion back in July 2025, when it ranked sixth after rallying past $119,000.<\/p>\n The post Crypto Winter Has Been Here Since January 2025, But Recovery May Be Closer Than You Think<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bitwise Asset Management\u2019s Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, has stated that the cryptocurrency market has been in a full-blown \u201ccrypto winter\u201d since January 2025. The exec said that signs suggest the downturn may be closer to ending than beginning. Positive News Isn\u2019t Driving Prices In a recent post titled\u00a0\u201cThe Depths of Crypto Winter,\u201d Hougan\u00a0explained that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":132166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/132166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}BTC\u2019s Global Standing Weakens<\/h2>\n