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The Chief Investment Officer of the American management firm Bitwise, Matt Hougan, has urged against panic in light of the cryptocurrency market decline, asserting that the crypto winter of 2026 is not more daunting than those experienced in 2018 and 2022.
In 2018, Bitcoin was trading at $3,000, and the Ethereum network, referred to as the “global computer,” had limited throughput, the executive recalled. The year 2022 also proved to be bleak for the crypto market: the bearish trend was triggered by the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and the token LUNA, leading to the bankruptcy of major crypto lenders Celsius and Voyager, as well as the downfall of the hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, which held assets in TerraUSD/LUNA.
The peak of the previous crypto winter was marked by the collapse of the FTX exchange in November 2022. In March 2024, a New York court sentenced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison, finding him guilty of misappropriating client funds for speculative investments in the affiliated company Alameda Research.
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According to Hougan, the current state of the cryptocurrency market is entirely different. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has reached $2.3 trillion. Legislation surrounding cryptocurrencies is becoming more favorable: last year, the U.S. introduced a law regulating the issuance and circulation of stablecoins called GENIUS, while the European Union implemented the Regulation on the Regulation of Cryptocurrencies (MiCA). This regulation requires crypto companies operating in the EU to possess a license, maintain reserves backed at a 1:1 ratio, provide reports to regulators, and inform investors about the risks associated with digital asset investments.
Hougan mentioned investment firms BlackRock and Apollo, which have entered the decentralized finance (DeFi) market, as well as the emergence of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), something that major investors could only dream of a few years ago.
“Yes, I am optimistic about the crypto market. This does not mean that everything will be smooth, but I am looking forward to a new surge,” Hougan stated.
Recently, the Bitwise executive noted that despite the proliferation of digital assets, the current state of the crypto market is not merely a short-term price correction but a full-fledged crypto winter.
