Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, argues that a major downturn in much of the crypto market played out last year even while leading coins looked more resilient. He highlights strong ETF and corporate demand that absorbed new Bitcoin supply and compares this pattern to gold, while expecting the next cycle to favor altcoin projects with real usage as Bitcoin trades around the 60,000–65,000 range before rebounding above 65,000.

Bitcoin slid to $65,000 in a single trading session, erasing a chunk of recent gains and pushing many recent buyers into loss. On February 5, 2026, Glassnode said its capitulation gauge posted the second-largest spike in two years, with realized losses nearing $890 million a day on a seven-day average and liquidations clustering into a roughly 10-hour window.

Polygon finished the fourth quarter of 2025 with a sharp rise in on-chain usage, led by payments, stablecoin flows, and tokenized real-world assets. The network handled about $3.50 billion in payment transfers and nearly $363 million via ten Mastercard and Visa card programs, while RWAs approached $1.10 billion and stablecoin supply neared 3 billion. MATIC's price, however, remained range-bound despite higher activity and a 44% increase in average daily DEX volume.

Bitwise projects Bitcoin could set a new all‑time high in 2026, with a longer‑term possibility of $1,000,000 over the next decade. Ryan Rasmussen says spot Bitcoin ETFs and major brokerages are opening access for pension funds, endowments, and managers, with reports indicating potential inflows in the tens of billions during 2026.

Bitcoin extended its decline, briefly trading near the low $75,000 area before stabilizing. According to market feeds, order books show thicker buy interest clustered from about $71,500 down toward $64,000, and liquidations in the millions have amplified the slide. Joe Burnett said a roughly 45% drawdown would still align with historical norms amid wider risk-off pressure.

Bitcoin fell to a year-to-date low of $74,500 on Monday, trimming roughly 38% from its peak. Global crypto exchange-traded products logged heavy withdrawals last week led by large US spot ETFs, while spot market data showed aggressive buying as price rebounded toward about $79,420.

Over the last two weeks, US spot bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $3 billion in redemptions, according to Coinglass, as BTC fell from about $84,000 to $74,600 over the weekend into Monday. With combined ETF assets near $113 billion and holdings around 1.28 million BTC, the average cost basis is roughly $87,830, leaving many positions below water.

According to commentary on X, gold's market capitalization jumped by about $2.2 trillion in a single trading session, briefly lifting its valuation far above major crypto assets. That one-day gain was nearly 20 times XRP's roughly $103 billion market cap and even exceeded Bitcoin's value near $1.77 trillion, underscoring how small percentage moves in huge markets translate into outsized dollar changes. Traders argued the headline figures can be misleading, while scenario analysis showed how dramatically XRP and Bitcoin prices would differ if they matched recent percentage moves in gold and silver.

Vitalik Buterin has reportedly moved 16,384 ETH from his personal holdings, valued at around $45 million, to support privacy-focused and open technology initiatives. The funds are earmarked for areas such as open silicon, secure hardware, private messaging, local-first operating systems, and tools combining zero-knowledge proofs with other privacy techniques, while the Ethereum Foundation enters a five-year period of mild austerity.