Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd said in recent days about 10% of global hash power went offline, coinciding with a slide in network difficulty to 125.86 T. On Nov. 11, difficulty was 155.97 T. A Bloomberg report adds that hash price has fallen to roughly 3 cents per terahash, pressuring miners' margins.

XRP spot exchange-traded funds registered $45 million of net inflows over the past week while Bitcoin and Ethereum products collectively lost $229 million. On Feb. 6, XRP funds drew $39.04 million in a single day, helping push total historical net inflows above $1.22 billion and lifting total net assets to $1.04 billion, or about 1.17% of XRP's market cap. Despite XRP's price plunging to roughly 70% below its peak before rebounding to $1.42, its ETFs attracted institutional buyers who viewed the volatility as a discounted entry.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says the latest crypto slump differs from past cycles, invoking a "Fimbulwinter" and arguing that politics eroded the ideological base that once supported Bitcoin. He adds that Bitcoin has trailed gold and may not be a lasting asset. Bitcoin touched $60,255, a low since October 2024, before rebounding.

Bitwise advisor Jeff Park has argued that Bitcoin’s sharp fall to an intraday low of $60,255 was largely driven by institutional risk management and hedge fund deleveraging. He says multi-strategy funds holding Bitcoin ETFs were forced to unwind positions as volatility and margin pressures rose, triggering aggressive selling. Park adds that implied volatility reaching 75% marks a stress point but may ultimately clear leverage ahead of a potential rapid rebound.

On Thursday, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse responded to a sharp single-day XRP decline by sharing a Warren Buffett quote urging investors to be "greedy when others are fearful." XRP is now trading about 70% below its all-time high of $3.65 and is close to slipping behind Circle's USDC by market capitalization. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index dropped to 9 on Friday, a level seen only during the March 2020 crash and the 2018 and 2022 bear market lows.

Michael Burry, known for his "Big Short" bet, has argued that Bitcoin has failed as a safe-haven asset and outlined three price thresholds that could intensify stress across the crypto sector. He warns that drops below $70,000, $60,000 and $50,000 would respectively inflict heavy losses, trigger an existential crisis for Michael Saylor's firm Strategy, and potentially fracture the wider digital asset ecosystem. Bitcoin briefly fell to an intraday low of $73,111 on Tuesday before rebounding.

In February 2026, economist Nouriel Roubini, known as "Dr. Doom," predicted an impending "apocalypse" for the cryptocurrency sector and argued that a strongly pro-crypto administration has failed to rescue the market. He highlighted Bitcoin's 35% drop from its October high and its 6% decline during a period when gold prices jumped over 60%, claiming crypto offers little utility beyond crime and corruption and that stablecoins are its only notable application so far.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said in a Bloomberg interview he does not think "quantum computing fears" explain Bitcoin's drop below $74,000, the first break since November 2024. He attributed the move to a "seller's virus" and noted prices are set at the margin, with more sellers than buyers.

On Tuesday, Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee defended Ethereum-focused treasury firm BitMine (BMNR) after critics highlighted about $6.6 billion in unrealized losses from its ETH holdings. Lee argued that the drawdown reflects how an asset-tracking vehicle works and dismissed claims that BitMine served as "exit liquidity" for large Ethereum holders.