Crypto’s long-term fundamentals strong despite market rout — Bitwise CEO

The crypto market’s long-term fundamentals look promising, despite the shakeup in October and November that has left asset prices down and investor sentiment to crater, according to Hunter Horsley, CEO of investment firm Bitwise.

Horsley said the four-year market cycle is dead, replaced by a more mature market structure and changed dynamics due to the pro-crypto regulatory pivot in the US. He said in a Friday X post:

“Since the launch of the Bitcoin ETFs and new administration, we’ve entered a new market structure: new players, new dynamics, new reasons people buy and sell. 

I think there’s a pretty good chance that we’ve been in a bear market for almost 6 months now and are almost through it. The setup for crypto right now has never been stronger,” Horsely added.

His comments offer a contrarian view to crypto investor sentiment, which dropped to its lowest level since February, as asset prices remain well below 2024 highs and fear grips the market.

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Sentiment craters to “extreme fear” as analysts project where prices are headed

The “Crypto Fear and Greed Index,” a metric that gauges investor sentiment, is at 16 at the time of this writing, signaling “extreme fear,” according to CoinMarketCap.

Market analyst and CoinBureau founder Nuc Puckrin said that despite the 25% dip being the lowest correction-level drop during this cycle, compared to previous dips over 30%, investor sentiment has still cratered.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a six-month low of $94,590 on Friday, prompting analyst projections of further downside to the $86,000 level.

Investor and financial educator Robert Kiyosaki blamed the crypto market downturn on low liquidity levels and said that crypto and precious metal prices will rise once the government resorts to printing more money to finance budget deficits.

Liquidity tends to drive asset prices; high liquidity from low interest rates and the expansion of the money supply drives prices up, and lower liquidity and constrained credit tend to lower asset prices or cause markets to stagnate.

Although the United States Federal Reserve has started slashing interest rates, only about 44% of traders forecast a rate cut in December, according to data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

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