The cryptocurrency market has faced a significant slump since its launch in 2025, and some investors have called it the most painful cycle in history.
Some were disappointed by the change in industry policy and the US Memocoin fad, while others speculated about the talent to leave the sector for other industries.
But while the current crypto market situation may seem harsh to some, the current cycle is not the most brutal on record, and many community members remain bullish.
“For those who have gone through multiple cycles, this is just part of the process,” Trezor analyst Lucien Bourdon told Cointelegraph.
Inauguration ceremony sale after Trump
The current decline in the Crypto market is largely attributed to optimism over Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election after Bitcoin (BTC) hit an all-time high of over $106,000 in December 2024.
Many were optimistic, but some investors, including Bitmex co-founder Arthur Hayes, accurately predicted the crypto sales after Trump took office on January 20th.
Bitcoin price chart starting in October 2024. Source: Coingecko
Since then, Bitcoin has fallen over 18%, with the total crypto market capitalization down 25%, eliminating almost all profits arising from Trump’s election victory.
In the post-Trump inauguration sales, investors dropped around $4.6 billion from crypto exchange products by March 7, but spot markets had liquidated at least $1 billion on the day of March 3.
What was the most brutal crypto sale in history?
However, the latest sales are not the worst on record. “If you’re talking about the worst Bitcoin cycle, 2014-2015 was probably the cruelest,” Tresor’s Bourdon told Cointelegraph.
Seeing the collapse of the Gox Crypto Exchange mountain, which suffered 850,000 BTC losses in 2024 for security breaches, analysts highlighted the event as the worst Bitcoin sale on record.
Bitcoin price chart for the period from July 2013 to July 2016. Source: Coingecko
“Gox Mots Collapse wiped out 70% of Bitcoin’s trading volume, resulting in an 85% drawdown in a market with no institutional support and much less liquidity,” Bourdon said.
More than just a price drop
According to Brett Reeves, Bitgo’s European sales manager, the current market “are often just falling.”
In addition to the larger price drops in the past, Reeves highlighted notable advances in global crypto products and regulations. This points to the increasingly essential crypto assets in the international financial system. He said:
“Prices may be crashing for now, but we need to remember how close we’ve come to a space of short time and how much potential this space has in the future.”
Contrary to cryptography doubts and pessimists, some industry executives even view the current market cycle as a bullish market.
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“I actually think it’s the best,” Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, told Cointelegraph, adding:
“What distinguishes this Bull Market from the previous Cryptobull implementation is that it is the first time that prices have risen over time without the abundant money print. This pullback is a short-term pain and allows for long-term profits.”
According to Crypto analyst Miles Deutscher, terms like “bullet market,” “bare market,” “cycle,” or “altseason” are not suitable for current market conditions either.
Source: Miles German
“This is a different market now,” he said in a March 13th X post.
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