Why Is Bitcoin Down? Bitwise CIO Says The Real Reason Is 'Boring,' Crypto Spring Still Ahead

• Bitcoin’s price climbed back over $68,000 on Friday morning, still down 0.2% in the last 24 hours. 
• According to Matt Hougan, Jane Street, Wintermute, or Binance are not the reason why Bitcoin’s price is down – it’s because of retail traders who sold, or were forced to sell their BTC.
• He said the market is currently in a “classic crypto winter,” and that a “classic crypto spring” will follow.

Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer at Bitwise, said on Thursday that the ‘real reason’ Bitcoin (BTC) is down is not Binance, Wintermute, or Jane Street. It’s because too many traders who were long Bitcoin sold their BTC exposure.

“They sold it via spot, they sold it by unwinding leveraged positions, and they sold it by writing calls against their Bitcoin,” he wrote in a  post on X. “They sold because of the four-year cycle and because of quantum fears and because they wanted to invest in AI start-ups and for other reasons.”

Bitcoin’s price climbed back over $68,000 on Friday morning, down just 0.2% in the last 24 hours. Retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency on Stocktwits dipped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bullish’ over the past day. 

Bitcoin Bottom Followed By Crypto Spring Ahead

According to him, the good news is that Bitcoin’s price and the cryptocurrency market are currently bottoming, with most traders who were selling done. He also reiterated that new all-time highs are in Bitcoin’s future. According to a Stocktwits poll, if Bitcoin’s price were to drop another 20% tomorrow, most retail traders are ready to buy the dip. 

This is a classic crypto winter, and there will be a classic crypto spring.  People want someone to blame — I get it — but the reality is far more boring than that.

– Matt House, Chief Investment Officer, Bitwise

According to Jeff Park, the chief investment officer at ProCap and advisor at BitWise, Jane Street should not be held accountable as the sole “villain” in manipulating Bitcoin’s price when the entire system is broken. “The more important question is not whether a particular firm is the villain. It is whether a regulatory framework designed for traditional ETFs is appropriate for an asset whose core value proposition is independence from the financial institutions now tasked with intermediating it,” he wrote in a note.

What Is Retail Saying?

‘Jane Street Woes’ was among the top trending conversation topics around Bitcoin on Stocktwits.

Many users agreed with Park’s analysis that the system was rigged to give players like BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard power over Bitcoin’s price.

Bitcoin’s price is down more than 46% since reaching its all-time high of $126,000 in October. So far this year, the apex cryptocurrency has fallen around 25%. 

Read also: MARA Stock Surges Despite Deep Quarterly Loss – ‘No Longer Simply A Bitcoin Miner’ Says CEO

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