Bitwise CIO Sounds Alarm on Prolonged Crypto Winter
The crypto market is currently going through a tough phase, and according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, it may be worse than many expect. Hougan noted that the current downturn is not a short-term pullback but a full-scale crypto winter.
In a memo for clients, Hougan pointed to sharp losses across major digital assets as evidence of major digital assets as evidence of deeper market weakness. Many tokens, including Ethereum, have lost almost half of their value. Citing these details, the Bitwise CIO warned that the crypto market remains firmly stuck in the winter.
A Full-Blown Crypto Winter is Here: Bitwise CIO
Matt Hougan, the Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise, believes that the current market crash should be viewed as a true crypto winter rather than a short-term correction. He addressed it as a full-blown “Leonardo-DiCaprio-in-The-Revenant-style crypto winter.”
According to Hougan’s memo to clients, negative sentiment in the crypto market is so strong now that it signals a long-term bearish trend. Thus, even positive developments fail to lift the digital asset prices. This is evident from the fact that Strategy and BitMine’s crypto purchases haven’t pushed the prices up.
Michael Saylor’s Strategy and Tom Lee’s BitMine have recently bolstered their crypto reserves. Despite significant ETH losses, BitMine purchased nearly $100 million in Ether tokens. Similarly, Strategy bought 855 BTC, although its reserve has seen notable paper losses. Usually, such huge crypto purchases are a strong positive catalyst for the market. However, this time, they haven’t made much difference to the BTC and ETH prices as well as the broader market.
Thus, Bitwise CIO’s words echo the current situation of the market. He noted that fear remains elevated despite supportive factors such as improving regulation and leadership that is more open to Bitcoin.
How Past Crypto Winters Mirror Today
Notably, the Bitwise CIO compared the current cycle to previous crypto winters in 2018 and 2022. These downtrends were fueled by excessive leverage and large-scale profit-taking by early investors. In those periods, adoption milestones and regulatory progress did little to shift the market direction.
Despite positive backdrops, selling pressure continued to dominate the market. Hougan noted that similar conditions are playing out again, making it difficult for prices to recover in the near term. He asked,
“Why is the Crypto Fear and Greed Index near all-time high levels of fear when the new Fed chair is a bitcoin fan? Because we are in a crypto winter.”
As noted by Hougan, crypto winters have historically lasted around 13 months from peak to bottom. According to him, the current crypto market crash likely began earlier than many realize. Although Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $126k in October 2025, underlying weakness emerged as early as January 2025, stated Hougan. He added that this weakness was masked by strong inflows into ETFs and digital asset treasury products. As those supports weaken, the broader impact of the crypto winter has become increasingly visible across the market.
Nonetheless, Hougan stated that the crypto industry is still moving forward behind the scenes. He pointed to progress in areas like regulation, growing institutional interest, the expansion of stablecoins, and the development of tokenisation.
