I saw this article a littler earlier and I wasn't sure I would read it... the Wall Street Journal is frankly pretty terrible at reporting on anything "crypto" (Bitcoin?) related... but I clicked on it anyways...

It is so bad and misinformed and one-sided why do I even pay for their newspaper? If this is the way they cover things I'm somewhat knowledgeable about...

How do they report everything else?

https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/a-new-crypto-winter-is-here-and-even-the-biggest-bulls-are-worried-82019de4?mod=hp_lead_pos1

Bitcoin just suffered its largest weekly decline in more than three years. But the worst part for some of crypto’s permabulls is that they aren’t sure what exactly caused the crash.

Does it matter?

The selloff left many of the market’s luminaries—those so well-known that they go simply as “Pomp” and “Novo” and “Mooch”—searching for answers.

Who gives a fuck about these fools?

“Bitcoin is crashing and investors are freaking out,” Anthony Pompliano, a crypto evangelist and investor, wrote Friday.

Anyone with half a brain bought more. It's on sale you have it, they don't and that's it!

Bitcoin fell 16% to $70,008 this past week, down a sharp 45% from its all-time high of $126,273 in October. Ether dropped 24% to $2,052, off 59% from its own high of last year. Both tokens staged furious rallies Friday, but the week remained a historically bad one for crypto. And few seem to know what went wrong.

It's 70 thousand Dollars per Bitcoin.... and they are on the cusp of saying that Bitcoin is dead?

Market theories for the selloff ranged from investors’ pivot toward the prediction markets and other risky bets, to widespread profit-taking after a blistering bull run.

Implying of course that Bitcoin is 1) risky and roughly equivalent to this

“There was no smoking gun,” said Michael Novogratz, who runs Galaxy Digital, a crypto merchant-banking and trading firm.

For someone who uses Bitcoin and understands self-custody... does it matter?

For much of last year, crypto was in ascendance.

No, it was not "in ascendance." The President was selling un-tradeable memecoins named after himself and his wife... and pocketing the difference arguably at taxpayer expense.

President Trump’s return to the White House ushered in a new era for digital assets, which continued to gain acceptance among individual investors and legitimacy on Wall Street. As bitcoin and other popular tokens touched record highs, it seemed as though the market’s best days always lay ahead.

You know, this is why Gary Gensler was a Bitcoin maxi... because 99.9% of crypto is *unregistered securities" and illegal under an ethical Executive Branch.

“I really didn’t think that we’d see a six at the beginning of the bitcoin price ever again,” said Cory Klippsten, chief executive officer of the bitcoin financial services firm Swan Bitcoin.

And yet, for a 24-hour stretch that ended Friday afternoon, bitcoin was back at that level. Past crypto selloffs had clearer explanations, which made this one more mystifying.

I mean... not really. Just see the comments at the bottom of the article, education has a long way to go! "The People" think it's all tulips!

In 2018, bitcoin fell 80% from its peak after the initial coin offering bubble burst, ending an era in which thousands of unproven startups raised billions of dollars with little more than a sales pitch.

Yes because they were fraudulent unregistered securities and should have been illegal.

In 2022, the $40 billion collapse of TerraUSD and Luna coins triggered a cascade of company failures across the crypto sector that culminated in the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange.

Yes because they were stealing investor funds, creating unregistered securities and pumping scams.
None of that has anything to do with Bitcoin.

This time, there is no clear consensus. “If you ask five experts, you’ll get five explanations,” said Anthony Scaramucci, who served for 11 days as communications director during Trump’s first term and is among the best-known crypto bulls at his firm, SkyBridge Capital.

If we all end up using Bitcoin one day... actually using it day to day will there be any "bulls"... or just people using Bitcoin?

Do people WHO DRIVE CARS (meaning almost everyone) feel "bullish" on the Car? Are they "bulls" on Cars?

Here are some of the most popular explanations:

New shiny objects

There is no shortage of other markets for traders to make audacious bets, said Pompliano, the CEO of ProCap Financial. Prediction markets, gold, silver, artificial intelligence and so-called meme stocks are all vying for their attention of late, drawing eyes away from crypto.

When gold is an "audacious bet" (I mean, seriously) you know that things are really fucked up.

“It used to be that bitcoin was the consensus view where asymmetry existed,” Pompliano said. “Now you have AI, prediction markets…many other areas where people can go and they can speculate.”

I used Bitcoin the other day to buy lunch, non-custodially, from Sats I earned in part from a BitAxe and also writing for Stacker News...

What the fuck does that have to do with a prediction market?

More supply?

Really? [See below]

Wall Street has sought to capitalize on crypto’s popularity by launching a growing array of exchange-traded funds and derivatives linked to bitcoin and other popular tokens. Their proliferation might not affect the sheer number of bitcoins, ethers and other tokens, but some investors thought their arrival has dented bitcoin’s appeal as a scarce asset.

How does this make any fucking sense? If any Tom Dick or Joe can literally click a mouse and buy thousands potentially millions of Dollars worth of Bitcoin (ASSUMING that Bitcoin is honestly custodied by the ETF)...

How does that dent the appeal of scarcity? If anything it would make Bitcoin EVEN more scarce.
Is the author confused about how Bitcoin works? Do they think ETFs increase the total supply of Bitcoin?
Or "more coins" that the ETFs "somehow trade" because *anyone can make a Bitcoin?"

Bitcoin’s main appeal has always been its limited supply of 21 million coins.

WRONG. Bitcoin's primary appeal has been the consistency, decentralization, security, and transparency of the network plus the vast array of apps and growing ecosystems which are a part of the same growing network. Bitcoin is a network first, otherwise any "magic beans" could be "scarce..." too.

By launching ETFs and complex derivatives, Wall Street has enabled investors to bet on the price of bitcoin without needing to buy or hold the actual coins, some analysts said.

Which is no substitute for self-custody and, you know, using Bitcoin that you actually own.
Who wins... all things being equal... someone with Bitcoin or someone with None?

New sheriff

Other investors suspected that Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve, might be bringing down crypto prices.

Warsh, they said, is seen as more hawkish on interest rates as a tool to tame inflation, and more supportive of a stronger U.S. dollar. Higher rates and a stronger dollar are conditions that typically hurt some alternative assets, such as gold and crypto

So "crypto" (and by that the author means BITCOIN?) is WORTHLESS...

But in the same category as gold???

making them less attractive to investors. And this past week, the WSJ Dollar Index edged up 0.4%.

Zoom out and the USD/CHF looks like a shitcoin...

Still, Warsh and the Fed are expected to cut rates this year, not raise them. And Warsh has warmed to bitcoin. He famously dubbed the digital currency a “policeman for policy,” saying in a TV interview that bitcoin’s price can inform policymakers when they are doing things right and wrong.

They are 38 trillion in debt and frankly in denial.

Clouded clarity

After Trump signed into law the Genius Act last year, paving the path for stablecoins—digital assets pegged to fiat currencies like the dollar—the industry turned its attention to the next important piece of legislation: the Clarity Act. This bill would create a clear regulatory framework for the burgeoning industry.

It has to do with fucking stablecoins. Why who cares?

Congress appeared on the cusp of moving the bill ahead when a dispute between crypto exchanges and traditional banks stalled that momentum. Without this measure, many financial firms are hesitant to integrate digital assets into their offerings. And unless a compromise is reached, the dust-up might deny the crypto market a catalyst that could have extended the rally.

It's fucking stablecoins who really cares. Furthermore... the "conflict" is between Stablecoin Issuers and banks over interest payouts... crypto exchanges paying more interest than Banks it's not fundamentally about Bitcoin.

Profit-taking

Novogratz and some other investors thought much of the selloff was driven by investors eager to lock in gains they collected when bitcoin, ether and other digital tokens rallied in the midst of the “euphoria” of Trump’s election in 2024 and pledge to make the U.S. the world’s crypto capital.

The President is a con-artist and a scammer... the US so far hasn't done anything to actually embrace Bitcoin as currency, as something to spend or even something tax diminimus to use daily.

NOR has the United States Government addressed the Unregistered Securities dealing of 99% of the Crypto Market. How can you have a "crypto capital" without clear rules that punish scammers/Unregistered Securities Dealers?

And those gains were indeed spectacular. Bitcoin, for one, rocketed around 80% from Election Day until early October of last year.

What do you buy with the "gains?" Dollars?

Sharp selloffs are hardly unusual in crypto, of course. They are so regular, in fact, that investors give them a name—crypto winter—that befits the belief that these downturns are as predictable as the seasons.

Some analysts believe this crypto winter could thaw faster than those of the past. No key companies have collapsed or faced allegations, revelations that have elicited crises of confidence in past crashes.

Are we talking about "crypto"... or are we talking about "Bitcoin". They are NOT the same.

For believers, Friday’s rally served as reassurance that cryptocurrencies have always bounced back, part of why they stick with these investments.

Are they "believers"... or "users"? Why would "users" STOP using Bitcoin?

“The infrastructure is stronger, stablecoin adoption continues to grow and institutional interest hasn’t evaporated, it’s just sidelined,” said Jasper De Maere, a strategist at the crypto trading firm Wintermute. Interest in these investments “can return quickly,” he said.

Infrastructure... he means Lightning right?
What does stablecoins have to do with anything? They are literally digital Dollars and they lose value every year and can be printed by government in unlimited quantities.

Is THAT the innovation?

Many of crypto’s true believers are willing to wait.

You mean USERS... the author means USERS I assume. I, as well as you, use Bitcoin every day.

On a Thursday afternoon conference call, Strategy founder Michael Saylor sought to reassure investors that bitcoin was coming back.

It's 70 thousand Dollars a Bitcoin, and it's not even old enough to drink alcohol I think it's doing fine.

Moments earlier, his company, which stockpiles bitcoin, had reported a $12 billion quarterly loss related to the token’s late-2025 swoon. Saylor told his investors the only way to handle the downturn is to hold on—and tune out the market’s volatility.

“Your time horizon needs to be, minimal, four years,” Saylor said.

Saylor for better or worse has said a lot else too over the years, some things incredibly brilliant... others less so...

And the Wall Street Journal author chooses to focus on just this of all that Saylor has said and spoken about?

Because it's a Great Big Ponzi?

Needless to say, the comments to this article in addition to other articles on the WSJ about "crypto" are predictably cynical.... and incredibly negative about "the tulips."

So when is the Great Big Ponzi finally going to BLOW UP?

Some Samples from the top on down...

• The parabolic run-up was overleveraged speculation, sure but the real hallucination is Bitcoin pretending to be like gold, or digital gold. Stamping its symbol on a gold coin is a marketing lie. Bitcoin has zero of gold’s qualities: no intrinsic value, no physical scarcity, no 5,000-year history as money. It’s just an electronic address you paid for. There’s no savings account behind it, no vault, no redemption. When everyone tries to cash out at once, the network doesn’t have anything tangible to give. its worthless.

Worthless.

• I can’t and never will understand why crypto has any value. Hopefully it goes away forever.

Goes away forever... very insightful!

• It's very simple. Ponzi schemes blow up when the outflows exceed inflows. Crypto has no earnings or profits to make owners wealthier, so it is by definition a negative-sum game. One person can only make a profit if someone else experiences a loss after taxes and transaction fees. It cannot create wealth; all it can do is transfer wealth. If they can't convince more people that they will get rich buying imaginary digital tokens, then the whole scheme collapses.

One Big Ponzi Collapses!

• Even the Pros will wish to stare a gifted horse in the mouth.

Look at "those Pros!" Wait... Meaning Wall Street?

• Have any off these people considered that crypto is the ultimate vapor? I'm sure the Renaissance Dutchmen selling tulip bulbs had just as much difficulty figuring out why their prices crashed. But they did.

We have Lightning, eCash, Ark, Spark, LNAddress, Nostr... CoinJoin PayJoin Stacker News and Multisig...
I guess we need to add Tulip Bulbs boys!

• What went WRONG ?
  IT was NEVER RIGHT !
  from the beginning

You can send sound money derived from energy to almost anyone anywhere... a fraction of a penny at a time almost instantly through technology and it went wrong?

• Bitcoin: It came from nothing and it will return to nothing. Ashes to ashes. Expecting anything else is hoping that Spring will bring a new crop of unicorns. Eventually, you're disappointed.

I think... they're talking about Fiat but I'm not sure maybe I'm just confused.

It would be interesting to go back and see the weekly reporting and analysis on the Dutch tulip bulb pricing trends back in the day... Would probably look a lot like this.

I am posting on Stacker News sending and receiving Sats through eCash which I purchase Fries with...

And it reminds this person of Tupils? Wait... have they ever heard of eCash?

And Apple's up 3000x since the IPO. So what? Most of the people who bought bitcoin in the current bubble are now underwater, and if it gets any lower the same will be true of at least some of the HODLers from the last bubble.

There are only 21 million Bitcoin and 8 billion people... you do the math...

A good thing, I hope it crashlands completely.

Is it dead yet?

Note that I'm not choosing these comments specifically or even at random... only picking certain ones...

I am taking them one after another sequentially one after the other. When it comes to "Crypto" (Bitcoin?) in the Wall Street Journal all the articles are like this, and predictable almost all of the comments.

One after the other.

• I will tell you what is wrong...people are starting to realize that Bitcoin is digital pixie dust; also, if the blockchain gets hacked Bitcoin faces the spectre of virus programs that can (gasp) create Bitcoin out of thin air!!

And

• Your time span needs to be what you are comfortable with. I don't hold Bitcoin. LOL

And

• Kleptocurrency. Let's finally call it what it really is...,,., a mechanism for theft wholy dependent upon a governemnt with no moral compass to differentiate the truth from the false.

I assume this is "anti-Bitcoin" but... it's really not.

• A cold six pack to anyone who can tell me the intrinsic value of a bitcoin.
• The pyramid is crumbling. OMG! The greater fool shortage of 2026.
• Why did crypto loose so much value this week? I will answer that question for you, right after you answer this questions first: why did it have so much value before this week?
• Fools’ gold, digital gold, Gold. The market is speaking.

I could go on and on...

The reason we fundamentally have so little merchant adoption in addition to the volatility is without a doubt due to lack of education. Lack of Imagination. And Lack of Perspective.

When will these people wake up and start using Bitcoin?