The crypto bear market could just be getting started, according to the co-founder of a leading crypto price-tracking company.
Bobby Ong, who also serves as CoinGecko’s chief operating officer, says crypto is in the midst of a macro-driven bear market, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supply chain issues generating persistent inflation.
He notes that the U.S. Federal Reserve has “no choice” but to raise interest rates to quell inflation and that growth stocks are being pummeled as a result.
“With institutions involvement, crypto is now highly correlated to TradFi [traditional finance] and is being viewed like a tech stock/risk-on asset, so it’s also taking a large beating. Many publicly listed tech stocks have seen its market cap drop 75% in the past 6 months. Are we near the bottom?
Unfortunately, we are just at the start of the rate tightening cycle by the Feds. The Feds will have to continuously increase interest rates for the next few quarters to tame inflation and more pain is incoming. We told our team to expect the next 12-18 months to be challenging.”
According to Ong, CoinGecko is bracing for an extended bear market.
“We are already in the bear market and it will most likely not be short. We have to prepare for tough times, be careful with expenditure, focus on optimizing revenue, and build things that the community want. Now is the time to roll our sleeves up and BUIDL [build] for the next cycle.”
Ong says many investors he knows are “cash heavy” right now.
“Many investors I met are cash-heavy now. Arthur Hayes is expecting further turmoil and is only a Bitcoin buyer at $20,000 and Ether buyer at $1,300. Time to be extremely selective on your buys and see you guys stronger on the other side of the cycle!”
