Crypto winter fears rise as Bitcoin slides

Bitcoin’s sharp decline has reignited debate over whether the market has entered a new crypto winter, with veteran investor Michael Burry warning prices could fall as low as $50,000.

Burry said Bitcoin’s slump has already forced institutions to liquidate roughly $1 billion in gold and silver, arguing there is “no organic use case reason” for the asset to halt its descent.

“If BTC falls to $50,000, mining firms could face bankruptcy,”

Burry wrote, adding that tokenised metals markets could “collapse into a black hole with no buyer.”

The warning comes as Bitcoin briefly dipped below $73,000 this week, down about 40% from its October peak, while crypto-treasury firms such as Strategy and BitMine face billions of dollars in unrealised losses.

Strategy’s average Bitcoin purchase price sits near $76,000, pushing its market value and mNAV ratio toward levels that could force asset sales, while Ethereum holder BitMine is sitting on more than $6 billion in paper losses.

Some analysts see technical signals pointing to a prolonged downturn, with Bitcoin breaking key support levels and Ethereum accelerating lower after breaching major price thresholds.

Tiger Research, however, argues this is not a traditional crypto winter, saying the rally and subsequent crash were driven by external macro factors rather than internal industry failures.

“We didn’t create the spring, so there is no winter either,”

The firm said, adding that future gains are likely to be selective as ETF capital remains concentrated in Bitcoin rather than flowing broadly across the market.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $76,451.79.