Written by: Stacy Muur

Translated by: Chopper, Foresight News

This bearish market is not just another cycle; it is completely different from previous ones.

I have experienced multiple crypto cycles and know when the bearish atmosphere becomes abnormal. Now is that time.

It’s not because of price movements; that part everyone is familiar with; rather, it is the crypto Twitter and the overall market sentiment that have become a bit off.

In past bear markets, many of us held grand ambitions and worked passionately towards them. Now, crypto Twitter is silent:

• Fewer builders
• The timeline is filled with disappointment
• Many choose to exit, feeling it’s not worth the risk in the industry

DefiIgnas pointedly said, “I admit I have become more ‘lazy’ in this bear market. In previous bear markets, I was still eager for yields and passionate about learning. I would do research, test multiple applications daily, read documentation, and look for the next hot narrative that might spark the next bull market. But now, I hardly want to touch anything.”

DefiIgnas had motivation to learn and build during past bear markets, but this time, the enthusiasm has almost completely disappeared. I deeply resonate with that, so I completely understand his feelings.

A series of events over the past year or two have made many victims.

Between September and December 2024, millions of wallets were created for one purpose: trading Memecoins launched on Pump.fun. During that time, KOLs kept flaunting hundredfold and thousandfold returns, dragging retail investors into extreme FOMO. Many screenshots were deliberately made for personal gain; let's not expand on that for now.

The result is that a significant portion of retail funds has been completely drained. The data is shocking:

• Within 60 to 90 days, over 99% of Memecoins went to zero
• In March 2026, of the 1.37 million wallets trading on Pump.fun, only about 4% made more than $500, and ordinary users were mostly losing money

Most people never had the possibility of making money from the start.

Then, on October 10, 2025, the great liquidation came.

The price crash caused 1.66 million traders to get liquidated, losing over $20 billion, becoming the largest liquidation event in crypto history, surpassing even the collapses of FTX and Luna. Countless wallets went to zero, forcing many to leave the industry permanently.

To be honest, I can't blame them at all.

What retail investors experienced in this cycle was not just a bear market, but a systematic harvesting:

• High FDV (Fully Diluted Valuation) issuance, with only 5% to 15% circulating
• Insiders dumping on launch to harvest retail
• Project teams completely lying flat after TGE
• Frequent security incidents in a short time (ByBit, Drift Protocol, Resolv, etc.)
• Funds stolen in the first half of 2025 reached $2.17 billion, exceeding the total for 2024

At this point, the sentiment in the entire industry is highly unified: “Everyone wants to steal my money. The project teams are greedy, and even the US president is using this circle to harvest.”

Retail investors have completely exited; what about institutions?

But this time, things have changed.

In previous bear markets, when retail investors exited, it meant everyone left, and no one could fill that void. The market could only quietly wait for retail to return, as they were the only buyers.

This time, institutions are supporting the bottom.

In 2025 alone, U.S. crypto ETFs attracted a net inflow of $31.77 billion:

• BlackRock bought $24.7 billion in Bitcoin
• Ethereum spot ETFs saw nearly 4 times year-on-year inflows (from $2.4 billion to $9.6 billion)
• Solana spot ETF raised $568 million continuously for 20 days

Even now, while 90% of retail investors are in extreme panic, it’s not uncommon to see positive net inflows into ETFs.

And ETFs are just the tip of the iceberg; looking further out:

• Canton Network, supported by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, HSBC, and Visa, processes over $90 trillion in tokenized real-world assets (RWA) monthly
• Stripe and Paradigm are building a dedicated payment public chain, Tempo
• Figure is disbursing $22 billion in real loans on-chain and is expanding into auto loans
• The market capitalization of stablecoins reached $317 billion

These are substantial business investments from large institutions. Such large companies will not heavily invest in a field without exponential growth potential.

On-chain data also reflects this shift: in March 2026, Bitcoin exchange balances fell to their lowest point in nearly two years. Of the Bitcoin flowing into exchanges, 64% came from the top 10 wallets.

The core narrative of this cycle is: retail investors are losing, while institutions are accumulating. This has completely changed the overall landscape of the crypto industry.

When retail investors make a massive return again, they will face a completely different market: a market supported by institutional funds, settling trillions of dollars through stablecoins, and protocols relying on real product markets to survive.

And I will be here to witness all of this happen.