"Around Election Day, 2024, the price of bitcoin started a long, steep climb. Already priced near its all-time high, and driven in part by the imminent arrival of an extremely pro-crypto administration, a bitcoin worth around $70,000 was, by October of 2025, at more than $126,000. That, for the time being, was the top: By Thanksgiving, it was back near $90,000 before briefly stabilizing."
"Longtime bitcoin holders will correctly point out that swings like this come with the territory and have plenty of recent precedent. In early 2018, bitcoin prices fell by more than half; if you were late to the COVID crypto boom, buying at the top and panic-selling at the bottom, you might have lost 75 percent of your money. They might also point out that, ten years ago, bitcoin was priced in the low hundreds."
"I won't pretend to know where we are in this cycle or what the future holds for bitcoin. But among crypto watchers, it does seem there's an emerging sense that this crash is different. In the early 2010s, crypto was a curiosity; by the early 2020s, it was a multitrillion-dollar phenomenon that had emerged from outside of traditional finance. Now, both politically and mechanically, it's part of the system."
Bitcoin rose from around $70,000 near Election Day 2024 to over $126,000 by October 2025, then fell to near $90,000 by Thanksgiving and later approached $60,000 amid broader tech and commodity declines. Longtime holders note large historical swings: more than a 50% drop in early 2018 and potential 75% losses for late COVID-boom buyers who panic-sold. Crypto ownership reached about 14% of U.S. adults in 2025, and about 25% among men ages 18 to 49, with adoption rising after price run-ups. Mainstreaming has transformed the investor base and culture, moving from forum-based philosophical communities to larger numbers of mercenary gamblers and risk-oriented investors. Political and structural integration has made crypto part of the financial system, increasing the number of people exposed to price shocks.
Read at Intelligencer
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