Big yikes.
Free Fallin’
The blockchain blues continue. Bitcoin lost 38 percent of its value in June alone, making this past month the worst in crypto’s 12 year history, CNBC reports.
That’s not all the bad news. Ethereum rang in at an astonishing 47 percent loss, and industry leaders crumbled across the board — major crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital has effectively imploded after failing to pay a $670 billion loan, the digital bank run persists, and widespread industry layoffs continue to plague the struggling market.
Culling the Weak
Still, the most faithful of crypto enthusiasts refuse to be shaken, and some even think that these record lows are the perfect time to vulture fallen coins.
“If your timeframe is a week, or a month, or even a quarter, I think there’s still significant volatility,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, to CNBC. “If you have a time horizon measured in years, then yes, this is a great opportunity to think about entering the market.”
Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of exchange platform FTX, seems to be taking this approach. A CNBC source alleged that Bankman-Fried is looking to acquire crypto lender BlockFi for a low $25 million — a number that, the outlet reports, is roughly 99 percent below BlockFi’s last private valuation.
Other crypto CEOs, however, are coping differently.
Collectively, these are some serious losses. Of course, there’s a chance that the true believers could be right that the market will rise like a phoenix from the ashes — but in the short term, “invest in something you don’t understand” may not have been the best advice, after all.
READ MORE: Bitcoin just had its worst month on record [NYT]
More on the bitcoin crisis: Crypto Ceo Warns That Exchanges Are “Secretly Already Insolvent”