Bitcoin has fallen more than 50% from its 2025 all time high. This has left critics quick to declare that crypto is dead. But the conditions that gave Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies a use case in the first place have not changed.
Crypto deserves plenty of criticism. Earlier this decade, it became a common form of gambling, fraught with scams and influencers who abused their reach to “rug pull” their fans. When currencies backed by nothing can skyrocket and crash within days, it is no wonder that many dismissed the whole thing as a con.
But cryptocurrencies were invented for a reason. Fiat currencies issued by governments are subject to manipulation and devalued through inflationary policies that quietly redistribute wealth. Bitcoin was conceived as a form of sound money that no government can manipulate.
Crypto also grants individuals sovereignty outside the traditional banking system. Consider Russian sanctions. When the West sanctioned Russia, ordinary citizens found themselves in the crosshairs. Cut off from SWIFT and unable to move money abroad, many Russians turned to crypto to transact internationally. Whatever one thinks of the sanctions, when governments cut people off from the financial system, crypto lets people continue to participate in global markets.
While the U.S. dollar certainly has its problems, as evidenced by the inflation in recent years, many people are born in countries with even more questionable currencies that are subject to immense inflationary risk. As such, cryptocurrency offers people a way to store the fruits of their labor in something other than the official currency of the place they live.
Roughly 66% of all stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to an external asset, are held by individuals in emerging markets. When a government destroys its currency, as in Venezuela or Zimbabwe, stablecoins give ordinary people a way to preserve what they have earned.
A falling price for Bitcoin does not change any of this. As some analysts have indicated, volatility is the price of Bitcoin being open and fair. Governments still inflate their currencies, still let them collapse, and still decide who gets to use the banking system. Those problems persist, even when the price of Bitcoin goes down. That is why many still believe in crypto and Bitcoin, despite the recent downturn.
The author is not a financial advisor and nothing here shall be construed as financial advice.
