Outpoll | After Oct. 10 Crypto Crash, Bitwise CIO’s Three-Question Test Finds No Lasting Damage

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After Oct. 10 Crypto Crash, Bitwise CIO’s Three-Question Test Finds No Lasting Damage

After Oct. 10 Crypto Crash, Bitwise CIO’s Three-Question Test Finds No Lasting Damage

1 day ago7 min read7 comments

Let's cut through the noise. When crypto markets plunged on October 10th, the usual suspects emerged from the woodwork, waving their 'I told you so' banners and declaring the end of Bitcoin's reign.But for those of us with diamond hands and a long-term view, this wasn't a catastrophe; it was a goddamn stress test, and Bitcoin passed with flying colors. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan nailed it in his recent memo, framing the sell-off not as some fundamental regime change but as a direct, almost predictable reaction to external political shockwaves—specifically, former President Trump's late-Friday threat of 100% tariffs on Chinese goods.With traditional equity markets closed for the weekend, the crypto market, ever the global, 24/7 trading pit, became the sole pressure valve for panicked capital. This is the reality we live in: crypto is the canary in the coal mine for global macro fear, and while it absorbs the initial shock, its core infrastructure remains unshaken.Look at the data, not the headlines. The panic was isolated, a classic liquidity squeeze rather than a systemic failure.There was no cascade of major exchange insolvencies, no critical smart contract exploits that drained billions from DeFi protocols, no fundamental crack in Bitcoin's immutable ledger. This event merely exposed the paper hands and the leverage junkies, flushing them out of the system and strengthening its foundation for the next leg up.Remember 2018? 2022? Those were real bear markets, driven by internal rot and fraudulent actors like FTX. This was a temporary storm in a teacup, a geopolitical sneeze that gave crypto a cold.The real story isn't the dip; it's the breathtaking speed of the recovery, the relentless buying from the ETFs, and the unshakable network hashrate that continues to hit all-time highs, signaling unwavering miner confidence. The altcoin space, as always, showed its true colors—excessive volatility and correlation to BTC's movements, proving once again that most are merely satellites to Bitcoin's sun.So, when Hougan poses his three-question test about lasting damage, the answer from the maximalist camp is a resounding, unequivocal no. The fiat world's problems—trade wars, inflationary monetary policy, political instability—are precisely why Bitcoin was created.This little flash crash was just another reminder that the old system is breaking, and we are building the new one, brick by immutable brick. The weak hands sold; the strong hands bought. The narrative remains intact, and the king continues its march.