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Crypto winter

In IcelandicRafmyntavetur

A long period when crypto prices fall sharply and stay low, interest fades, and many projects and companies shut down.

A crypto winter is a long, deep bear marketBear marketA long period when market prices mostly fall and investors are pessimistic. in crypto. Prices fall sharply and stay low for months or years, trading dries up and the public loses interest. The name refers to a winter that seems as if it will never end.

Examples from history

The crypto market has been through several winters:

  • 2014. Mt. Gox, then the world's largest crypto exchange, collapsed in February 2014. The price of bitcoin fell more than 80% from its high at the end of November 2013 to January 2015.
  • 2018. After a huge rise in 2017, the price of bitcoin fell more than 80% between December 2017 and December 2018. Many projects that had raised money by selling tokens disappeared.
  • 2022. Bitcoin fell from about 67,500 US dollars in November 2021 to about 15,800 dollars in November 2022, a drop of more than 75%. The TerraUSD stablecoin collapsed in May, the lender Celsius froze withdrawals in June, and the FTX exchange went bankrupt in November.

What marks a crypto winter?

  • Most cryptocurrencies fall further than bitcoin, and some never recover.
  • Companies lay off staff and the weakest go under.
  • The news turns negative and FUDFUDFear, uncertainty and doubt: negative news or rumours, true or not, that make people want to sell. spreads.
  • Fraud and weaknesses that were hidden during the boom come to light.

What comes after?

So far the market has recovered after every winter, and BitcoinBitcoinThe first and largest cryptocurrency: a digital currency that no single party controls, with a fixed limit of 21 million coins. has eventually passed its previous high. After the 2022 winter that happened in March 2024. The past says nothing about the future, though, and nobody knows when the next winter will start or how long it will last.

Some people see a winter as a time to learn and build, and hold on to their crypto through it, which is known as HODLHODLCrypto slang for holding on to your crypto for the long term instead of selling when the price swings.. That is easier if you haven't put in more than you can afford to lose.

Everything in Myntkaup Learn is written and regularly reviewed by the Myntkaup editorial team. It is for education and is not investment advice. Editorial policy. Updated 2 November 2026.