As the crypto market enters a bear market, differing interpretations of this cycle have emerged within the industry. Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov believes that this decline actually demonstrates the maturity and resilience of the industry structure; CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, on the other hand, bluntly states that despite continued capital inflows, Bitcoin is currently in a phase where it is "difficult to rise."
A bear market without major collapses: Chainlink founder points to crypto industry stabilization
Nazarov recently stated on the X platform that this pullback in the crypto market is fundamentally different from past bear markets. Compared to the systemic risks triggered by the collapse of FTX in 2022 and the subsequent collapse of numerous crypto lending platforms, this round of decline has not seen any major institutional failures.
Market cycles are normal, but what's important is that these cycles reveal how much progress the industry has made.
In his view, the absence of large-scale risk control failures or liquidity crises indicates that the crypto industry has evolved in terms of infrastructure and risk management, enabling it to maintain stable operations despite price fluctuations.
RWA and on-chain perpetual contracts become bright spots in the bear market: price declines cannot stop expansion.
Nazarov further points out that the growth in the tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWA) and the scale of on-chain perpetual contracts has not stalled despite the crypto market correction. According to data from RWA.xyz , the total on-chain value of RWA has grown by approximately 300% over the past year. He believes this demonstrates that RWA possesses real utility and demand independent of market price fluctuations.
However, as one of the core infrastructures of the RWA narrative, Chainlink's token LINK price remains at a long-term low, highlighting the gap between fundamentals and market pricing.
Even with funds flowing in, it's useless? CryptoQuant: Bitcoin is currently "difficult to pump."
On the other hand, Ki Young Ju, focusing on changes in capital and market capitalization, offers a more conservative assessment of short-term price performance. He points out that in 2024, an inflow of only about $10 billion could create a Bitcoin market capitalization expansion of about $26 billion; however, in 2025, even with an inflow of more than $300 billion, the overall market capitalization would shrink by nearly $100 billion.
He believes that the existing selling pressure in the market is too heavy, completely offsetting the impact of new funds, which has temporarily rendered Bitcoin's past "multiplier effect" ineffective, and also makes it difficult for major reserve companies (DAT) or large institutions to push up prices.
When the price of a coin deviates from its fundamentals, it's an asymmetrical market.
The crypto market has consistently exhibited a clear disconnect from fundamentals. On one hand, the continued advancements in RWA, on-chain derivatives, and infrastructure indicate that the crypto industry, currently lacking a grand narrative, is evolving in a direction closer to traditional finance. On the other hand, prices remain constrained by long-term selling pressure from deleveraging, unlocking, and profit-taking, making it difficult to reflect true valuations.
In other words, even if there are no signs of industrial decline in this bear market, the market still reminds investors that there is no necessary synchronous relationship between structural maturity and price increases.
This article, "Chainlink Founder Discusses This Bear Market's Difference, CryptoQuant Pours Cold Water: Bitcoin's Rally Has Stagnated," first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia .
