Bitcoin prices continue to face pressure as crypto market sentiment returns to the ‘Extreme Fear’ zone.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin prices are at $62,318, up 0.12% since opening early Thursday in Asian trading.
However, despite investor concerns, there are analysts who believe that this is just part of a normal cycle that has been repeating since Bitcoin first gained global attention.
Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen said Bitcoin has similarities to the World Cup, both of which move in a four-year cycle.
According to him, the current downward phase is not unusual, but rather a market pattern that has occurred before.
This view came as the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell to 19, thus entering the ‘Extreme Fear’ category.
The reading shows that the majority of investors are worried and less confident about the direction of the market.
However, Cowen stressed that such negative sentiment often appears at the end or middle of a market cycle, and is not a sign that Bitcoin has lost its potential.
In the same development, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas described crypto investors as now in need of 'tough love' rather than relying on a narrative promising price increases.
He urged investors to return to focusing on Bitcoin's fundamentals as a digital asset that has a limited supply, is difficult to control and cannot be printed at will like fiat currency.
This statement was also supported by famous investor Lyn Alden who believes that Bitcoin does not need a savior.
Instead, the digital asset needs to continue to prove its value based on its technological strength and market demand.
However, Strategy founder Michael Saylor has a different view.
He admitted that the halving mechanism still plays an important role because it reduces the production of new Bitcoins and maintains a maximum limit of 21 million coins.
However, according to him, the four-year cycle is no longer the main factor determining Bitcoin's price movements.
Saylor believes that the Bitcoin market has now changed with the entry of more institutional investors, spot ETFs, corporate companies, banks and financial institutions.
He expects that over the next decade, the price of Bitcoin will be more influenced by capital flows from large institutions than by the reduction in supply due to the halving process.
This difference in views shows the evolution of the Bitcoin market, which is maturing.
If previously the price was largely driven by retail investors and the halving cycle, now more and more people believe that institutional factors and global acceptance will be the main drivers of Bitcoin's future direction.
