Bitwise CIO "Large-scale liquidations not a fundamental damage… Market already recovering"

Despite the record-largest liquidation event that occurred on the 10th (local time), assessments say the fundamental foundations of the crypto market were not shaken.

On the 15th (local time), according to CoinDesk, Matt Hogan, Bitwise chief investment officer (CIO), said in a memo, "This sharp plunge was not a market 'collapse' but merely a stress test," and diagnosed that "core technology, major participants, and investor sentiment are all stable."

He pointed to President Trump's 'threat of 100% tariffs on Chinese-made goods' remarks as the background to this sell-off. On a Friday night when the stock market was closed, investors' reactions concentrated on the crypto market, which is open 24 hours, leading to a cascade of liquidations of excessive leveraged positions. According to his analysis, about $20 billion (about 27 trillion won) of positions were liquidated at the time, Bitcoin (BTC) plunged up to 15%, and Solana (SOL) temporarily fell more than 40%.

Nevertheless, the market system suffered no material damage. Hogan said, "There were no collapses of major hedge funds or market makers, and DeFi protocols functioned normally." He also mentioned that although there was temporary confusion at some centralized exchanges, Binance quickly resolved it by refunding about $400 million to customers.

Institutional investors' responses were relatively calm. He said, "The media and social media were noisy, but institutional clients hardly moved," and added, "Because the spread of fear was limited, the market was able to regain stability quickly." He emphasized, "There is no change to the long-term upward trend." He added, "Clearer regulation, inflows of institutional capital, the expansion of stablecoins in the payments market, and accelerated tokenization of traditional assets remain structural growth factors for the market."