The cryptocurrency market, previously rocked by internal disasters such as the collapse of exchanges and investment bubbles, followed by the collapse of algorithmic stablecoins, is undergoing a fundamentally different type of correction in 2026.
Over the 17 years of its existence, Bitcoin has experienced several large-scale bear markets, resulting not only in price corrections but also in fundamental changes across the entire industry.
The nature of these shocks has evolved along with the market. Unlike earlier crises, today's crises no longer call the technology itself into question, but rather confirm its maturity, integrating Bitcoin ever more deeply into the global financial system.
The fall in the price of Bitcoin since the end of 2025 differs from previous ones in that there is no internal crisis in the crypto market. Experts increasingly cite the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions in the world as factors influencing the market.
Since 2014, Bitcoin has experienced several major crises. The most dramatic price crashes have usually coincided with specific shocks, ranging from the collapse of major exchanges and market bubbles to systemic failures in the industry and global macroeconomic shocks.
The 2014 crisis: Mt. Gox bankruptcy
In 2014, the crypto industry experienced its first systemic shock with the bankruptcy of Mt.Gox, the largest cryptocurrency exchange at the time. The platform lost 850,000 bitcoins as a result of a hack (more than $59 billion at the exchange rate at the beginning of February 2026). This undermined confidence not so much in blockchain technology as in the immature infrastructure surrounding it.
The price of bitcoin plummeted from around $1,160 to $150, losing more than 85%, and the bearish trend in the market lasted for about 14 months. This crisis forced the market to rethink the creation and development of crypto platforms, replacing amateur services and approaches with the first professional solutions for storage and trading. Exchanges began to implement stricter security procedures. Recovery took years, but it helped build a more solid foundation for future growth.
The first payments to affected exchange customers began only at the end of 2023. According to Arkham, as of February 8, there were 34,500 bitcoins worth nearly $2.5 billion remaining in the group of wallets controlled by Mt. Gox administrators.
The 2018 crisis: The ICO bubble
The bursting of the speculative bubble surrounding initial coin offerings (ICOs – similar to IPOs, but raising capital through the issuance of tokens) in 2018 became another systemic crisis. In 2017, projects raised millions of dollars through the issuance of tokens, often with nothing but an idea. At its peak in 2017, the price of Bitcoin reached a cycle high of $20,000, after which prices fell for about 12 months, with the cycle low reaching $3,100 and losses reaching 85%.
The main blow fell on altcoins (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin), many of which depreciated by up to 99%. Most crypto projects at that time were unable to survive this period.
The result of the cycle was the necessary cleansing of the market of outright fraudsters who attracted millions in investments. The focus in the industry shifted from speculation to the development of working products. It was during the ICO bubble that the next big narrative emerged — decentralized finance (DeFi), which determined the growth of the next cycle.
Many leaders of the modern DeFi segment were launched at this time. For example, today's largest decentralized exchange, Uniswap, or the largest lending protocol, Aave, formerly known as ETHLend.
The 2022 crisis: The collapse of LUNA and FTX
In 2022, the crypto market experienced two major crises. In the spring of 2022, the market was shaken by the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin UST and the associated Terra (LUNA) token. And in the fall, one of the largest crypto exchanges at the time, FTX, collapsed.
The collapse of the Terra ecosystem and its algorithmic stablecoin UST in May 2022 triggered a sharp decline in prices across the entire market. Over the course of about three months, the capitalization of the crypto market fell by hundreds of billions of dollars.
The peak price of Bitcoin in this cycle occurred in November 2021, long before the collapse of LUNA, at a level above $69,000. The cycle's low occurred approximately 12 months later, at a level of about $15,500, and was recorded in November 2022, at the time of the collapse of the FTX exchange.
That bear market had catastrophic consequences not only for crypto asset prices, but also for many organizations due to losses on LUNA and UST, with Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, and BlockFi going bankrupt. This collapse severely undermined confidence in algorithmic stablecoins and DeFi mechanisms offering unsustainably high returns of around 20% per annum.
The subsequent collapse of FTX led to an additional massive outflow of capital and increased skepticism among retail investors in 2022–2023. Unlike Mt.Gox, which was hacked from the outside, FTX collapsed due to internal abuses, with management using customer funds for their own needs and risky investments.
This resulted in global requirements for transparency, auditing, and proof of reserves. The crisis also accelerated regulatory pressure around the world, for example, the development of global rules for cryptocurrencies in Europe began, and dozens of lawsuits were filed by US regulators against crypto companies.
The 2026 Crisis: Trump and Macroeconomics
The current correction in 2026 is fundamentally different from previous ones and has not yet been accompanied by a systemic internal crisis. At the beginning of February, the peak of this cycle for Bitcoin was formed at $126,200 in October 2025. Since then, the price has fallen by more than 50%, dropping to $60,000 at one point.
Many experts believe that the current cycle is determined by external macroeconomic factors and marks not a cyclical decline, but a fundamental structural transformation of the entire market. For example, analysts at major market maker Wintermute have repeatedly pointed to institutional liquidity flows as the driving force behind Bitcoin's price movements in their reports.
Capital managers such as Grayscale and Bitwise have taken a similar position. Their position is based on the fact that this cycle has not seen the classic parabolic price growth that usually signals market overheating and precedes a deep correction. It is also noted that Bitcoin's movement is now driven by demand from institutional investors, rather than retail investors as before, and by a growing correlation with macroeconomic events.
