Bitcoin's Rough Quarter: Bernstein Yells 'Bottom!' While BTC Searches for a Lifeline at $65K

Bitcoin has taken a beating, sliding over 30% from its yearly high of $97,538 on Jan. 15 down to $67,525 at the time of writing. The culprit? A perfect storm of geopolitical drama — Trump's tariff theatrics dragging into the new year, a full-blown Middle East conflict with Iran, and the Federal Reserve playing hardball with rates. Risk assets got crushed, and BTC didn't escape the carnage. Basically, if you wanted to hurt crypto, you couldn't have scripted a better nightmare scenario if you tried.

Crypto-linked stocks have gotten absolutely clobbered. Exchanges, brokerages, and tokenization platforms like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Figure are down nearly 60% from their recent highs. Ouch. That's not a dip — that's a cliff dive with a broken parachute. Retail investors are staring at their portfolios wondering if they accidentally invested in a funeral home instead of the future of money.

But Bernstein is stepping in with what might be music to depressed crypto bulls' ears: a bottom call. In their Monday note, the analysts pointed out that geopolitics and temporary weak sentiment are handing out some serious discounts on crypto stocks — roughly 60% below 2025 peaks. They see these businesses as exposure to trillion-dollar markets with years of growth ahead, despite the current turbulence. Basically, they're saying "yeah it hurts now, but you're basically stealing if you buy here."

The bad news? Bernstein expects this weakness to persist until Q1 earnings reports drop, which could mean more downside for Bitcoin through the end of April. So for those keeping track at home, that's roughly two more months of watching your net worth slowly dissolve while doomscrolling through Twitter for hopium. Fun times.

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