Bottoming signs emerge for Bitcoin even as veteran bears celebrate.

As crypto markets slid sharply this week, some of bitcoin’s most persistent critics were quick to claim vindication.

The latest leg down in a multi-month downturn pushed digital assets into what many traders described as freefall, prompting bulls to scramble for signs of a capitulation low — whether through technical indicators or speculation about the collapse of a leveraged hedge fund. Yet one of the clearest signals of a potential bottom may be the renewed confidence of bitcoin’s longtime skeptics.

For years, the Financial Times has stood out among major publications for its consistently hostile stance toward bitcoin and the broader crypto industry. That posture has rarely wavered, even as bitcoin rose from obscurity to trade above $100,000 over its 16-year history. A memorable moment came in 2025, when columnist Katie Martin questioned why her teeth were not worth billions of dollars, given that they are scarcer than bitcoin.

This weekend, the FT returned to form. In a Sunday column, Jemima Kelly argued that “Bitcoin is still about $69,000 too high,” a headline later adjusted to “$70,000 too high” after prices ticked up overnight. Kelly wrote that bitcoin’s trajectory would ultimately end “splattered on the ground,” adding that the supply of “greater fools” sustaining its price was drying up. According to Kelly, recent price action suggests investors are waking up to the absence of any fundamental floor under an asset “based on nothing more than thin air.”

Earlier in the week, as bitcoin slipped below the roughly $76,000 average cost basis of Strategy’s vast BTC holdings, FT columnist Craig Coben took aim at the company formerly known as MicroStrategy. In a piece titled “Strategy’s long road to nowhere,” Coben argued that management had no viable options left, only “different paths to destroying shareholder value.” With the stock down roughly 80% from its late-2024 peak, he likened the firm to “a gigantic mastodon stuck in the La Brea tar pits.”

Gold advocate Peter Schiff also seized the moment. As gold continues to outperform amid market volatility, Schiff mocked claims that bitcoin remains the world’s best-performing asset. He noted that Strategy has spent more than $54 billion acquiring bitcoin over the past five years, yet remains slightly underwater on that investment. Measured against gold, Schiff argued, bitcoin is down nearly 60% from its 2021 highs and remains locked in a long-term bear market.

Former hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry once warned against trying to call exact bottoms, famously remarking that “monkeys spend all their time picking bottoms.” Even so, the resurgence of confidence among entrenched bitcoin bears is a phenomenon that has historically appeared closer to market lows than peaks.

Additional developments this week reinforce that impression. Investor enthusiasm around Tether appears to be cooling. Late last year, reports suggested the stablecoin issuer was exploring a $15 billion to $20 billion capital raise at a valuation as high as $500 billion. According to a Financial Times report on Tuesday, investor pushback has since reduced expectations to roughly $5 billion.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino pushed back on those reports, calling the larger fundraising figures a “misconception” and insisting that investor interest at the stated valuation remains strong. Still, the FT reported that concerns over valuation are growing behind the scenes, even as market sentiment remains fluid and highly sensitive to any renewed crypto rally.

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