Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto will take at least 2024 to recover from “abuse by unscrupulous actors,” according to a well-known name in the industry.
In a December 30 blog post, David Marcus, CEO and founder of Bitcoin company Lightspark, disappointed bulls with his outlook for the next few years.
Marcus: ‘Crypto Winter’ will probably last until 2025
Less than two months after FTX crashed, the fallout is depressing sentiment and price action.
Marcus, who previously worked at Meta and PayPal, thinks bad actors need to be held accountable. The impact of their actions will be felt in the crypto industry well beyond 2023.
While he only mentioned FTX once, he spoke of “unscrupulous players” that have extended the market’s poor performance beyond next year.
“We won’t come out of this crypto winter in 2023. Probably not even in 2024,” he summed up.
“It will take a few more years for the market to recover from the abuses of unscrupulous players and for responsible regulation to be put in place. Consumer confidence will also take a few years to rebuild. But ultimately, I believe that this will be the case.” will be a long-term benefit to honest players in the industry.”
If the hodlers have to wait for their “silver lining”, it could further disrupt the historical patterns that Bitcoin has followed since its inception.
In particular, the halving cycles every 4 years which bring growth in certain years could be called into question. The next halving will occur in 2024. This year should see some bullish price action. Some even expect the uptrend to start a year earlier, namely in the second quarter of 2023.
Marcus believes that even if the recovery takes longer than expected, a new, stronger industry will emerge.
“In the crypto space, years of greed will give way to real-world applications,” he continued.
“The years of creating a token out of thin air and earning millions are over. The music has stopped playing. We have returned to regular operations where we aim to create real value and solve real problems. .”
He particularly praised the Bitcoin Lightning Network, which he said “will soon be an open, interoperable, inexpensive and promising real-time payment protocol and the most efficient in the world.”