"I wish I had the chance to buy Bitcoin when it was $100"...
I heard the above statement so many times during my eight years of experience in crypto, and I might’ve said it a couple of times myself as well. However, whenever I hear that, I’m asking the
question: how long would you have held?
How many people do you know who got into Bitcoin in its early days and are still holding the coins they bought back then? I know no one who has done it. Maybe individuals like Antonopoulos, who had strong conviction in BTC from the very beginning, are among the few true hardcore holders.
Most of the rest of us in the retail camp are in it for the money—let’s be frank about it... I’ve held many coins over the years and never managed to hold any long enough for it to be worth the wait. Whoever got into BTC in the early 2010s and is still holding has ballz of steel.
When I got into crypto, most investors were retail, hence the low total market cap compared to today. And no matter what coin you chose back then, it would’ve made you a lot of money—if you had the nerves to hold for a year or two.
We have a new breed of investors among us now, especially when it comes to Bitcoin. And while some of us are cheering BTC’s price appreciation, very few realize that the higher it goes, the less likely it is for retail to own any.
As fiat currencies devalue, BTC keeps gaining value against the dollar, euro, or whatever else. And the ETFs made things "worse," as institutions that previously had no access to Bitcoin now do...
Institutions have way more money than we do, so it’s basically irrelevant to them whether they buy BTC at $70,000 or $100,000—they’re buying billions worth of it and make money way easier than we do.
There are a few individuals I follow on Twitter claiming that consistent ETF inflows are actually a sign of weakness for the price, since ETF holders aren’t as smart as we think they are. That’s half true to me. On one hand, it’s clear that ETFs are emotionally driven too—cuz we saw that clearly back in early 2024 when ETF FOMO pushed BTC above its 2021 ATH quite prematurely.
On the other hand, though, if you check BlackRock’s balance, despite the correction we had since early 2025, their BTC position size hasn’t really reflected that downfall... So while these ETFs may ride the hype during FOMO, they don’t seem to panic-sell as easily as we do.
They’re probably more aware than we are that the current financial system is cooked, and that holding fiat doesn’t make much sense anymore. Bitcoin isn’t a child’s game anymore like it was in 2017, and BTC outperforming many altcoins out there is kind of obvious now.
Even ETH has become nothing more than a shitcoin due to its utility flaws. I wouldn’t say the crypto market is no longer a casino, because memecoins outperforming tokens like Hive are proof of that—but on the other hand, BTC has earned its well-deserved recognition.
Retail has way less access to it than it did just five years ago. Retail loves short-term gratification and tends to get greedy at the wrong point in a cycle. That’s why we now see this growing imbalance between retail and institutional BTC holders. Corn is no longer an asset for everyone.
Unfortunately... Cuz it was supposed to disrupt shit in this world... It kinda failed doing that...
Have a great day and catch with you next time.
Thanks for your attention,
Adrian
