Nearly six months after the Oct. 10 flash crypto crash wiped out millions of dollars in a single day, Bitcoin remains under pressure and is trading well below its recent peak. The asset hit an all-time high of $126,080 on October 6, but has since fallen about 47% to around $67,000.
Despite the downturn, Cathie Wood, longtime BTC advocate and CEO of ARK Investment Management, urges investors to maintain a long-term perspective.
Wood, whose firm was among the first listed asset managers to gain exposure to Bitcoin in 2015, has maintained an active presence in crypto-related stocks. ARK Invest continues to trade shares of companies linked to the digital asset sector, including Coinbase, Robinhood Markets, Block, Circle Internet Group, Bitmine Immersion Technologies and Bullish, adjusting positions in response to market conditions.
In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Wood addressed the current downturn and framed the size of BTC’s decline as a sign of maturation rather than weakness.
She argued that a drop of around 50% from peak levels represents a shift from the extreme volatility seen in previous cycles, where Bitcoin routinely saw moves of 85% to 95%.
According to Wood, such severe collapses are unlikely to happen again. She described Bitcoin as a “proven technology” and a “new asset class”, suggesting that its market behavior has evolved along with wider adoption and institutional participation.
In her opinion, the current correction will be considered a “real victory” in the Bitcoin community, whose losses remain limited to about half of its peak value.
Bitcoin’s Vicious Cycles
Historical data supports the comparison with previous cycles, although the current downturn has yet to match previous bear markets in severity. During the 2021-2022 cycle, Bitcoin fell nearly 80% from its then-high of around $69,000, eventually bottoming out near $15,600.
Onchain data from Glassnode indicates that the current decline, measured against the peak in October 2025, has reached about 52% at its lowest point.
All this is happening as bitcoin’s price decline is forcing a growing number of public companies and sovereign entities to liquidate their BTC government bonds, marking a sharp reversal from the accumulation trend of the past two years. Companies that once advocated long-term holding are now selling to manage liquidity, repay debt and fund strategic pivots.
Companies such as Riot Platforms, Genius Group, Empery Digital, Nakamoto Holdings and Marathon Digital have all reduced stakes, in some cases significantly. Marathon alone sold over 15,000 BTC for $1.1 billion to cut debt, while Genius Group fully exited its position. Riot has also offloaded bitcoin as it shifts focus toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.
Even companies still committed to bitcoin are trimming reserves. Empery Digital sold part of its holdings to repay loans, while Nakamoto Holdings liquidated a smaller part to support operations. Meanwhile, Bhutan has reduced its state-backed bitcoin reserves after previously accumulating through mining.
Despite the sell-off, public companies still amassed around 1.16 million BTC, over 5% of the total supply.