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Person holds novelty bitcoin tokens on their eyes (Artur Widak/Getty Images)

Abra CEO: This is not bitcoin’s “worst time ever” and advises “when in doubt, zoom out”

Over the last 12 years, Bill Barhydt has lived through “multiple 70% bitcoin drawdowns.”

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Bitcoin is having a hard time recovering from last week’s drop to $63,000, and is hovering under the $68,000 level Tuesday morning. A slew of risks, a lack of catalysts, and the October 10 liquidation event continue to weigh down Bitcoin.

But for Bill Barhydt, CEO and founder of Abra, who told Sherwood News that he’s “lived through multiple 70% bitcoin drawdowns,” not all is doom and gloom.

“I’ve had this conversation five or six times over the last like, I don’t know, 12 years maybe. And each time it’s like, ‘Oh, this is the worst time ever.’ And I can assure you it’s not,” Barhydt said.

Barhydt said we’re in an “anti-everything trade right now,” which is exacerbating the crypto trade.

He said he looks at crypto with a “5- to 10-year lens,” adding that “you can’t get the gains without the volatility. It’s not possible. You can’t redefine math.”

And if you can’t stomach the volatility, he said, you need to change your time horizon, change your position size, or invest in something else. “Those are your options,” he said.

Barhydt’s recommendation is “when in doubt, zoom out.”

“If you zoom out and you give yourself the right time preference, meaning minimum five years, you’re going to make money,” he said.

In terms of zooming out, it’s worth noting that just over 15 years ago, on February 9, 2011, bitcoin reached $1 for the first time.

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Crypto platform BlockFills halts withdrawals

Crypto lending and trading platform BlockFills has halted customer withdrawals amid the current market downturn, according to The Wall Street Journal, a development that recalls the broader meltdown of the 2022 crypto bear market, albeit on a much smaller scale.

This morning, bitcoin dipped below $67,000, and it was hovering around that level midafternoon, struggling to recover from last week’s bloodbath.

“BlockFills is working tirelessly to bring this matter to a conclusion and will continue to regularly update our clients as developments warrant,” a spokesperson told the WSJ.

The Chicago-based, Susquehanna-backed company’s “suspension was put in place last week but remains in effect,” the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The company, which serves institutional clients, handled $60 billion in trading volume in 2025, per the FT. 

Ethan Buchman, CEO of Cycles, told Sherwood News that BlockFills halting withdrawals is a harsh reminder that, despite changes since the panic of 2022, the crypto industry still has a long way to go in developing off-chain risk infrastructure with stronger standards for underwriting, clearing, and settlement.

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Ethereum ETF holders still “diamond-handing” despite hurting more than their bitcoin counterparts

Holders of spot ethereum ETFs are in more pain than bitcoin investors. 

The price of ethereum stands around $1,940 as of Wednesday morning, representing about a 45% drop from $3,500, the average cost basis of spot ethereum ETF holders, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. 

The losses of ethereum ETF holders are larger than bitcoin fund investors based on available data. Bitcoin is trading at $68,822, representing an 18% slide from the the cost basis for all its ETFs of $83,983, data from Glassnode shows

While facing larger losses than their bitcoin ETF peers, the vast majority of ethereum ETF buyers have stayed put. “The net inflows into the ETH ETFs have gone from about $15 billion down below $12 billion. This is a much worse selloff than the Bitcoin ETFs on a relative basis, but still fairly decent diamond hands in grand scheme (for now),” Seyffart said on Tuesday on X.

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Meme coins have lost all their 2026 gains and continue to dive

Despite having an early lead in year-to-date gains, meme coins have round-tripped and bled even more. 

For example, frog-based token pepe was up 75% in the first four days of January, but is now about 8% lower than where it started the year. Dogecoin, shiba inu, bonk, pengu, dogwifhat, and trump tell a similar story: posting a positive gain and then slumping into the red. 

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The year-to-date price performances of the top meme coins by market capitalization (TradingView)

Meme coins, cryptocurrencies based on internet jokes that are often critiqued for lacking utility, are reflexive: they can lead gains during bullish market conditions, but see sharper declines in bearish ones. The entire category of meme coins has shed 25.8% of its valuation in the year so far, data from blockchain analytics firm Artemis shows.

The price action of meme coins comes amid a broader market decline that saw bitcoin drop to $63,000 last week as its peers revisited cycle lows

“The market has, in large, been bleeding, whether major, altcoin, or meme,” according to Nicolai Søndergaard, research analyst at on-chain data firm Nansen. “It is not surprising to me to see that larger memes as well have been trending down.”

He told Sherwood News, “If we also consider the fact that there are less active wallets now compared to a few months ago, it also makes sense that larger ‘household’ memes would decline as money shifts around to the next shiny thing.”

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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.