‘Crypto honeymoon is over’: Why a CEO warns of market slowdown

The global crypto market cap, which recently traded around $2.43 trillion, has slipped further to $2.41 trillion, a 0.81% decline over the past 24 hours. Back on the 5th of November 2024, the U.S. elected Donald Trump as its 47th President. 

In the weeks that followed, the market cap surged from near $2.29 trillion to $3.71 trillion by the end of 2024. By October 2025, it reached a peak of $4.20 trillion. Today, however, the market has fallen to nearly half of that all‑time high.

Coin Bureau’s co-founder on the current crypto market blues

Seeing this strain in the market, Nic Puckrin, CEO & Co-Founder of Coin Bureau, took to X via his new post (now deleted) and noted, 

Additionally, Puckrin also reiterated Barclays, a British multinational universal bank’s recent remark that, 

Besides this, the co-founder of Coin Bureau shed light on Coinbase’s trading volume. Puckrin highlighted how the Exchange Trading Volume of Coinbase fell to $1.54 billion by the end of Q1 2026, registering a decline of 30% from Q4 2025. Needless to say, the charts by CoinGecko further confirmed this sentiment. 

Remarking on the same, Puckrin highlighted, 

From “Extreme Greed” to “Extreme Fear”

Further confirming this bearish sentiment was the Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which was still stuck in the “Extreme Fear” zone at 12 at the time of publishing.

In fact, post-election, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index shot up to the 90 level mark, indicating “extreme greed” sentiment.

Although the index remained volatile, it continued to reflect greed for a time. However, since mid‑January 2026, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has oscillated only between the ‘Fear’ and ‘Extreme Fear’ zones.

Even during escalating U.S.–Iran tensions, Bitcoin and Ethereum traded in the ‘Extreme Fear.’ zone. Yet, from a broader perspective, the overall crypto market, alongside Bitcoin, compared to the S&P 500, gold, and other traditional assets, remained resilient despite geopolitical headwinds.

Analyzing ETF and social sentiment

Moving forward, the Bitcoin ETF Net Daily Inflows & Outflows further confirmed this sentiment, with 2026 recording more frequent and consistent outflows. On the contrary, inflows were smaller and less aggressive.

That said, the chart clearly shows that 2024 was loud with extreme spikes on both sides, and 2025 was uncertain as it mostly had balanced flows. Whereas 2026 was quiet with consistent outflows. Additionally, the Social Volume of Bitcoin, along with a few altcoins, has also seen a drop from 2024 to 2026. 

Lastly, Bitcoin price action, which was trading at $67,000 before the election, peaked at an all-time high of $124,700. However, at the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency was trading at $70,883.15.

All these combined suggest that Puckrin might be right, but with increased volatility, nothing is confirmed yet. 

Final Summary

• Execs anticipate ‘the post-election crypto honeymoon phase’ to be over, with the global crypto market cap seeing a 2x decline from previous highs.
• The current Bitcoin price, Fear and Greed Index, and social volume metric confirm Puckrin’s sentiment, but hope remains.