June has not been a wonderful month for cryptocurrencies, but Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, is confident that “we’ve seen the most of this panic” and that the sell-off is slowing down.
I read his newsletter published on 14th June with interest. He names three things that caused the markets to fall sharply:
- China banning bitcoin (again)
- Tax day
- Elon Musk
The first point, regarding China, he says is one that happens in a cycle, as China has ‘banned’ bitcoin in 2013, 2017 and 2021. So, that’s every four years. Will they do it again in 2025? It’s hard to say, but by that time the cryptocurrency markets will look rather different one suspects. Morehead warns “Investors who sell on China “bans” usually end up bummed.”
Tax day is also something that comes around with an inevitable regularity. It is also important for crypto prices. In 2013 and 2017 when we also had spectacular bull runs, “bitcoin peaked four months before Tax Day and hit a low about a week before Tax Day.” People sell their crypto to pay their tax bills, especially when they are being asked to pay on their crypto gains. As for Elon Musk’s swivel over bitcoin, Morehead stays silent on that. He’s right, enough has been said to inflate the entrepreneur’s sense of himself as a market mover.
What Morehead does address is human behaviour and our love of acting in cycles. As he says, “Humans have an innate herd instinct.” He explains it like this:
- It’s human nature that we want to buy when the market is surging up — when the FOMO devil is whispering in our ear.
- When the markets are crashing – and our spouse/friends/boss are all WTF, we want to flee…we want the pain to stop..
And that is what happened in May and June. Although, Morehead does add another warning: “I could imagine that the traits we imprinted on the plains of the Serengeti might not be optimal for trading early-stage protocol tokens.”
It is worth noting that the Pantera Bitcoin Fund is the oldest cryptocurrency fund, so Morehead speaks with some authority when he says of this moment in the markets, “The volatility has presented a very compelling opportunity. We are eager to deploy assets of the new Pantera Blockchain Fund on June 30th.”
Buy in the dip is not a new message, but when the evidence is clearly laid out, as Morehead has done, then it injects investors with renewed confidence that the panic is over and it’s time to buy.
Read the full Pantera Capital newsletter