Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped 7.6% since it almost — but not quite — touched the psychological wall of $100,000 on Nov. 22.

That’s the biggest drop since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, sparking a rally that sent the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization soaring from a level of around $66,000 through its record high.

Even so, the slide isn’t out of the ordinary. In bull markets bitcoin typically tumbles as much as 20% or even 30%, so-called corrections that tend to flush out leverage in an overheated market.

A large part of the reason the bitcoin price didn’t get to $100,000 was the amount of profit-taking that took place. A record dollar value of $10.5 billion of profit-taking took place on Nov. 21, according to Glassnode data, the biggest day of profit-taking ever witnessed in bitcoin.

At the root of the action are the long-term holders (LTH), a group Glassnode defines as having held their bitcoin for more than 155 days. These investors are considered “smart money” because they tend to buy when the BTC price is depressed and sell in times of greed or euphoria.

From September to November 2024, these investors have sold 549,119 BTC, or about 3.85% of their holdings. Their sales, which started in October and have accelerated since, even outweighed buying from the likes of MicroStrategy (MSTR) and the U.S. spot-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

How long is this selling pressure going to last?

What’s noticeable from patterns in previous bull markets in 2017, 2021 and early 2024, is that the percentage drop gets smaller each cycle.

In 2017, the percentage drop was 25.3%, in 2021 it reached 13.4% and earlier this year it was 6.51%. It’s currently 3.85%. If this rate of decline were to continue, that would see another 1.19% drop or 163,031 BTC, which would take the cohort’s supply to 13.54 million BTC.

Each time, the long-term investors’ supply makes higher lows and higher highs, so this would also be in line with the trend.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng ‘Cz’ Zhao has criticized the growing trend of meme coins, suggesting that blockchain developers should focus on utility-driven projects.

In a Nov. 26 X post, Zhao wrote that meme coins are becoming “a little weird” and urged developers to focus on creating “real applications” that provide practical utility rather than prioritizing hype-driven projects.

CZ’s comments have reignited the debate around the meme coin hype, drawing attention to their lack of real-world value. 

Meme coins largely rely on viral marketing and social media frenzy to generate short-lived investor interest. While they can deliver quick profits for some, they typically lack utility or tangible applications, leaving most holders with significant losses once the initial excitement fades.

CZ’s statement comes amidst the controversy around Solana-based meme coin deployer Pump.fun, where a livestream feature intended to boost engagement was exploited in disturbing ways, including threats of self-harm and inappropriate content.

One particularly troubling incident involved a user threatening to hang themselves if their token failed to reach a predetermined market cap. The situation escalated further when the individual later shared a video allegedly showing them acting on the threat. 

Concerns over meme coins extend beyond their misuse on specific platforms. A CoinWire study reported that meme coins promoted through social media, particularly on X, tend to lose 90% or more of their value within three months.

Such trends undermine trust in the broader cryptocurrency industry, diverting attention from projects with genuine utility and innovation and fuelling skepticism among potential adopters and regulators about the sector’s long-term viability.

Other prominent figures in the industry have also criticized meme coins for their lack of utility and meaningful contribution to the crypto ecosystem.  Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has argued that tokens like Dogecoin fail to offer meaningful real-world applications. 

Similarly, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized the trend of celebrity-endorsed meme coins earlier this year.

In a June X post, Buterin stressed that financialization is only justified if it brings value to society and cited sectors such as healthcare and open-source software as examples of areas where blockchain can provide societal benefits.

Utility-driven blockchain initiatives form the foundation of the industry’s long-term viability. 

Projects such as Axie Infinity, which enables players to earn income through gameplay, and AI-focused tokens like Fetch.ai, which powers autonomous machine-to-machine interactions, exemplify how blockchain technology can address real-world problems and revolutionize traditional industries.

According to CoinGecko data, the total market capitalization of meme coins has reached $120.27 billion, exceeding that of sectors like GameFi ($24.1 billion) and AI-focused tokens ($39 billion).

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