Nicholas Merten, a crypto trader and the creator of the DataDash YouTube channel, joined Cointelegraph’s Crypto Trading Secrets podcast for an interview with host Benjamin Pirus, discussing a number of topics, including his opinions on the state of the crypto market. “I think that right now, we’ve been going through what can only be seen as a period of consolidation,” he said when asked about his thoughts on the price of Bitcoin 

BTC

$22,600

 as of Jan. 9, the date of the interview.

Bitcoin largely traded sideways for part of November and most of December. January, however, has seen the asset rise from below $17,000 to above $23,000. Looking back at Bitcoin’s price chart shows the asset near the beginning of its ascent on Jan. 9, sitting in the low- to mid-$17,000 range.

Merten noted that he likes to look at the big picture. “I think crypto is going through again this period of massive restructuring that I think is going to be overall good for the space long term, but I think people quite underestimate just how long this could really play out,” he explained, adding:

“The damage that was done by companies like FTX and Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, the whole fiasco with LUNA, is really going to leave an irreversible scar on the industry, and I think we need to understand not only how that contagion continues to play out but that it’s playing out in this little micro space within crypto. And when we really step out into the macro perspective, the big-picture view, we really start to see with inflation, global supply chain issues, that crypto is not going to be the leading asset class for some time.”

Throughout 2022, the crypto and blockchain space faced difficult times, seeing the collapse of multiple industry players. Industry hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and lending outfit Celsius both went bankrupt in 2022. Digital asset exchange giant FTX, crypto project Terra — with its LUNA and TerraUSD (UST) assets — and others also fell during the year, causing ripple effects in the crypto space.

“I say that as someone who got into crypto around 2016, 2017, who really rode the wave of the last decade in stocks and crypto,” Merten continued. “I think we need to understand that the end of that secular bull market where times were good, quantitative easing was fresh, there was lots of money being injected into the economy propping up asset evaluations — I think those times are unfortunately over, and we need to prepare for a cold winter where eventually we can start to look for some signs on bottoming.”

Merten also answered an array of other questions during the interview. Check out the episode and other episodes from Cointelegraph’s Crypto Trading Secrets podcast on Cointelegraph’s podcast page, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and TuneIn.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.