Why Crypto’s Dip is Just as Much a Cultural Problem as a Financial One

Crypto has made it through 2025 without a total collapse or a headline scandal. Even so, this is shaping up to be one of the industry’s toughest years yet. For most of the year, things looked solid. Bitcoin climbed steadily and peaked at about $126,000 in October.

That has been more than a 30% rise since January. But that momentum did not last. A mix of pressures has erased those gains. Bitcoin is now down roughly 7% for the year. That is a sharp contrast to the S&P 500, which is up around 15% over the same period. Currently, there is also no clear villain for the industry to point to. 

The tough U.S. regulators from the Biden era are no longer there. They have been replaced by a government that openly supports crypto and is led by a president who calls himself pro-crypto. Congress is moving forward with laws the industry has backed. Big institutions have also invested, pouring billions into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Yet, despite all that support, crypto is still struggling to find stable ground. 

Who is Responsible for the Current Downturn?

Bitcoin has been hovering near $90,000 in recent weeks. Then another wave of sales hit the market. That drop pushed the price down again, this time to around $86,000. If people in the crypto world are looking for someone to blame for this downturn, they may need to look inward. There are some clear technical reasons behind the slide.

One of the biggest was the heavy buildup of leveraged trades. These are risky bets that can magnify gains but also lead to sharp losses. Many of those positions vanished during a sudden market crash in early October. Still, the weakness in prices feels deeper than a simple aftershock from that event.

The appetite for risk has not disappeared more broadly. The tech-focused Nasdaq has actually outperformed the wider stock market. That raises an obvious question. Why are investors avoiding crypto while taking risks elsewhere?

A Cultural Problem

One possible answer is the culture around the crypto itself. Despite years of talk about maturity, parts of the industry still feel stuck in the past. That is making many potential investors uneasy. This year, crypto supporters got almost everything they wanted on the legal and regulatory front. 

Even so, the industry has failed to deal with its ongoing image problems. Scammers, hackers, and online trolls remain highly visible. Many of them seem unaware or uninterested in the idea that crypto is trying to clean up its reputation.

Over the summer, promoters of memecoins even took credit for throwing sex toys onto WNBA courts. They said it was their way of making memes “funny again.” Episodes like that only reinforce the sense that parts of the space are not taking themselves seriously.

More damaging are the everyday scams. Crypto ATM fraud has become widespread. In the United States alone, these schemes have cost victims more than $330 million this year.

There have also been more extreme cases. Criminals have targeted crypto investors directly, kidnapping them to force access to their digital wallets. Industry researcher Chainalysis reports that more than 30 of these wrench attacks have occurred this year. Many cases likely go unreported.

One case grabbed national attention in the summer, when a 28-year-old investor escaped from a luxury apartment in Manhattan. He accused two men of holding him for weeks, beating him, and threatening to kill him unless he handed over his crypto passwords.

Is Investing in Crypto a Bad Idea?

None of this means that investing in crypto is automatically a bad idea. Many people still believe crypto is the future, and one quiet bright spot amid the cultural shift is how crypto is finding much simpler everyday footholds.

Experts point to bitcoin casinos as a low-friction entry point where millions of casual users are dipping into BTC just to play a few games on their phones. For those curious about getting started safely, it is crucial to find the website that breaks down the easiest and most secure casino payment options available.

Still, it is hardly comforting that crypto is the way. That is especially true for people who bought Bitcoin near its recent high. They are now facing heavy losses. 

Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad said everyday investors are in a tough spot. He said many people struggle between fear of missing out on a promising opportunity and discomfort with crypto’s darker side and its loudest promoters.

According to him, that tension tends to exaggerate price swings, pushing markets sharply up and down. He added that this pattern looks very similar to what is happening now.

Bitcoin’s latest surge, which followed President Donald Trump’s re-election, pulled in a wave of new investors. Many of them primarily focused on rising prices, not on the politics or culture surrounding crypto. Prasad said that once the financial momentum faded, there was little to convince those newcomers to stay.

He noted that while retail investors are willing to test the waters, they are just as quick to step back when things start to look uncertain. In his view, the doubts people have long had about crypto are resurfacing, and that is weighing heavily on confidence across the market.