Bitcoin Critic Predicts Market ‘Bloodbath’

On December 31, Tether executed its largest coin burn in history, destroying over $1 billion USDT. Financial analyst Jacob King interprets this as a harbinger of a bear market.

BREAKING: Tether has burned over $1 billion tonight—their largest single burn in history. Something very big is brewing.

This marks the 4th major burn in 10 days. The last was in 2022, and prices subsequently nosedived over -55%.

The music is stopping. We will soon witness… pic.twitter.com/HbsosaHGse

— Jacob King (@JacobKinge) December 31, 2024

The expert noted that this is the fourth significant burn in the past 10 days. Previously, such dynamics led to a market drop of over 55%.

“The music is stopping. Soon we will witness the Great Bloodbath in Bitcoin we have been warning about,” King stated.

One commentator on X questioned the analyst’s predictions.

How long have you been warning about this? Because man I’ve been buying bitcoin since under $1000 and I’ve seen a lot of blood baths and 70% drawdowns and I just keep buying. I’m sure you’re gonna be the same the same thing at $2 million a coin. I think you’re missing what’s…

— Noah Kaufman, MD (@noahkaufmanmd) December 31, 2024

“How long have you been warning about this? I’ve been buying bitcoin since it was under $1000. I’ve seen many ‘bloodbaths’ and 70% drawdowns, and I just keep buying. I’m sure you’ll say the same thing when bitcoin is $2 million a coin. I think you’re missing what’s really happening here,” the social media user retorted.

Another suggested that the burning activity is linked to EU citizens exiting USDT due to the MiCA legislation.

Possibly because people un the EU are moving out of $USDT into other stable coins thus @Tether_to is burning supply to mirror the reduction. That’s how stable coins work. pic.twitter.com/8GLg7G1ZUB

— Dr. Ocktopus (@Octokrypto) December 31, 2024

“[…] People in the EU are moving from USDT to other stablecoins, so Tether is burning supply to reflect the reduction,” the commentator noted.

On December 30, 2024, new European regulations, including stricter requirements for stablecoins, came fully into force. Amid concerns about the legality of USDT in the EU, its market capitalization fell to approximately $137.5 billion.

King emphasized that prices will “plummet,” and the recent rally was driven solely by “manipulation and fraud.” He urged cryptocurrency holders to “lock in profits before it’s too late.”

According to technical analyst Ali Martinez, there is currently no reason to suggest the onset of a bear phase in the bitcoin market. 

Every #Bitcoin $BTC bear market began when the monthly RSI hit 92. Currently, it’s sitting at 75. pic.twitter.com/Ip3JGAwbm2

— Ali (@ali_charts) December 31, 2024

He highlighted that in the past, every bear market began with a relative strength index at 92. The current figure stands at 77.11.

The MVRV indicator, which signals whether an asset is over- or undervalued, also does not indicate an approaching bear phase.

Recent forecasts by Galaxy Digital experts suggest that in the first half of 2025, bitcoin will surpass $150,000, reaching $185,000 in the fourth quarter.

At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency is trading at around $94,000. Its market capitalization is $1.86 trillion.

On December 30–31, the stablecoin USDT deviated from $1 within a range of $0.007.

In December, MiCA was described as a “huge gift” to the traditional banking system, a sentiment echoed by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.