Despite the record attention of institutional investors and the launch of spot ETFs, bitcoin’s volatility has not disappeared — and the price decline could reach 50% again, BitMine chair Tom Lee warned.

“I’m sure there will be 50% drawdowns,” Lee said in an interview with crypto entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano.

Amid growing claims about the alleged “maturity” of the crypto market, Lee believes that bitcoin is still amplifying stock fluctuations:

“The stock market has more frequent 25% drawdowns. […] If the S&P is down 20, bitcoin could be down 40,” he said.

According to him, over the past six years, the stock market has shown significant progress, but at the same time, there have been “unusually many” serious pullbacks.

Lee also believes that bitcoin has moved away from the classic four-year cycle that was supposed to peak in October this year:

“A longer cycle is taking shape,” he said.

This opinion is also shared by Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and investment director at the Maelstrom fund, who believes that bitcoin can reach $200,000 by the end of the decade.

On the Bankless podcast, Lee confirmed his forecast of $200,000-$250,000 by the end of the year.

Even a 50% correction from this range would bring bitcoin back to around $125,000, close to its current all-time high.

Famous trader Peter Brandt also drew attention to the risk of a 50% drop, comparing bitcoin’s chart to the soybean market of the 1970s — before the sharp collapse.

Similar scenarios have already happened: in November 2021, the first cryptocurrency updated its historical high of $69,000 and halved in three months to around $35,000 in January 2022.

Meanwhile, Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor recently stated that “there will be no more crypto winter” and called the asset the foundation of the new global financial system.