Scott Melker Discusses Bitcoin's Evolving Landscape Amid Institutional Changes
In Episode 2 of Inside the Blockchain 100, “Bitcoin in a Post-Cycle Market,” Scott Melker, Host of The Wolf of All Streets Podcast, argued that the familiar four-year crypto playbook is no longer a reliable guide. In his view, ETFs and full-scale institutional participation pulled Bitcoin’s upside forward, muted the classic blow-off dynamics, and left the market in a confusing in-between state: a deep drawdown without the kind of euphoric top that typically precedes it. The implication, Melker said, is that investors should be careful about assuming the downside must match prior cycles—especially when the proportional upside never arrived. He believes “cycle is largely broken.” Bitcoin made a new all-time high “way too early,” he said, and the market never saw a true altcoin run. Without the traditional speculative crescendo, Melker believes today’s weakness could still be consistent with a volatile bull-market retracement rather than the start of a multi-year winter. A 55% Drawdown Doesn’t Have to Mean a New Crypto Winter Melker framed the current decline as historically familiar in magnitude, even if the surrounding narrative feels darker. Bitcoin is down roughly 55% from its high, he noted—similar to the sharp mid-2021 drawdown when Bitcoin fell from roughly $65,000 to $28,000 before ultimately recovering and making new highs. That precedent is why he pushes back on calls for an inevitable 85–90% collapse. If Bitcoin failed to deliver the 2–4x blow-off upside that defined prior cycle peaks, he asked, why should investors expect the same scale of capitulation on the way down? In that sense, Melker views current price action as potentially “yet another 50% bull market drawdown before rushing to new highs,” not definitive proof that the market has entered an extended bear phase. Bottoming Signals Are Flashing—But Sideways Time May Follow Melker said he remains “exceptionally bullish” on Bitcoin, and described multiple indicators he associates with market lows rather