Armstrong Sees Crypto Bear Cycle Nearing End as Bitcoin Surges

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that crypto spot trading may be nearing its next bull market. The current downturn has been ongoing for about a year, which is close to the length of earlier bear cycles.

According to Armstrong, previous crypto bear phases lasted around 370-380 days. He cited this as a reason to think that the current downturn will soon come to an end and be replaced by a bull market.

The data appears to support Armstrong's view. Spot volume across 14 major exchanges fell by 21.7% in July, while derivatives volume dropped by 11.1%. However, Bitcoin has recently seen a price surge, trading near $78,700 after the US Treasury expanded its long-dated bond buyback program.

Armstrong emphasized that timing is now crucial and pointed to the upcoming Senate vote on the CLARITY Act as well as the traditionally strong final three months of the year under Bitcoin halving cycles. However, analyst Benjamin Cowen remains more cautious, suggesting that there is still a 'decent chance' of one final selloff if patterns from previous US midterm years repeat.