Bitcoin's Resilience Debunking the Tulip Mania Myth After 17 Years

Bitcoin can no longer be compared to the Tulip Bubble due to its endurance and resilience over the years, according to Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg's exchange-traded fund expert. Balchunas stated, 'I personally would not compare Bitcoin to tulips, no matter how bad the sell-off.' He highlighted that the tulip market rose and collapsed in around three years, while Bitcoin has survived multiple sell-offs to reach all-time highs, demonstrating significant recovery from six to seven setbacks.

Bitcoin is still up by 250% over the past three years and was up 122% last year, according to Balchunas. He criticized the ongoing comparisons to tulips, saying, 'Some people just hate this asset and want to enrage the people who like it.' Earlier this month, Michael Burry referred to Bitcoin as the tulip bulb of our time.

In 2017, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon referred to Bitcoin as worse than tulip bulbs and a fraud. Balchunas remarked that Bitcoin has only given up the extreme excess of the previous year and even if 2025 ends up flat or moderately down, BTC would still be operating at around 50% of its annual average.

He emphasized that not all assets need to be productive to hold value, countering the comparisons with tulips. Garry Krug, the head of strategy at German Bitcoin treasury company Aifinyo, agreed, stating that bubbles do not survive through multiple cycles, regulatory battles, geopolitical stress, and other challenges while still returning to new highs.