Crypto’s True Believers Demand to Be Taken Seriously Amid Market Turmoil
By Clara Molot | Photography by Jeremy Liebman | March 17, 2026
In the shadowed aftermath of crypto’s latest brutal downturn—a staggering $2 trillion wiped out and plummeting valuations marking the onset of what the community calls “crypto winter”—a group of steadfast believers remain undeterred. Despite the industry’s severe losses and the mainstream skepticism that has ensued, these devoted enthusiasts insist crypto is far more than mere speculation: it is a cultural and spiritual movement reshaping the very concept of money and value.
Walls Shaken but Belief Unbroken
In early February, Bison, a prominent crypto market maker who wished to remain anonymous, found his messaging app flooded with despair. “I don’t think I can do this anymore,” read one of dozens of such messages as the market suffered another 15% decline in mere days, hemorrhaging hundreds of billions of dollars in value.
With Bitcoin sinking nearly 50% over four months and altcoins like Ethereum and Solana dropping closer to 60%, the crypto market entered its harshest winter in years, evoking the ominous "Winter is coming" refrain from Game of Thrones. Founders and executives scrambled to salvage their ventures—some taking companies private, others closing desperate emergency funding rounds or outright abandoning ship.
Yet for all the carnage, veteran crypto insiders acknowledge it could have been worse; previous cycles saw losses up to 80 or 90 percent. Still, the atmosphere felt different this time, as the enthusiasm that propelled the market to its zenith during a deregulated era under the Trump administration gave way to a sober reckoning. Conversations with industry figures who once anticipated media attention as a triumph now stalled amid growing uncertainty.
The Faces Behind the Frenzy
Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of one of crypto’s largest hedge funds, polychain Capital, exemplifies the paradox of crypto culture. Despite losses, he jet-sets to extravagant events like TOKEN2049 in the UAE, embracing a lifestyle some might never associate with his upbringing as a preacher’s kid. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, by contrast, has grown conspicuously silent as regulatory pressures mount and billions evaporate from his personal fortune.
Ethereum’s cofounder Vitalik Buterin openly voices concerns on social media about the platform’s scalability and the addictive nature of some blockchain-based prediction markets—signaling fissures even among top-tier pioneers. Meanwhile, retail traders—often dismissed as “tourists” by early adopters—either panic-sell, chase newer tech trends such as artificial intelligence and blockchain prediction markets, or quietly abandon the “crypto bro” persona altogether.
But Meltem Demirors, an early investor and CEO of Crucible Capital, cuts through the noise with biting candor. Layered in diamond crosses and clad in a black sweatsuit emblazoned with her firm’s motto, “Believe in Something,” Demirors derides those abandoning ship as “pussies" and boldly proclaims her renewed faith by buying more Bitcoin for the first time in years.
A Gathering of the Faithful
On a cold February afternoon, a handful of these unyielding believers convened in a landmark building on New York’s Lower East Side—a former bank dubbed the “temple of capitalism,” now transformed into the luxurious Nine Orchard hotel, whose new co-owner is Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz.
Though collectively billions poorer on paper, Novogratz, Demirors, Carlson-Wee, investor Cathie Wood, and Danny Ryan, a key Ethereum Foundation figure, shared a common focus: accumulation, not despair. Wood and Carlson-Wee methodically stockpile Bitcoin while Ryan dismisses the daily market noise, humorously calling himself a “Luddite” who relies on others to inform him when action is required.
Demirors crystallizes their worldview: “Technology without belief, technology without spirituality, is nothing,” she says. “What we were building was a religious movement.”
Crypto as Religion and Asset Class
This perspective reframes crypto not merely as a volatile asset but as a social and ideological phenomenon. Every traditional asset class—gold, bonds, real estate, stocks—depends on collective belief in their value, stemming from scarcity, institutional trust, permanence, or human ingenuity. For crypto’s true believers, it represents a sixth class with a value rooted in decentralized technology, ideological conviction, and a shared narrative.
Cathie Wood recalls a conversation with Reagan-era economist Arthur Laffer who, skeptically, asked, “How big is the US monetary base?” When Wood queried the potential of crypto, Laffer’s answer underscored the enormous scale and fantasy embraced early by crypto’s evangelists.
The Origin Story: From Outcasts to Leaders
Michael Novogratz, a former hedge-funder clad in a sharp red Valentino suit, reflects on crypto’s genesis. Shortly after Lehman Brothers’ collapse in 2008 shattered faith in traditional finance, a mysterious figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper—a blueprint for a decentralized, peer-to-peer electronic cash system impervious to government control or inflation. Nakomoto’s disappearance added mystique and decentralized power among early adopters.
Erik Voorhees—founder of the ShapeShift exchange and AI startup Venice AI—fell in love with Bitcoin in 2011, drawn to its unalterable scarcity and freedom from centralized authority. Early adopters were often young, libertarian, and fervently online—a fringe movement yearning for social and political transformation in the wake of the financial crisis.
Carlson-Wee, who joined Coinbase as its first employee, remembers the early days as a secret club of believers convinced crypto would overhaul global finance. Amid widespread wealth inequality spotlighted by movements like Occupy Wall Street, crypto’s promise of financial self-sovereignty struck a powerful chord.
Holding the Line
Despite repeated crashes and an unforgiving market climate, the crypto faithful remain resolute. Their devotion transcends simple profit, embracing a mythology intertwined with technology, spirituality, and social revolution.
As the industry braces for a prolonged winter, these true believers continue buying, innovating, and preaching a gospel they say the world is only beginning to understand.
This article was originally published in Vanity Fair on March 17, 2026.