Saturday, October 31, 2026

Will Cryptocurrencies end up at Zero on Bubble Burst? - Yale Economist Explains

Ruchi Gupta

August 22, 2018

Securities and Exchange Commission. Photo by: Ethereum World News Archives.
Will cryptocurrency-bubble burst or bounce back? That is the single biggest question among many electric currency enthusiasts make in response to wild price swings experienced in recent months. After a dramatic rise to record highs of $20,000, Bitcoin (BTC) has come down tumbling amidst struggles to stabilize above the $7,000 mark.

Cryptocurrency Bubble Burst Thesis

Wild price swings have seen cryptocurrencies market value tumble from record highs of $800 billion to $200 billion. The crash has in some sense fueled a bubble burst that might take the cryptocurrency value to zero. While crashes in the mainstream financial sector are not something new, there are still some concerns as to whether cryptocurrencies will be able to navigate the stormy water. According to Yale University economist, Aleh Tsyvinski the probability of cryptocurrency collapsing in value to zero is low at just 0.3%. The economist bases his arguments on the fact that markets have also experienced periodic shocks and bounced back. For instance, the NASDAQ Composite did rally by more than 78% in the run-up to the dot.com burst in 2000. The index did rally again before tumbling down during the financial crises of 2009. It has since bounced back and experienced one of the most significant bull runs. “Our calculation is 0.3%. If you completely risk neutral, then based on the historical performance of cryptocurrency, you would assign a probability of 0.3% that its value will drop to zero,” said Mr. Tsyvinski.

Cryptocurrencies Bubble Bounce Back

One of the reasons why most people remain optimistic about cryptocurrencies surviving the current sell-off tide has to do with their ever-increasing use case and applications. Digital currencies are increasingly finding their way into mainstream industries all but fuelling talk they are here to stay as the currency of the future. For instance, Australia’s crypto exchange Cointree has teamed up with AI Payment firm Gobbill to allow people use cryptocurrencies to pay for bills. Financial services giant Northern Trust with $10.7 trillion in assets under management is in the process of investing in hedge funds betting on cryptocurrencies. Increased adoption and acceptance is one of the reasons why it is highly unlikely cryptocurrencies value will drop to zero.
What we know · the intelligence behind this page
Live from the substrate
What we're seeing
ESMO 2026 Oncology Data Wave Builds Toward Ivonescimab PDUFA, While Micro-Cap Biotech Exits the Market
Late October 2026 is a dense catalyst window led by ESMO 2026. Daiichi Sankyo's DXd antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs (DESTINY-Lung04, DESTINY-Breast11, REJOICE-Ovarian01/02, TUXEDO-3), Guardant's 25 abstracts and the PACE-LUNG ctDNA trial all report there. These feed into the FDA's 14 November 2026 PDUFA date for ivonescimab. Large and mid-cap developers with late-stage data and commercial launches (ZEGFROVY, ANKTIVA, MIUDELLA, lorundrostat, duvakitug) are drawing capital and attention. Spago Nanomedical's board decision to seek a Nasdaq First North delisting (EGM 19 November, application 25 January 2027) shows the capital squeeze on early-stage, single-asset names (Tumorad is Phase I).
Our read on the data ›
Signals we're tracking
EPKINLY Regulatory-Clinical Success Cascade
High probability of expanded label indications, additional combination approvals, and competitive positioning strength in follicular lymphoma market. Predicts positive commercial uptake and potential accelerated review for related indications.
Patterns we're watching ›
Where sources disagree
Ford Motor Company
Both facts give cash for Ford Motor Company at the same point in time (2025-12-31; FY 2025 year-end and Q4 2025 year-end are the same date). Both are labelled USD, but the values are 23,356,000,000 and 23.356, which cannot both be true in USD. The two numbers agree once the second is read as billions (23.356 bn = 23,356,000,000), so the economic content is consistent and the conflict is a unit/scale error in the Q4 2025 record. The period is not the reason for the conflict: a Q4 and an FY figure at the same year-end date should match.
We flag conflicts openly ›
Recently verified
✓ Checked against the original source
4,994
facts traced to their source — and we flag the ones that don't hold up.
101 entities tracked4,994 facts checked against source5,514 source documents archived
Query this data → isubstrate.com