When people start Googling whether Bitcoin is going to zero, you know fear has taken over.

Google searches for "Bitcoin going to zero" just spiked 250% compared to baseline levels. The total search volume is now higher than it was in 2022 during the FTX collapse… arguably crypto's darkest moment in history.

Let that sink in. More people are searching for Bitcoin's death now than when a $32 billion exchange imploded and took customer funds with it!

What does this mean? It's a fear gauge. And right now, fear is definitely winning.

But there’s something you should know about extreme fear: it's historically been a better time to buy than to panic sell. We're not saying you should buy. That's your decision based on your risk tolerance and financial situation. But we are saying that when everyone is searching "is it going to zero," the crowd is usually wrong.

Bitcoin has been declared dead 467 times. It always comes back. Whether it does this time is anyone's guess, but betting against it has been a losing trade historically.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index just hit 5 out of 100, matching the lowest reading it’s ever had.

The only other time it went that low was in 2019, when it touched 5 during the post-bull-market collapse. If you remember 2019, you remember what came next: a slow, painful grind that eventually led to new all-time highs in 2021.

Current situation:

Polymarket odds now put Bitcoin hitting $60K before $80K at 66% probability. CryptoQuant analysts are calling $55,000 the "ultimate bear market bottom" if we get there.

So are we heading to $55K? Maybe. Nobody knows. What we do know is that extreme fear readings like this don't last forever. They either mark bottoms or get even more extreme before reversing.

The question is whether you're positioned to take advantage of fear, or whether you're contributing to it.

Peter Thiel and Founders Fund just sold their entire stake in ETHZilla (NASDAQ: ETHZ), the Ethereum treasury company they bought into last June.

Thiel is the tech investor billionaire who was Facebook’s first investor and co-founded PayPal and Palantir.

And when Thiel and Founders Fund purchased that 7.5% stake in ETHZilla last year, shares spiked on the news. Now? They're out of the stock completely.

And ETHZilla is apparently pivoting to tokenize ownership of… jet engines?

Why the exit? Well, probably because crypto and crypto treasury stocks are getting absolutely demolished right now:

Thiel's exit is definitely a signal… Whether it's a signal to run or a signal that we're near a bottom depends on your read of his track record. He's been early and right before. He's also been early and wrong.

But one thing's clear: even the billionaire true believers are taking chips off the table.

The question is whether they're selling the bottom or getting out before it gets worse. Time will tell!

Coinbase just posted disappointing earnings that sent shares down further in an already brutal year.

The numbers:

CEO Brian Armstrong's response? Wall Street just doesn't get it.

"I do think Coinbase is a bit of a misunderstood company," Armstrong wrote on X. "Crypto is directly disrupting Wall Street, so it makes sense that some on Wall Street would misunderstand crypto/Coinbase… The smartest ones are going to embrace it. The laggards are going to be left behind” (DLNews).

Is he right? Kind of.

Here's the thing: Coinbase's core business (trading fees) suffers when crypto prices drop and volatility dies. But Armstrong's point about Wall Street missing the bigger picture isn't totally wrong, either.

What Wall Street seems to be missing:

Armstrong isn't wrong that Coinbase is misunderstood. But he's also asking investors to look past near-term pain toward a long-term vision. And in markets like this, nobody wants to hear about vision. They want to see profits!

The irony is that if Armstrong is right about Wall Street not understanding crypto, then maybe Coinbase trading 40% down YTD is actually the opportunity he's saying people shouldn’t miss 😂

Not financial advice. Always do your own research.

We really appreciate you reading our newsletter, and we’d love to hear your feedback.

Look, we're not going to sugarcoat it: this market feels bad. Really bad. Google searches for "Bitcoin going to zero" are at all-time highs. The Fear & Greed Index was at 5. Peter Thiel is selling. Coinbase is missing earnings.

But here's what we know about extreme fear: it doesn't last forever.

Either Bitcoin is actually going to zero this time (which would be a first in its 17-year history), or we're somewhere in the capitulation zone where smart money accumulates while retail panics.

Same time next week? Sounds good.

Until next time,
- The Chain Team

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