Bitcoin has vaporised more than US$800 billion in its latest crash and sucked US$1 trillion out of the broader crypto market.
With nearly US$2 trillion in market value and rising allocations from Wall Street firms, ETFs, pension funds, and insurers, Bitcoin is increasingly woven into traditional finance.
So the real question is unavoidable: can an asset this volatile, and this widely owned, become the spark that threatens the system holding it?
There was a time, not long ago, when the idea that Bitcoin could topple the global financial system belonged firmly in the tinfoil-hat corners of the internet.
A digital token birthed from a cypherpunk manifesto was never supposed to mingle with pension funds, banks, and hedge-fund balance sheets.
Yet here we are, with Bitcoin flirting with a US$2 trillion market cap and making itself very comfortable in the heart of traditional finance.
In its latest tantrum, Bitcoin wiped out roughly US$800 billion of value, more than the GDP of Switzerland, dragging the broader crypto market down by over US$1 trillion.
Impressive destruction, sure.
But the more important question isn’t how hard Bitcoin can fall; it’s who’s standing underneath it.