The latest wave of crypto liquidations has driven retail investors away from digital assets, according to Crypto Banter founder Ran Neuner, who described the market’s current state as “max pain.”
In an interview at Consensus Hong Kong 2025, Ran Neuner told Cointelegraph that when Bitcoin (BTC) reached 60% market dominance, investors quickly pivoted to altcoins, assuming the market would follow the traditional four-year cycle — only to be met with a massive liquidity flush.
The flush was triggered in part by the threat of trade wars between the US, Canada and Mexico, which led to a large market sell-off and at least $2.4 billion liquidated in 24 hours.
Altcoins, including Ether (ETH), suffered steep declines in prices. Neuner said no one thought the second-biggest cryptocurrency would crash so hard in one night, and “that put a lot of people off-guard.”
The situation may have scared off YouTube’s crypto retail audience. Neuner said good-quality Crypto Banter videos are getting between a quarter to one-third fewer views than they were during the 2021 crypto bull market. But he added that “where there’s money to be made, retail will arrive.”
Related: There is a ‘massive disconnect’ between retail and pros in crypto: Bitwise CIO
While he is bullish on memecoins, he added that they may have been a hindrance to onboarding retail, as new investors “walked into the most corrupt casino in the world, just filled with insiders, snipe bots and whatever else. So, I think it’s going to be a long time before retail gets here, but they will come.”
Memecoins have been a particular lightning rod of controversy in the past week due to the LIBRA rug pull scandal. According to Nansen, investors saw a combined loss of around $251 million. Argentine President Javier Milei has been drawn into the controversy due to his role in posting about the LIBRA token on X.
Related: Pump.fun founder calls for memecoin guardrails amid ‘Libragate’
As Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 21, Solana token launches are slowing significantly, with Pump.fun, a Solana memecoin launcher, posting its weakest revenue since early November 2024.
Neuner is expecting a much tamer cycle and much more protracted ones later. In his view, the four-year cryptocurrency cycle is dead. “I think the reason is because the rate of emission now is so small relative to the market capital of Bitcoin. And it’s, like, not really significant in the big scheme of things.”
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