Market turbulence, is Bitcoin in a bear market? Experts say it's uncertain

This article is sourced from Decrypt, authored by Mathew DI Salvo.

• Bitcoin has been steadily declining since last month.
• Ethereum is experiencing the same.
• But experts are uncertain if we are entering a bear market.
  According to data from Nomic, Bitcoin is currently trading at around $32,000, down 9.4% in the past 24 hours and down 20% over the past week. It has even decreased by 2% since the beginning of this year. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum, has dropped 12.5% in the past day and nearly 24% in a week. Even active meme coins are declining, with Dogecoin depreciating by 33% in 24 hours.
  Do these declines mean we are entering another crypto winter? Experts have given a resounding "possibly" response.
  Today, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, who provides data for investors, stated on Twitter that the Bitcoin bear market is "confirmed," as large investors (known as whales) are sending their investments to exchanges.
  
  
  He later told Decrypt, "When whale inflows are prevalent, the market has historically been bearish," but added that it might be "more like a series of corrections that will last for weeks."
  Analyst Alex Kruger agreed, telling Decrypt today that what we are witnessing is "absolutely a bear market." He pointed out, "The only positive thing in the future is that everyone is very pessimistic," and that "things could get worse." However, he did add that "there is no single definition of a bear market"—a point also raised by Charles Bovaird, Vice President of Content at Quantum Economics.
  On the other hand, Pedro Febrero, blockchain director at crypto fantasy market RealFevr and a quantum economics analyst, believes it is too early to say whether a bear market has arrived. "I don't think so," he told Decrypt. "At least not yet. Give it a few weeks, and let's see."
  The crypto market has faced its worst correction in history since being battered last month: $500 billion was wiped out in an instant. Since then, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have suffered losses. However, some analysts remain optimistic and told Decrypt that the price adjustments are actually overdue. Fred Pye, CEO of Toronto-based cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) 3iQ, stated that Bitcoin's massive gains last year "were not sustainable for humans."
  But since then, Bitcoin has continued to gradually decline, with some investors selling off their holdings.
  
  Nevertheless, there is still a significant influx of funds into the space. Matt Aaron, co-founder of UniWhales, an application tracking large DeFi trades, told Decrypt that the crypto industry initially looked more like the internet, making it hard to predict the market's direction.
  "We have become accustomed to extreme volatility in the market," he said. "But if you look at the internet growth after 2001, with real-world adoption, we are closer to that than ever before, and maybe it will be more like that, rising year after year."