According to Eric Balchunas, an expert on exchange-traded funds at Bloomberg, Bitcoin has surpassed the “Tulip Bubble” comparison due to its remarkable endurance and resilience throughout the years.
“Personally, I would refrain from likening Bitcoin to tulips, regardless of how severe the sell-off may be,” he stated on Sunday.
Balchunas highlighted that the tulip market experienced a rapid rise and collapse within approximately three years, describing it as “punched once in the face and knocked out,” whereas Bitcoin (BTC) has faced “six to seven haymakers” and still managed to hit all-time highs, enduring for 17 years.
“The endurance alone justifies moving beyond the tulip comparison, not to mention that it has increased by about 250% over the past three years and was up 122% last year.”
He opined that some individuals simply dislike this asset and enjoy aggravating its supporters, a sentiment that is unlikely to change.
Earlier this month, investor Michael Burry from “The Big Short” referred to it as “the tulip bulb of our time.” In 2017, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon famously claimed that Bitcoin was “worse than tulip bulbs” and a “fraud.”
Tulips pump and dump in three years
During the Dutch Golden Age, the tulip mania represented a speculative craze in the Netherlands. Tulip bulbs, which had been introduced from Turkey, became status symbols among affluent Dutch merchants.
Prices skyrocketed in 1634, reaching their peak in 1636 when some rare tulip bulbs were sold for more than the cost of a house in Amsterdam. The market abruptly crashed in 1637, with prices dropping by over 90% within weeks.
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Often cited as one of history’s earliest documented speculative bubbles, the tulip mania gave rise to the well-known pump and dump chart pattern.
Bitcoin and Tulips: an inaccurate comparison
Balchunas added that all Bitcoin has done this year is relinquish the excesses of the previous year.
Even if 2025 ends up being flat or experiences moderate declines, BTC is still operating at approximately 50% of its annual average. It’s normal for assets to cool off occasionally, including stocks, and people are “overanalyzing it,” he remarked.
The ETF expert also challenged claims about Bitcoin being non-productive.
“Indeed, both Bitcoin and tulips are non-productive assets. However, so is gold, as are Picasso paintings and rare stamps. Would you compare those to tulips? Not all assets need to be productive to hold value.”
While tulips were “defined by euphoria and collapse,” Bitcoin is a “different beast.”
Garry Krug, head of strategy at German Bitcoin treasury company Aifinyo, agreed, stating, “Bubbles do not survive multiple cycles, regulatory challenges, geopolitical tensions, halvings, exchange failures, and still rebound to new peaks.”
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