Willy Woo explains how FTX’s collapse quietly rigged the crypto market, leaving altcoin buyers at a loss whereas Bitcoin surged 400%.
Crypto analyst Willy Woo has a pointed clarification for why altcoin buyers struggled between 2023 and 2025. He shared it in an in depth publish on X.
In line with Woo, the collapse of FTX set off a sequence of occasions that quietly drained worth from retail crypto holders. Bitcoin surged over 400% to round $88,000 by late 2025. Altcoins, by comparability, barely moved.
How FTX’s Chapter Triggered Altcoin Promote Stress
When FTX collapsed in 2022, chapter directors stepped in with one objective: liquidate every part. That included huge quantities of locked Solana tokens.
I am seeing crypto folks falling into the trough of dispair after an abysmal bull market with primarily losers and BTC outperforming their “beta”.
Let me let you know a narrative that tells you why you bought screwed. It begins with the top of FTX.
When the chapter folks got here in to liquidate…
— Willy Woo (@willywoo) March 25, 2026
Woo defined that directors bought these tokens by way of off-chain authorized agreements, promising future supply in change for speedy fee.
Hedge funds jumped on the alternative.
They bought the locked SOL at reductions exceeding 60%, then shorted SOL futures to hedge their publicity. The end result was a close to risk-free return of 70–80%, combining staking yields, foundation yields, and the token low cost.
Retail buyers, unaware of this dynamic, purchased in at elevated costs and absorbed the losses.
Woo argued this was not an remoted incident. He famous that related preparations unfold throughout the broader crypto ecosystem, with venture backers and foundations promoting locked tokens to hedge funds.
These funds then offloaded the chance by way of futures markets, successfully dumping on bizarre buyers earlier than unlocks even occurred.
Bitcoin Dominance Rose as Altcoins Stalled
Whereas altcoins struggled, Bitcoin advised a really completely different story. BTC dominance climbed to between 55% and 60% throughout this era. Its value surged previous $88,000 by late 2025, reflecting sturdy institutional and retail demand.
Altcoins, weighed down by hidden promote stress, flatlined.
Woo summed up the state of affairs bluntly in his publish.
He wrote that every one the alpha retail buyers anticipated went straight to market-neutral hedge funds, capturing risk-free yield. The crypto “beta” play that many buyers counted on merely didn’t materialize.
Present market information from CoinGecko reveals Bitcoin buying and selling at $71,285, up 2.47% up to now 24 hours.
The Altcoin Season Index sits at round 48 on CoinMarketCap, nonetheless under the 75 threshold wanted to verify a real altcoin season. The altcoin market cap has recovered barely from February lows close to $950 billion.
Moreover, it stays nicely under January highs round $1.3 trillion.
What Consultants Say Traders Ought to Do
Woo supplied a cautious however clear takeaway.
He famous that many initiatives with tokens showing locked on paper have really already been bought off-chain. That would scale back anticipated promote stress in future cycles. Nonetheless, he stopped wanting recommending altcoins. His recommendation was easy: simply purchase Bitcoin.
Investor and FTX creditor Simon Dixon echoed that sentiment on X.
Dixon described FTX’s Chapter 11 course of as a wealth switch benefiting a choose group throughout the monetary system, whereas legal professionals drained worth meant for collectors.
He shared that some collectors misplaced every part, together with retirement financial savings and houses. Dixon urged crypto holders to maintain Bitcoin in self-custody, avoiding company or middleman layers completely.
The financial-industrial advanced beloved the FTX Chapter 11.
I adopted each stage of it, and what I noticed was clear: Chapter 11 is one other wealth switch to a small membership throughout the FIC, one which income whereas legal professionals drain the collectors.
I spent two years inside one in all these… https://t.co/ReOEFVuFrl
— Simon Dixon (@SimonDixonTwitt) March 25, 2026
Each analysts pointed towards the identical conclusion. The 2023–2025 cycle rewarded insiders who understood the mechanics of locked token offers.
For everybody else, Bitcoin remained the clearest path ahead.