As cryptocurrencies bleed out across the board, one of the sharpest macro voices in the space has a new warning. Alex Krüger, the economist who called the market carnage following U.S. Presid
As cryptocurrencies bleed out across the board, one of the sharpest macro voices in the space has a new warning.
Alex Krüger, the economist who called the market carnage following U.S. President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement, wrote on X on June 3,
"I largely think of 'crypto' as a failed asset class at this point."
The timing is hard to ignore.
The total cryptocurrency market cap has slid 2.7% to $2.35 trillion. According to Decibel, Bitcoin (BTC) has tumbled from $73,800 and was changing hands at $65,677 at press time, down 2.87% in 24 hours.
The slide started right after Michael Saylor's Strategy announced its first sale of Bitcoin in years.
Bitcoin price movement on June 3Decibel
Along fell its peers. Ethereum (ETH) dropped 5.4% to $1,817.68, and XRP (XRP) slipped to $1.21. CoinGlass data shows 202,549 traders liquidated in the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $1.14 billion.
Related: Analyst cuts MicroStrategy price target by 20%
Krüger explained that most crypto assets are either worthless or have poor value accrual mechanics.
He added that founders have exploited the lack of regulatory guardrails to dump tokens on retail investors.
The analyst pointed to the memecoin supercycle as having "sucked everyone's souls [and] pockets dry." This was followed by a surge in DeFi hacks that he said has accelerated sharply since April 2025.
Krüger mentioned that his stance might contrast against the crypto adoption narrative. After all, stablecoins, tokenization of real-world assets, prediction markets, and the use of equity and commodity perpetuals on offshore and DeFi platforms are all growing. However, he framed these as "blockchain" stories rather than crypto in the traditional sense.
Despite the harsh verdict, Krüger carved out several exceptions.
He singled out Hyperliquid (HYPE) for distributing revenue to token holders via buybacks, calling it the model every investor should want.
In the privacy category, he highlighted Zcash (ZEC), noting its recent price strength against a falling Bitcoin as a sign of genuine reallocation rather than speculation.
For AI tokens, he pointed to Venice, a private AI platform whose token is backed by actual business revenue rather than narrative alone.
Krüger concluded by saying that the old guard of crypto may be in structural decline.
"One could say old 'crypto' is a failed asset class, but from the ashes come new beginnings, and the new face of crypto is one heavily dominated by the needs of Tradfi, prediction markets, AI, and privacy," he wrote.
Whether the market bottom reflects that transition or simply more pain ahead remains the open question.
Related: Trump’s 'Liberation Day' tariffs cost U.S. govt $2B in Bitcoin
