Glassnode co-founders Jan Happel and Yann Allemann, who publish under the @Negentropic handle on X, argue that the current crypto crash is being driven not by a broad narrative turn, but by a single, systematic source of sell pressure whose footprint is most visible in Bitcoin and is spilling into the wider complex. Their core assertion is categorical: “What’s happening in Bitcoin right now isn’t a narrative shift: it’s a mechanical unwind.” In that framing, the tape is reflecting the forced exit of one participant rather than an organic repricing of crypto risk.
They pair that observation with capitulation-like oscillators that are not accompanied by the usual macro or leverage shock. As they put it, RSI is near capitulation, “but there’s no macro stress, no credit shock, no leverage detonation, no ETF outflows.” The mismatch matters to their conclusion: “It’s extreme momentum without a catalyst: classic signature of mechanical selling.”
They then contrast today’s setup with prior episodes where MACD and RSI reached similar extremes. In those historical cases, Negentropic says, “Price was down 60%, derivatives were blowing out, funding was deeply negative.” By contrast, their read of the present is that confirming stress isn’t there. “ETFs remain net positive, their cost basis is still intact,” they write, and they emphasize that “long-term holders are removing supply aggressively.”
Independent tape watchers are describing a remarkably similar cadence. Front Runners (@frontrunnersx) reports that a large seller on Binance has been hitting the market with clock-like consistency. Over “two weeks straight,” they say, the entity “hit the sell button exactly at 9:30 EST, every US market open, without fail.”
They add that “kind of consistency usually points to a sophisticated actor operating under specific mandates or time windows,” and that it looks “less like random flow and more like a single entity (or a tightly-coordinated group).”
Krüger also highlights venue asymmetries that fit a routed-flow story: he has seen “relatively little spot selling routed via Coinbase this week,” while noting “extraordinary levels of spot selling via Bitfinex.”
Delphi Ventures founding partner Tommy Shaughnessy focuses on the urgency implied by the pace. If the flow has been present since 10/10, he writes, “the speed at which they’re selling BTC is pretty crazy.” He interprets that as compulsion rather than strategy: “Means they are price insensitive and need to exit, fast.” Shaughnessy characterizes the move as “violent,” but adds a key qualifier consistent with Negentropic’s finite-seller framing: it’s likely “short lived because it’s not orderly.”
Means they are price insensitive and need to exit, fast. (Someone had that chart of all red candles for days)
He also situates the moment within a longer unwind process, recalling a lesson from prior cycles: “it takes some time for all the bankruptcies to reveal themselves after a big liquidation flush like this,” because “shops are running around trying to figure out what their exposure to insolvent counterparties is.”
Taken together, the sources are presenting a coherent, internally consistent read: crypto’s downside is being dominated by a single, time-boxed, price-insensitive seller whose execution pattern is systematic enough to warp momentum indicators and intraday structure.
Negentropic’s bottom line is not merely descriptive but interpretive: “This is not capitulation. This is not a trend break.” It is, instead, “a constrained unwinding through a fractured market.” And because mechanical sellers end when inventory or mandate ends, the Glassnode co-founders argue that when it does, “the rebound will likely be far sharper than the decline that preceded it.”
At press time, the total crypto market cap was at $2.83 trillion.
