The Crypto Winter Is Highlighting The Strength of Functional Coins

The digital asset market has entered a phase that many experts are calling a late-stage bear market. According to Vetle Lunde, a lead analyst at K33 Research, the current market looks a lot like the end of 2022. 

During that time, the speculative excess or the hype driven by borrowed money was finally cleared out. Today we are seeing a similar trend where the market is resetting itself.

While prices have dropped significantly, Lunde suggests that Bitcoin is likely to stay in a specific range between $60,000 and $75,000 for a while. For long-term investors, this creates a patience-testing zone. It is a time when prices stay flat, but it offers a chance to accumulate high-quality assets before the next big move.

Institutional Investors are Stepping Back

Recent data from CoinShares shows that big institutional investors are currently in a selling mode. For the fifth week in a row, these large players have pulled money out of the market, with $288 million leaving crypto funds in just seven days. This brings the total amount of money taken out of the market this year to $4 billion.

Bitcoin saw the most selling, with $215 million in outflows. Ethereum followed with $36.5 million leaving its funds. Even with all this selling, a few specific assets managed to attract small amounts of new money. For example, Solana added $3.3 million and XRP gained $3.5 million. 

This shows that even when the big reserve assets like Bitcoin are being sold, investors are still looking for projects with specific uses or utility.

Finding Value in the Extreme Fear Zone

When the market stays in a bear phase for a long time, sentiment usually drops to extreme fear. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index recently hit very low levels, which often happens right before a market finds its true bottom. In this environment, most coins keep hitting new lows every week, but WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) is showing signs of a different trend.

Currently, the daily RSI for WBT is at 37. In technical terms, an RSI (Relative Strength Index) near 30 often means an asset is oversold. This suggests that the selling pressure for WBT might be reaching its limit, making it an interesting point for those looking at long-term value. 

While Bitcoin struggles with billions in institutional outflows, WBT remains anchored by its role in the Whitechain ecosystem and its inclusion in the S&P Dow Jones Cryptocurrency Indices.

Why Some Assets Stabilize Faster

The reason most altcoins crash during a bear market is that they lack a steady reason for people to hold them. 

However, assets that act as infrastructure have a built-in advantage. Because WBT is used for transaction fees, staking, and exchange discounts, there is a constant demand for it that does not depend on Bitcoin’s price action.

Being part of the S&P indices also provides a level of protection. These indices only include coins that meet strict institutional rules for transparency and liquidity. This stamp of approval helps keep the price steady, as big funds often prefer indexed assets over purely speculative ones. 

While the market waits for Bitcoin to break out of its $60,000 to $75,000 range, these utility-driven coins are proving they can hold their ground.

The Bottom Line for 2026

The 2026 bear market is a test of endurance. With trading volumes at their lowest levels since last summer, the fast money has mostly left the building. What remains are the long-term investors and the projects that provide real value to the blockchain economy.

As institutional selling begins to slow down and assets like WBT hit oversold levels on the RSI, the market is quietly preparing for its next chapter. For those with patience, this late-stage phase is not about watching the daily crashes. Instead, it is about identifying the few assets that have the structural strength to survive the winter.