Alex Ohanian still bullish but says bearish market is good for innovation

Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit and a very bullish crypto advocate, believes the current bearish sentiment affecting the market is good for digital asset innovation.

He suggests that a bear market will eliminate factors of distraction and thus allow those working on crypto and blockchain projects to focus more and produce better results.

Ohanian founded Reddit from his university dorm room back in 2005. It is reportedly worth about $1.8 billion but Ohanian, who is married to tennis player Serena Williams, only has about $10 million in the bank. The forum has become a platform for Bitcoiners to exchange views on the cryptocurrency, giving him a means to observe, engage and learn about the BTC community.

Reddit users lash out

His comments immediately drew some harsh replies on the platform.

A user identified as nestrong told him to “tell your wife to pump our shitcoins bro!!” SuperNewk shot back with, “says billionaire who doesn’t have to feed kids at home. Most of us are torn between adding 1-2 more Bitcoin or putting food on the table or buying diapers”. (Factoid: Ohanian has a son with Williams).

Others, however, defended Ohanian’s statement. Jhawks wrote: “He said it was good for crypto innovation, not for bag holders. Only projects that are taking steps towards actual usage and adoption will get serious attention in a tough market, whereas shitcoins that were created simply as money grabs were mooning in the bull market.”

Bullish predictions

In August, Ohanian said Bitcoin would reach the price of $21,000 by the end of this year. He also predicted Ethereum would be at $1,500 before 2019.

When asked if he believed the bear market would continue, he stated that the cryptocurrency market will begin to move upwards once again.

His partner at Initialised Capital, Garry Tan, is also optimistic. “How it comes out of the current crypto winter, we still think it will come back to real use cases,” he has commented.

“The last time this happened, Bitcoin went from north of $1,000 down to $250, and that winter lasted years. People started losing hope, and out of that came Etherium [sic]. Truly useful things come out of the nadir of the last hype cycle.”