Horsley compares crypto with the internet cycle
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley posted on X that the crypto market is going through a transition similar to the one seen during and after the internet bubble. In his post, Horsley looked back to the 1990s, when the internet was still new and almost every idea seemed plausible. He wrote that hundreds of companies reached valuations between $500 million and $1 billion on the heels of possibility.
The comparison focuses on how a new technology cycle can move from broad enthusiasm to a narrower phase in which fewer companies continue to receive support. Horsley did not name specific internet companies in the post. Instead, he described the general shift from the 1990s internet boom to the early 2000s period after optimism had broken down.
From possibility-driven valuations to demonstrable merits
According to Horsley, the early 2000s marked a clear change from the previous period. The optimism had burst, and hundreds of companies no longer had a bid. In the earlier phase, a wide set of internet-related ideas could attract major valuations because the technology was new and the range of imagined use cases was broad. After the shift, the market no longer treated so many companies in the same way.
Horsley wrote that fewer companies which proved their merits went on to flourish. He added that because those companies succeeded on demonstrable merits, they ran for longer and became bigger than the companies from the prior cycle. This is the central historical pattern he used in the post: first, a broad wave of confidence around a new technology; then, a collapse in optimism; then, a smaller group of stronger companies growing for a longer period and reaching larger scale.
The same transition in crypto
Horsley then applied that pattern directly to the crypto market. His post stated that this transition is underway in crypto. He said there will be fewer winners, but those winners will be riding demonstrable merits. In his view, those winners will be bigger and run for longer than people expect.
The post did not include a list of crypto projects, tokens, companies, price targets, or time frames. It was framed as a market-cycle observation rather than a project-specific call. The main point was that the crypto sector, like the internet sector after the 1990s boom, is moving toward a phase where fewer participants succeed, while the successful ones are supported by more clearly demonstrated value.
Publication details and X page data
The X post was published by Hunter Horsley at 4:37 on June 21, 2026. The page showed 25,000 views. The input page also displayed the text Read 21 replies, along with interaction-related numbers 21, 27, 192, and 18. Foresight classified the item under market analysis and summarized the message as a view that the history of the internet bubble is being replayed in crypto, with future leading projects reaching larger scale and longer life cycles than expected.
In full, Horsley’s argument follows one line of comparison. In the 1990s, the internet was new and hundreds of companies gained $500 million to $1 billion valuations on the strength of possibility. In the early 2000s, optimism had burst and hundreds of companies no longer had a bid. After that, fewer companies that proved their merits flourished, ran longer, and became larger than the previous cycle’s companies. Horsley said this transition is now underway in crypto: fewer winners, but winners that are larger and longer-lived because they are based on demonstrable merits.