Analysis: Continuous negative funding rates and a complete collapse of market sentiment suggest that the market may be nearing its bottom

Felix Hartmann, the founder of Hartmann Capital, stated: "I might be a bit early, but I feel we are nearing the bottom.

The funding rate has been negative for some time now. The futures premium flipped to negative weeks ago.
AI tokens have fallen 80-99%. High-quality alternative tokens have retreated to their long-term trend lines, eliminating the excessive rise in Q4.
Market sentiment has completely collapsed - this is often the best signal.

Stablecoins won't disappear; they need on-chain infrastructure. AI agents are inevitable; they require non-KYC financial channels. Bitcoin's wealth effect once drove altcoins up, but that changed with the ETF era.

Fink expects an SOL ETF soon - unlike BTC/ETH, there's no pending issue with Grayscale. Pure capital inflow. ETFs could become events similar to Coinbase/Binance listings in this cycle. Cryptocurrency has a cultural problem - too much extraction and not enough creation. But real progress will come in stablecoin and AI fields over the next four years.

Today's despair feels as irrational as Q4's frenzy was. We may fluctuate, but most unlocked venture capital tokens were probably sold off over the past two quarters already. This might be the final stage."