Bitcoin News Today: Bitcoin Plummets 84% From Peak In 2018 Crypto Crash

In December 2017, the San Francisco Bitcoin Meetup holiday party was a bustling event filled with crypto enthusiasts. Bitcoin had just reached nearly $20,000, and Ethereum was holding steady above $700. Amidst the excitement, two young men, Frédéric Fortier and Mathieu Baril, posed for a photo that would become iconic in the crypto world. Fortier wore an Ethereum sweater, while Baril donned a Bitcoin one. This image was featured in a New York Times article titled "Everyone Is Getting Hilariously Rich and You're Not."

However, the euphoria was short-lived. The market began to decline sharply, experiencing one of its steepest drops in history. This downturn, known as the "Great Crypto Crash," saw Bitcoin fall over 80% from its all-time high, triggering a broader wipeout across nearly all digital assets. The decline started in January 2018, accelerated by regulatory fears, a significant hack at Coincheck, and ad bans from major platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter. By December 2018, Bitcoin had plummeted to around $3,100, marking an 84% drawdown from its peak, surpassing the scale of the dot-com collapse.

For years, the fate of the sweater-clad duo remained a mystery. Speculations ranged from jokes about the Ethereum guy "slow rugged" to assumptions that they had cashed out and disappeared. However, recent findings reveal a different story. Fortier is now a co-founder and lead contributor at DerivaDEX, a decentralized derivatives exchange built through a research and development group called DEX Labs. His profiles indicate that he has been actively involved in the Ethereum ecosystem, trading and building through multiple boom-and-bust cycles. Notably, his first name was spelled as "Fredric" in the original New York Times piece, not Frédéric as his LinkedIn profile suggests.

Baril, on the other hand, has taken a different path. He is now the CEO of Octav, a Web3 analytics startup specializing in on-chain transaction labeling for DAOs, crypto treasuries, and institutional clients. He also teaches treasury strategy at the Crypto Accounting Academy. Despite their early crypto fame, neither Fortier nor Baril has made a huge deal of their past. The legacy of that photo, capturing the height of 2017 euphoria, still lingers in memes, explainer decks, and nostalgic Twitter posts. Some have even reworked the iconic photo to reflect the current hype cycle, pointing to new projects like Pump.fun and Hyperliquid as the new Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Their paths reflect an observable split in the crypto space itself: spectacle versus substance. While others vanished, Fortier and Baril built serious careers in the crypto industry. Fortier's involvement in DerivaDEX and his past work at Enigma show his commitment to the Ethereum ecosystem. Baril's leadership at Octav and his educational role at the Crypto Accounting Academy demonstrate his dedication to the field. Their stories serve as a reminder that, despite the volatility and hype, there are those who continue to build and innovate in the crypto world.