Tom Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, highlighted a significant deleveraging event on October 10 that led to a decoupling of cryptocurrencies from gold. In an interview on January 20, Lee noted that prior to this event, crypto assets had consistently outperformed gold. The deleveraging severely impacted the market-making system, resulting in sharp declines in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. Despite these challenges, Lee emphasized that Bitcoin continues to be viewed as digital gold, though he cautioned that the path to widespread crypto adoption will be volatile, with 2026 potentially marking a pivotal year for validation.