The impact of the war in Iran, rising oil prices and economic pressures worldwide is impossible to ignore.  All actors across the crypto sphere have felt the pain of lack of confidence amongst consumers. There is no denying that these conditions have brought forward a bear market in cryptocurrencies.

But there is something different this time. Institutional Investment.

Many in the crypto world distrust traditional financial institutions, and see crytpocurrencies as a way to escape their grasp. That distrust was mutual, but in the past year, ETFs and improved regulatory frameworks have forced traditional financial firms to enter the crytpo market. This inflow of funds has had the effect of strengthening the floor of the major coins as the behavior of Bitcoin in this juncture reveals.

Previous bear cycles saw bitcoin drop to very low levels with respect to its previous all time high ATH price. But as bitcoin gained respectability the drop becomes less pronounced every time. As the chart shows, the low in the current cycle (as of July 29) was about 50% of the ATH.

But now, in this other chart we can compare how the top 10 crytpocurrencies are faring in this bear market.

And it is looking at this chart that an outlier case shines through. While all coins have lost over half of their value, Tron stands out as it has lost just some 12%.

But why is that?

Tron’s value is holding because it has managed to position its network as the dominant base for stable coins, specifically Tether (USDT) the most heavily used of them all. In this way, while other smart-contract networks handle mainly speculative assets, TRX serves more like a payment platform, with many of its transactions mirroring real FIAT operations. And as every one of these transactions needs gas, it generates a demand for TRX as fuel reducing pressure on the coin’s price.

Now, as long as Tron remains the leading stablecoin network its resiliance can be expected, which makes it an interesting asset to consider the next time a bear comes around.

Please note that this article was intended for entertainment purposes only, and does not constitute financial advice.