What to Do When the Market Crashes Right Before the Holidays

What to Do When the Market Crashes Right Before the Holidays

Date: 23 Dec 2025

Bitcoin fell below $86K this morning. Ethereum's hovering near $2,800. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is at 23, extreme fear. Over $1 billion liquidated in the past week. The Bank of Japan just raised rates. Markets are sliding globally.

And it's December 23rd.

People are supposed to be unplugging, spending time with family, wrapping presents, eating too much food. Instead, group chats are melting down. Founders are second-guessing Q1 budgets. Candidates are wondering if their January start dates are safe.

After 20 years in recruitment, five exclusively in Web3, We've seen this movie before. Markets don't care about your holiday plans. They don't pause for Christmas or New Year's. They do what they do, when they do it.

But here's what we've learned: How you respond to moments like this matters more than the moment itself.

So let me tell you what we're telling founders, candidates, and our own team as we head into the holidays during one of the choppiest weeks of the year.

The Reality Check Nobody Wants to Hear

Let's get this out of the way:

Yes, the market is rough. Bitcoin's down 30% from its peak. Layer 2 tokens are getting hammered. ETF outflows hit $3.55 billion in November. Institutional sentiment is cautious. Galaxy Research is calling 2026 "one of the most difficult years to forecast" for Bitcoin.

Options pricing implies equal probability of Bitcoin hitting $70K or $130K by mid-2026. That's not a forecast, that's chaos.

And yet...

22,000+ Web3 jobs are still active globally. 172 new Web3 jobs were posted just this week. Companies like Crush Rewards, Wintermute, and Silo Finance are actively hiring through the holidays. Salaries still range from $130K-$270K for blockchain developers, $110K-$240K for compliance officers.

So here's the uncomfortable truth: The market is brutal. But the work continues. The opportunities exist. And the people who understand this will be positioned better when things stabilize.

What Founders Are Getting Wrong Right Now

We've had three conversations with founders in the past 48 hours that all went the same way:

"Should we freeze hiring until January?"
"Should we rescind the offers we made last week?"
"Should we cut Q1 budget plans?"

Here's what we told all three of them:

If your hiring strategy collapses every time Bitcoin drops 15%, you don't have a strategy. You have a reaction.

The founders who will win 2026 aren't the ones panicking about Bitcoin at $86K. They're the ones asking:

"Do we still need this role to execute our roadmap?"
"Is this candidate still the right person?"
"Does our Q1 plan still make sense based on our milestones?"

If the answers are yes, keep moving. Bitcoin's price doesn't change whether you need a smart contract engineer or a compliance officer to ship your product.

We get it. It's hard to make confident decisions when the market is dropping daily and you're about to be offline for a week. But here's the thing: Your best competitors aren't pausing. They're using this moment to upgrade their teams while everyone else freezes.

One founder we spoke with yesterday put it perfectly: "My product doesn't care what Bitcoin's doing. Neither should my hiring."

He made two offers on December 20th. Both accepted. Both start January 6th. While his competitors are "waiting to see what happens," he's staffing up.

What Candidates Are Getting Wrong Right Now

On the flip side, we're seeing candidates spiral in the other direction.

"Should I accept this offer if Bitcoin might drop to $70K?"
"What if they rescind after New Year's?"
"Should I wait until the market recovers to make a move?"

Here's the reality:

The best opportunities don't wait for market conditions to improve. They get filled while you're waiting.

If you have an offer from a company with solid fundamentals, clear runway, and a mission you believe in, take it. Market volatility is the constant. Waiting for "perfect conditions" means waiting forever.

The questions you should be asking:

"How long is their runway?"
"What's their burn rate?"
"Are they building for 2027 or reacting to Q1 token price?"
"Do they have revenue, or are they purely VC-funded?"

If the answers check out, the fact that Bitcoin's at $86K instead of $100K is noise.

We placed a senior blockchain developer last week. She had three offers. All three companies were solid. She chose the one with the longest runway and the clearest mission, not the one offering the highest comp.

She starts January 2nd. While others are waiting for "market clarity," she's locked in a role that will define the next 2-3 years of her career.

The Holiday Hiring Paradox

Here's something most people don't realize:

The holidays are one of the best times to hire or get hired in Web3.

Why? Because most people check out. Founders go dark. Candidates stop applying. Recruiters take vacation.

But the companies and candidates who stay active? They have the field to themselves.

We've made some of our best placements between Christmas and New Year's. Why? Because:

Less competition - Most candidates aren't actively looking
Faster decisions - Companies that are hiring now are serious
Better terms - Less bidding war pressure on both sides

If you're a founder who needs talent, this is your window. If you're a candidate exploring options, the companies hiring right now are the ones that don't let market noise dictate their strategy.

What We're Telling Our Team

CryptoRecruit doesn't shut down for the holidays. We never have.

Not because we don't value time off, we do. But because talent acquisition doesn't pause. Companies need people. People need opportunities. And the work continues regardless of what day it is.

Here's what we told our team yesterday:

"Bitcoin's down 30%. Everyone's panicking. Half the industry is checking out for two weeks. That means the founders and candidates who are serious right now have our full attention. Let's make sure they get it."

We have active searches running through the holidays. We're making placements on December 26th. We're scheduling interviews for January 2nd.

Because here's what two decades in recruiting has taught us: The best hires don't happen when conditions are perfect. They happen when both sides are ready, regardless of external noise.

The 2025 Reflection Nobody's Talking About

Let's zoom out for a second.

2025 was supposed to be the year. Bitcoin hit $111K in October. The crypto market crossed $4 trillion. Regulatory clarity improved. Institutions kept entering.

And then... volatility. Corrections. Pullbacks. Fear.

But here's what actually happened in 2025:

Institutional adoption accelerated - BlackRock, JPMorgan, Fidelity launched products
Regulatory frameworks solidified - MiCA, GENIUS Act, OCC guidance, Japan's FIEA
Infrastructure matured - Layer 2s scaled, stablecoins processed $46 trillion annually
Real-world use cases emerged - Tokenization, cross-border payments, institutional custody

The price action was choppy. But the fundamentals kept improving.

And the hiring? Web3 employment grew by 100,000+ professionals this year, reaching over 460,000 globally. Job growth is projected to increase another 30% in 2026.

So as you head into the holidays watching Bitcoin bounce around $86K, remember: The work that matters isn't measured in daily price action. It's measured in infrastructure built, products shipped, and teams assembled.

So as you head into Christmas with Bitcoin at $86K and fear in the air, remember this:

The market will do what it does. Your response is what matters.

From all of us at CryptoRecruit: Happy holidays. Stay focused. Keep building.

Ready to hire smart — or be hired into something big?

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What to Do When the Market Crashes Right Before the Holidays