Willywoo Says Crypto Market Favors Insiders, Urges Retail Investors to Stick to Bitcoin

Highlights:

• Crypto analyst Willywoo has explained why retailers will continue to struggle while large investors make huge profits.
• The analyst argued that retail investors have little or no access to insider information compared to large traders.
• He advised small-scale investors to stop chasing complex trading strategies and focus only on Bitcoin.

Willywoo, a renowned crypto analyst, has shared a new insight on why many investors struggled during the last market cycle. In a 25 March X post, the analyst noted that crypto structure favours insiders, while regular traders continue to struggle.

Citing an example, he pointed back to what happened after FTX’s collapse. According to him, the company was forced to sell most of its assets after it went bankrupt. 

The majority of the sold assets were large amounts of locked tokens, especially Solana (SOL). Because these assets were locked and could not be sold right away, FTX had to offer them at discounts, often more than 60% below their market valuations. Big investors were among the top beneficiaries of the heavily discounted sales because they had the capital to fund the purchases. They also had early access to the sales information. 

These large investors did not just wait for the tokens to unlock. They also opened short positions on futures markets. With this, they could protect themselves if the prices of the assets dropped. By combining income from the discounted sales, staking rewards, and future trades, the big investors were able to amass profits of about 70 to 80% with very minimal risks. 

🚨WILL WOO: CRYPTO IS RUN BY INSIDERS, JUST BUY $BTC

On-chain analyst @WillyWoo has posted a detailed breakdown of why retail crypto investors got systematically crushed last cycle.

He traced it to hedge funds buying locked FTX tokens at 60%+ discounts, then immediately… pic.twitter.com/Dk5quLlwtp

— BSCN (@BSCNews) March 25, 2026

Retailers Should Focus on Bitcoin, Crypto Analyst Warns

Willywoo stated that the above strategy did not end with FTX-related assets. He noted that many crypto projects held a significant amount of locked tokens. Like the FTX deal, these assets were quietly sold to large investors under similar deals. On the other hand, retailers were made to believe that the assets were still locked and could not affect the market.

The crypto analyst stated:

“Every crypto project has backers (and a foundation) who have great wads of locked tokens that have been sold to hedge funds and dumped on you immediately through futures markets.”

Despite Bitcoin’s relatively impressive performance, Willywoo argued that the strategy was one of the major reasons why many altcoins underperformed between 2023 and 2025. He, however, noted that the situation might improve in the current market cycle. This is because many of the locked tokens have already been sold. Consequently, future sell pressure might not be as strong as many people think. 

Overall, he warned that the crypto market mostly favours those with insider information and advanced strategies. The analyst added that regular investors will find it very difficult to beat this trading approach. Hence, retailers should stick to Bitcoin instead of chasing complex trades or investing in unknown tokens. 

I'm seeing crypto folk falling into the trough of dispair after an abysmal bull market with mainly losers and BTC outperforming their "beta".

Let me tell you a story that tells you why you got screwed. It starts with the end of FTX.

When the bankruptcy folk came in to liquidate…

— Willy Woo (@willywoo) March 25, 2026

Market Participants React to Willywoo’s Claims

Simon Dixon, a renowned Bitcoin enthusiast and analyst, commented on Willywoo’s tweet. He totally agreed with Willywoo’s view. According to him, bankruptcy cases like FTX tend to favour a small group of powerful individuals. This group makes huge profits, while ordinary investors suffer losses. Like Willywoo, he advised retailers to stick to Bitcoin and have stronger control over their assets.

Another market expert, Matthew Hyland, also agreed with Willywoo’s claims. However, he added another angle to the discussion. He argued that the wider economy also contributed to the poor crypto market cycle experienced between 2023 and 2025. “The largest reason is due to the Macro being in a risk-off environment for the past 4 years,” Hyland stated.