Crypto Youtube Crisis: “Even At The 2018 Bear Market, I Had Double The Views”

What Happened

Runefelt is not leaving crypto. He still publishes regularly and continues to invest in startups through TheMoon Group, which has backed more than 350 projects. But after seven and a half years of channel growth that has now reversed, his decision to diversify his identity beyond crypto creator is the most honest data point in the entire interview.

Market Context

Carl Runefelt remembers a different YouTube. The Swedish creator, known to his 650,000 subscribers as Carl Moon, has been making crypto videos since 2017, and he says this bear market has produced a viewership collapse he could not have predicted.

“Even like back in 2018 bear market, like at the low of the bear market, I had more than double the views that I have right now.”

That single line captures a structural reality that the entire crypto creator economy is now wrestling with. Crypto YouTube, once the dominant retail discovery channel for the asset class, is facing its worst crisis to date.

He emphasized that the squeeze is not isolated to his channel and that he has been making YouTube videos since 2017 across multiple cycles. None of his previous bear markets produced this kind of viewership collapse.

By early 2026, with Bitcoin trading near $76,500, that range had collapsed to roughly 15,000-20,000 views per upload.

For perspective, his views during the 2018 bear market low were more than twice what he records today, despite seven additional years of channel growth and subscriber accumulation. The trajectory is not typical for a bear market dip. It is a structural step down.

Faced with that landscape, Runefelt has been openly redirecting his attention. He told BeInCrypto he is now focusing significant energy on motorsport racing and music.

“Life is too short to struggle bear markets, you know, 24/7. I’ve done a few of those already, and I want to also have fun before it gets too old.”

Cowen’s Bitcoin Social Risk chart, published to his X account, color-codes Bitcoin price history by social engagement intensity.

Why It Matters

In an interview with BeInCrypto, Runefelt described the moment plainly.

The numbers, platform behavior, industry layoffs, and search trend data all point in the same direction.

Details

The Platform Turning Hostile

In April 2026, YouTube removed multiple crypto channels in a sweep that the platform justified as targeting “harmful and dangerous” content.

The purge wiped out roughly 35 million combined subscribers across affected creators, including Bitcoin.com’s flagship channel, which had been active since 2015.

For top creators still standing, the platform that built crypto YouTube is no longer a reliable home for it. Runefelt described the broader pattern.

“I’ve checked other channels and it seems to be the same across the board. Like it’s very few YouTube channels that are still actually pulling some good views.”

The View Collapse, in Numbers

In a separate appearance on the Matt Haycox Show podcast in late 2025, Runefelt put specific numbers to the decline. During the 2021 cycle peak, his videos routinely pulled 100,000 to 200,000 views each.

Carl’s Diversification

“I’m also focusing my energy on other things outside of crypto… motorsport racing nowadays. And I’m also focusing on my music because I love making music.”

The framing is not despair. It is adult triage.

Apathy as a Measurement

The view collapse is not just a vibes problem. It is now empirically measurable, and Benjamin Cowen, founder of Into The Cryptoverse, has been the loudest voice arguing the data.