My guess is that we are now in a phase where non-economic actors (e.g., govts) and large players (e.g., Winkle-types) can cooperate.  The latter needs the former to make their operations possible and the it would be in the interest of the former to limit the body-count of persons interested in the solution, it being significantly disruptive.

We've had 3 quarters of time for the fruit to ripen on the tree and it was time for a good shake.  Hopefully this will set the stage for some capitalization on the upside finally.  At least when it is all over which I'm hardly convinced of.  I'd been prepared for $250-ish, but it was just a round number I invented on the fly with no particular insight or analysis.

An alternate theory (perhaps shot down in other analysis, and I'm not following things all that closely) is that the latest Russian criminalization forced some whales to simply throw in the towel in the most expedient and straightforward way possible, and some of their counterparts in other locales mopped the BTC up.  If/when such criminalization happens in the West it will be very interesting to watch.  At that point there probably would be no venue in which to create a wall.