I think the misunderstanding and unexpectedness is due to the most common mistake people do in the area of economics: they assume that economic actors (buyers, consumers, investors, sellers) are behaving rationally and acting in their best rational self-interest. It's been shown over and over again that humans are in fact way less rational that we tend to assume. People often buy what they can't really afford and don't think of the consequences. Or they surrender to panic and sell what they rationally know they shouldn't sell because emotions play such a big role. People from developed countries aren't used to dealing with high inflation rates, rising utility bills and things like that. So they're feeling insecure, uncertain about the future, emotional. Thus bad news leads to panic, not to reasonable search of solutions. Yes, Bitcoin isn't susceptible to inflation and that could save wealth during recession. But it won't if not enough people believe in that and if panic prevails.