Many traders have relied on stablecoins for this, using them as a safe haven during downturns.
One dominant player is emerging, but concerns about centralization and potential asset freezes are growing.
Stable coins have always been centralized and the issuers have always had the ability to freeze it even if you stored it in your own wallet, it has never been a 'safe haven' and it is not recommended to store it for the long term. So my point is that the people who 'trusted' it and used it during the bear market will still likely do the same thing.
The use of stable coins is to escape the market volatility and nothing more. Many of these popular stable coins are centralized making it easy for government to push for nay asset freeze at their own convince. The crypto market is still ranging giving investors opportunity to either buy more or swap their holdings to stable coins to avoid the any possible losses. I believe everyone has their own strategy of safeguarding their crypto portfolio and whatever one that works should be embraced.
Some whales would use this opportunity to acquire more Bitcoin holdings while others are selling or swapping to stable coins.
We can look into the market from different corners since the crypto is huge and complicated if you stand at a point.