An economic downturn will put strong upward pressure on Bitcoin and cryptos. Think in terms of wealthy investors, who control a large proportion of available investment capital. If the stock market goes down, they pull out of it, (making it crash even more.) If there's fear that the dollar or other govt currencies may crash too, they look for safe havens. Gold, real estate, and now cryptos have a fixed or predictable supply, making demand the main variable in their price. Cryptos have some amazing advantages over the other safe havens since you can buy and sell instantly, transfer them anywhere in the world, and easily hide them from govts, spouses, and debt collectors. 

Put yourself in the mindset of someone who has $10 million in the stock market and is looking for somewhere to hide it through the next recession.