Why Altcoins Didn't Take Off This Cycle

Everyone was waiting for it. The 2025 altseason that was supposed to flip Bitcoin's dominance, pump smaller caps, and create the next wave of wealth. Except it never really showed up—at least not the way the community expected.

Bit by bit, the narrative crumbled. Bitcoin kept its grip on the market, layer-1s and layer-2 tokens moved sideways, and the small-cap euphoria that typically defines an altrun simply didn't materialize. What was supposed to be the year altcoins finally got their moment turned into something else entirely. Maybe longer consolidation. Maybe a different market structure altogether. Maybe we're just thinking about cycles wrong now.

The timing felt right on paper. Macro backdrop, on-chain metrics, sentiment—there were signals. But the market had other plans. Instead of the typical boom-bust playbook, we got something more muted, more fragmented. Winners and losers dispersed across fewer projects. Momentum dried up faster. Retail FOMO that usually fuels altseason? Noticeably absent.

It raises the question: Is altseason dead, or did it just evolve into something we don't recognize yet?