- In June, the crypto space was awash with news of an upcoming summer run for Altcoins.
- It is now a couple of months later and the Altcoin boom never materialized.
- Bitcoin’s sheer dominance and the fade of NFTs has made it difficult for Altcoins to shine as predicted.
- Bitcoin’s dominance over Altcoins is clear as it holds a market share of 45.56%, with altcoins splitting the rest.
In June, the markets were rife with speculation that a massive Altcoin price rally was looming just over the horizon. Investors braced themselves for an Altcoin boom which was soon dubbed “AltSeason 2.0,” in reference to the memorable Altcoin boom of 2017.
Summer is almost over, and yet, there has been no Altcoin boom, and there are no indications of one in the future either. Some analysts have been quick to point accusatory fingers at Bitcoin as the main culprit for the poor performance of Altcoins, while others posit that Altcoins have only themselves to blame.
Why Did the Market Believe That the AltSeason Was Upon Us?
To understand the buzz around AltSeason 2.0, we should cast our minds back to the epic run that Bitcoin had. Before July, Bitcoin had grown by leaps and bounds, setting new all-time highs and breaking them over again. This winning streak culminated in Bitcoin reaching a peak of $64,863, but then the asset faced a series of unfortunate events.
Bitcoin faced criticism for its environmental impact, and institutional interest subsequently waned as prices fell. On the other hand, DeFi was having the time of its life as TVL soared amongst several protocols. NFTs were also at their peak, shattering records following their increased adoption.
The stage seemed set for Altcoins to shine. Bitcoin had received a major blow and Altcoins got their chance to shine. ADA, XRP, and ETH had shown flashes of brilliance, which had investors under the impression that their time to catch up to Bitcoin had finally come.
No AltSeason 2.0
As experts predicted a summer lull for Bitcoin, Altcoins were expected to shine. Yet summer came and Altcoins remained in the shadow of Bitcoin. Ethereum fell from the all-time high it had set in May of $4,362, to hit a low of $1,722. Over the last month, ETH has only managed to reach a peak of $2,813, having a market dominance of 19.64%.
Cardano was hailed as the greenest coin in light of Bitcoin’s environmental woes, yet it failed to live up to the hype in terms of price performance. Ripple is still embroiled in its legal drama with the SEC, which has had an adverse effect on its prices.
Throughout the summer, Altcoins followed the lead of Bitcoin. After Bitcoin’s short squeeze, and Amazon’s rumoured adoption of Bitcoin, the crypto market began its ascent, just as summer is coming to an end.
On The Flipside
- If Bitcoin fixes its environmental concerns, it may herald the return of institutional investors.
- Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade promises new features for the network that may see it extend its dominance over Altcoins.
Will the AltSeason Ever Come?
The AltSeason could yet happen. DeFi is gaining significant traction and its market cap is over $88.27 billion, a 32.55% increase over the last day. Protocols like Uniswap, Chainlink, and Aave, amongst others, have enjoyed double-digit gains over the last week.
Furthermore, Ethereum’s London hard fork has seen the asset’s value rise by 21.71%, and future developments may trigger a strong price rally that rivals the run of 2017. As the ecosystem begins its exodus from Proof-of-Work to the Proof-of-Stake consensus, Bitcoin may see its influence wane, but all will be told in time.
Originally published at DailyCoin