Altcoin
The Crypto Market Isn’t Too Far From Altcoin’s ‘Last Gasp’: Expert
KEY POINTS
- Glassnode’s Check Says More Crypto Holders Are “Increasingly Reluctant” to Swap BTC and ETH for Altcoins
- He said the weak demand for ETH ETFs will further demonstrate that there is “no serious demand” for altcoins
- He also predicted that alternative digital currencies will eventually struggle in the coming years
Altcoins, or crypto tokens often described as “alternatives” to Bitcoin, the world’s first decentralized digital asset, may be nearing the end of their life, an industry expert has predicted.
James Check, lead analyst at Blockchain and market data provider Glassnode, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that altcoins, including memecoins, will face severe difficulties in the coming years.
According to him, most cryptocurrency holders already own enough Bitcoin or Ethereum assets that, following recent developments with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), “are now confirmed hot tickets.”
A market structure idea I’m thinking about:
Shitcoins will face headwinds across the board in the future, because their main source of demand (the millennial cryptocurrency natives) are all moving from the “get rich” to “stay rich” phase of life.
Most already contain enough…
— _Checkmatey 🟠🔑⚡☢️🛢️ (@_Checkmatey_) May 29, 2024
He said many digital asset holders of the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies are “increasingly reluctant” to snap up altcoins as they know they will increase their assets “simply by sitting in place.” [exchange-traded funds].” Check also noted that cryptocurrency investors invest in memecoins from time to time, but not to the same extent as they do with hard digital coins like BTC and ETH.
“We may not be too far from the last gasp of alternatives, and I have a feeling that weak demand for ETH ETFs over time will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will remind us that there is no serious demand for these things, and this will significantly lower expectations about the future moon.”
Check isn’t the only industry expert to think so Demand for Ether ETFs will be weak compared to the demand for Bitcoin ETFs. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said he doesn’t think many investors will feel the need to “go beyond Bitcoin/gold for their cryptocurrency/precious metals allocation.”
Ultimately, Check said he expects the altcoin subsector to endure “an increasingly difficult time in the years ahead” as more and more investors realize that there is no real value in Bitcoin alternatives.
Despite Check’s gloomy predictions about the altcoin market, several noteworthy altcoins and memecoins have made waves in recent months, including Shiba Inu (SHIB), which recently raised 12 million dollars to build its new layer 3 blockchain. SHIB is the second largest memecoin by market capitalization, only behind Dogecoin (DOGE).
BRETT, one of the leading memecoins on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer 2 blockchain base, recently said it was nearing a market value of $500 million and remains optimistic about achieving an upward trend this year.