Altcoins are largely in retreat mode again today while Bitcoin holds steady around $109,000, and their lackluster performance has not gone amiss among traders and analysts.

Crypto YouTuber Lark Davis was among those who observed that “don’t really do anything” while Bitcoin hits a peak, retreats, and recovers. “That’s the state of the crypto market right now,” he said on X on May 26.

It is true, the majority of altcoins are still way down from their peak prices during the last bull market in 2021, so when is altseason coming?

Altseason Coming Soon … Really

The majority of analysts and crypto traders share the opinion that it won’t be long, looking at current market conditions.

On May 27, Bitcoin OG Kyle Chassé said this altseason will be “epic,” but it won’t be like previous altseasons because there are just too many tokens for everything to go up.

Coingecko currently lists more than 17,000 tokens, and CoinMarketCap has a whopping 16 million crypto tokens tracked. However, the vast majority of these are worthless meme coins on Solana and Base.

Altseason will be EPIC.

But it won’t be like previous altseasons.

There are just too many alts for everything to go up.

Pay attention to what’s getting attention.

That’s where the money is. pic.twitter.com/RvzJ2zwJDk

— Kyle Chassé / DD (@kyle_chasse) May 27, 2025

Meanwhile, “Merlijn The Trader” told his 385,000 X followers that “this altseason will make 2021 look tiny,” before adding that the charts are screaming it and the patterns are perfect.

Some have disagreed, saying that nobody is interested in altcoins anymore. However, the trader replied that “institutions are coming for them,” especially those with real utility.

Unpopular opinion:

This altseason will make 2021 look tiny.

The charts are screaming it.
The patterns are perfect.

Your only question should be: How big? pic.twitter.com/eVa5JeKN3G

— Merlijn The Trader (@MerlijnTrader) May 25, 2025

“BTC dominance is about to dump hard,” said crypto investor “Sensei,” who added “altseason is coming.”

One major signal of the arrival of altseason is a decline in Bitcoin’s market dominance, which is currently 64.25%, according to Tradingview.

It hit its highest level since January 2021 on May 7 at 65.4% but has declined marginally since. Nevertheless, the metric has been in a clear uptrend since the beginning of 2023.

Altcoins Not Ready to Pop Yet

Crypto trader “Moustache” echoed the sentiment, stating that altcoins are “on the verge of a parabolic rally like in 2017 or 2021,” as chart patterns show major similarities from previous market cycles.

#Altcoins

Imagine you’re only in the early stages of an altseason.

Imagine you’re on the verge of a parabolic rally like in 2017 or 2021.

That’s where we are imo.

Numerous charts confirm this. pic.twitter.com/Rhu6PIxHV5

— ⓗ (@el_crypto_prof) May 26, 2025

Back to the present, altcoins are predominantly in the red again with larger daily losses for XRP, Solana, Hyperliquid, and Sui.

Despite chart patterns and signals coming into alignment, it appears that altcoins are not ready to skyrocket just yet.

Family offices and professional investors are allocating spot Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded products (ETPs) differently, with family offices demonstrating a relatively stronger preference for Ethereum. 

According to data compiled by Bitwise as of Dec. 31, 2024, family offices and trusts allocate 0.62% of spot Ethereum ETP assets under management (AUM), compared to just 0.13% for spot Bitcoin ETPs. 

This represents a nearly fivefold higher allocation share for Ethereum among this investor category, although it does not translate to absolute values.

The difference highlights the divergent institutional forces between the two asset classes. While Bitcoin continues to dominate in total institutional AUM, including hedge funds and investment advisors, Ethereum holds a greater relative appeal among smaller, often more flexible allocators such as family offices. 

The broader ETP market composition also reflects these contrasts in investor profiles and risk appetites.

Hedge funds, advisors, and brokerages

Hedge funds account for the largest share of Bitcoin ETP AUM at 36.97%, followed closely by investment advisors at 33.11%. Brokerages add another 14.91%, combining over 85% of total allocations when including smaller contributors such as banks and pension funds. 

In contrast, Ethereum ETP ownership is more evenly distributed among brokerages (25.25%), investment advisors (29.79%), and hedge funds (24.74%), with a much larger “Other” category comprising 16.96% of Ethereum ETP AUM.

Banks and pension funds allocate modestly to both Bitcoin and Ethereum products. Bitcoin ETPs hold 1.27% and 1.02% of their AUM from banks and pension funds, respectively, while Ethereum ETPs receive 0.62% and 0.90%. 

Private equity firms show similarly limited involvement, allocating 2.90% to Bitcoin and 1.11% to Ethereum.

Despite the relative tilt toward Ethereum among family offices, their total allocation remains a small portion of overall institutional activity. Venture capital and insurance companies report negligible exposure to either ETP class.

Institutional holders vary across assets

The top holders also differ between Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs. Millennium Management, with $4.42 billion in Bitcoin ETP holdings, ranks first in Bitcoin exposure, followed by Brevan Howard, Jane Street, and Goldman Sachs. 

In the Ethereum segment, Goldman Sachs leads with $477 million, followed by Jane Street at $450 million and Millennium Management at $182 million.

Some institutions, such as Jane Street, D.E. Shaw, and Brevan Howard, appear on both lists, indicating broad-based engagement with crypto ETPs. 

However, several firms, including Elequin, HBK Investments, SG Americas Securities, and Almitas Capital, are represented only among Ethereum ETP top holders. Conversely, Capula Management and Horizon Kinetics hold material Bitcoin ETP positions but do not appear among Ethereum’s top institutional owners.

This division suggests that while large asset managers and market makers are active in both markets, Ethereum attracts a more distinct group of secondary institutions.

The breakdown affirms Bitcoin’s continued absolute dominance but also reveals a more diversified and distributed investor base in Ethereum’s ETP market.

Mentioned in this article

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has renewed calls for stronger privacy protections across emerging crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

In an April 14 blog post, Buterin argued that privacy is not just a personal right but a vital safeguard for decentralization, innovation, and freedom.

He wrote:

“Supporting privacy for everyone, and making the necessary tools open source, universal, reliable and safe is one of the important challenges of our time.”

Buterin stressed that privacy allows us to act freely without constantly second-guessing how others, whether governments, platforms, or algorithms, might judge or respond.

He further explained how he believes privacy is essential for supporting the systems of society that rely on confidentiality to function correctly.

Moreover, with better tools for controlling information sharing, privacy can unlock new opportunities for technological and social progress.

He concluded:

“Privacy can no longer be ignored.”

AI’s growing role in data centralization

Buterin highlighted that centralization often stems from control over information.

In his view, whoever owns the data ultimately wields the power. This imbalance threatens the foundational ideals of blockchain and other decentralized systems.

While data ownership concerns commonly focus on censorship or de-platforming, Buterin warned of deeper issues emerging from AI-driven systems.

According to him, AI is accelerating the centralization of data collection and analysis. The problem is compounded by the increasing amount of personal information individuals share online, sometimes unknowingly.

As technologies like brain-computer interfaces develop, Buterin cautioned that future privacy breaches could go beyond metadata to include thoughts and intentions.

He said:

“In the near future, we will probably see people making AI products that make even deeper intrusions into privacy: passively collecting your internet browsing patterns, email and chat history, biometric data, and more. In theory, your data stays private to you. In practice, this does not always seem to be the case.”

Buterin acknowledged that even well-intentioned centralization can lead to instability. Governments or corporations may misuse or sell sensitive data, and systems designed to be secure are always vulnerable to internal abuse or external attacks.

He also warned that shifts in political regimes could alter how data is handled overnight.

However, he pointed out that modern cryptographic tools offer new hope to counter these events. Technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-SNARKs), fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), and obfuscation techniques make it possible to safeguard user data without sacrificing functionality or trust.

For instance, ZK-SNARKs allow individuals to prove their trustworthiness without revealing their identity, while FHE enables data computation without exposing the actual data.