Why This Year’s Altcoin Season Is Happening on Wall Street, Not in Crypto Tokens

While cryptocurrency enthusiasts await a traditional ‘altcoin season’ characterized by surging prices in alternative tokens beyond Bitcoin (BTC), an expert argues that the phenomenon is already underway. 

However, this time it’s not in digital assets but in publicly traded companies tied to the crypto ecosystem. This shift reflects growing institutional interest, spurred by regulatory approvals and enhanced accessibility, positioning crypto equities as the primary beneficiaries of fresh capital inflows.

Institutional Capital Redefines Altcoin Season

Typically, major rallies in Bitcoin have been followed by gains in other cryptocurrencies as investors rotate capital. However, according to Alana Levin, a former Boston Consulting Group associate and investment partner at Variant,

“Over the past few years, we haven’t seen this pattern play out. Bitcoin dominance currently sits at 58% and has been in a steady uptrend since November 2022. So, is this cycle going to skip alt season? Is it just that alt season isn’t here yet? Or maybe… is alt season already happening in a different market entirely, and just no one is looking?”

In a detailed analysis, Levin explained that instead of capital rotating from Bitcoin into altcoins, institutional investors — now the main source of new capital — are directing funds into crypto-related equities. 

With Bitcoin dominance high and institutions favoring regulated exposure, the ‘real’ alt season is happening in traditional markets, not in crypto tokens.

“There’s certainly new capital looking to get exposure to crypto. But much of this is institutional, not retail. Retail tends to be fast adopters, while institutions are slower and often wait for external legitimization. Well, that’s happening now,” she noted.

Levin highlighted several key developments that are causing this shift. These include the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the Nasdaq CEO’s advocacy for tokenizing equities, and the broader favorable environment for crypto, exemplified by initiatives such as the SEC’s ‘Project Crypto.’

Such milestones have legitimized crypto exposure for institutions, which prefer equities due to established operational frameworks for custody, compliance, and trading.

“Purchasing crypto assets may require brand new capabilities. And buying equities falls within their mandates – vs. direct crypto tokens (much less long-tail alts) may simply be out of scope,” she added.

Why CeFi Is Outperforming DeFi This Cycle 

Performance data further backs up the argument. Levin drew attention to the notable gains of several crypto-related stocks in 2025:

• Year-to-date, Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) is up 53%.
• Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD) has surged an impressive 299%.
• Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. (GLXY) has doubled, recording a 100% increase.
• Circle Internet Financial Ltd. (CRCL) has climbed 368% since its June IPO, or 75% from its first trading day’s close.

In contrast, Bitcoin has appreciated only 31%, Ethereum 35%, and Solana 21%. Extending the timeline to Bitcoin’s market bottom on December 17, 2022, reveals a similar pattern of outperformance by these equities.

Bitcoin vs Crypto Stocks. Source: AlanaDLevin on X

The outperformance isn’t just about sentiment — it’s supported by hard fundamentals, according to Artemis CEO Jon Ma. Ma revealed that Coinbase reported around $1.5 billion in net income, while Robinhood posted $1.2 billion annualized in Q2 2025. Few blockchain projects can match these numbers. 

“Also CeFi is crushing DeFi on fundamentals: Coinbase = $80B of CEX daily volume per +73% YoY w/ 8.7m monthly transacting users. Robinhood = $407B of CEX volume Aug ’25 +64% YoY w/ 26.7m funded accounts. Hyperliquid = $293B of spot + perp volume Sept ’25 +713% YoY but only ~50k DAU on HypeCore perp DAU,” he pointed out.

The executive emphasized that most retail activity in the crypto space still happens on centralized platforms rather than decentralized ones.

“We will see shift in token outperformance when more retail users / volume moves onchain and fundamentals improve,” Ma concluded.

Crypto Stocks Echo the Classic Alt Season Playbook

Notably, Levin also observed that this equity boom mirrors historical alt seasons in several ways. She noted that only a handful of viable stocks tied to crypto are attracting capital, akin to early crypto cycles, when fewer than 100 tokens dominated. 

“Last cycle, a number of crypto-native lending desks collapsed. We haven’t seen many rebuild. Equity allocators do have access to leverage, though, which means the booms can get bigger (and the busts can really bust),” she wrote.

The author also anticipates rotations within equities, such as from stablecoin issuers to exchanges or digital asset treasuries. This will again parallel token trends like shifts from DeFi to gaming or AI coins.

“There’s good reason to believe this trend will continue. We have a slew of crypto equity IPOs on deck, with many more later stage companies likely to file in the years ahead. We probably will have another alt season in crypto-native assets. But it will take time as the new marginal sources of capital gradually set up operational capabilities that enable them to deploy into cryptoassets. So for now, it may not be the alt season many expected – but we are in an alt season nonetheless,” the post read.

Both Levin and Ma converge on a single message: the center of gravity in the crypto market has shifted. As institutional investors pour billions into regulated vehicles, crypto equities have become the new frontier of speculation and growth.

While the next true altcoin rally may still be on the horizon, the current market dynamic shows that the alt season is already here — it just moved to Wall Street.