Just read that Matt Hougan from Bitwise made an interesting point in an interview with Cointelegraph: the classic altcoin season might be coming to an end. And honestly, that makes sense.

So far, it’s been like this — when Bitcoin rises, a broad altcoin rally follows. Everything takes off, regardless of whether the project has a real use case or not. But Hougan sees it differently. He believes we are entering a more “atypical” altcoin cycle, where only assets with real value and practical applications will truly take off.

This specifically means: the days when “a rising tide lifts all boats” are over. Hougan sums it up — he no longer expects the traditional rotation from Bitcoin to Ethereum to DeFi to NFTs. The old pattern just doesn’t work anymore.

What fascinates me about this analysis: it could mean that the altcoin market is maturing. Only projects with genuine utility will attract capital. That’s probably healthy for the market in the long run, even if it means fewer FOMO opportunities in the short term.

So, anyone still investing in altcoins should perhaps pay closer attention to fundamentals. The days of pure speculation might indeed be over.