Altcoins Threaten to ‘Wither Away’ Amid Bitcoin’s Ascendency

So far, this has been a great year for cryptocurrency. Or at least one form of cryptocurrency.

As Bloomberg News reported Monday (June 30), while bitcoin has enjoyed a rally thus far in 2025, many of the “altcoins” once championed as its competitors are fading, losing more than $300 billion in market value since the year began.

While crypto’s early proponents touted the space as a place where a number of coins would vie for investor dollars, bitcoin’s rise has led to predictions that huge portions of the sector will eventually turn fallow.

“I think they’re just going to die, frankly,” Nick Philpott, co-founder of trading platform Zodia Markets, told Bloomberg in reference to altcoins. “They’ll just wither away. Technically, a lot of this stuff will just sit there and gather dust in perpetuity.”

Bitcoin now commands a 64% share of crypto’s market value, the report said, citing CoinMarketCap. That was the highest level since 2021, when cryptocurrency was mostly unregulated, crypto lending was seeing a boom, and nonfungible tokens were gaining popularity.

At the same time, altcoins — digital assets other than bitcoin and stablecoins — have begun to flag, down 50% this year.

Bitcoin, the report adds, has attracted the bulk of capital from investors in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), leaving other cryptos behind. That includes Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, which is around 50% below its all-time high, the report added.

“Historically, Bitcoin’s moved and then that’s passed down into altcoins,” said Jake Ostrovskis, a trader at Wintermute. “We’ve not really seen that yet this cycle.”

In other news from the digital assets sector, PYMNTS wrote last week about stablecoins’ new position at “a rare confluence of opportunity and uncertainty.”

On one hand, the report noted, stablecoins provide “real-world utility at scale,” especially when it comes to cross-border payments and emerging markets. However, they also raise profound questions about monetary control, systemic risk and global financial governance.

“Yes, stablecoins have matured into a system-level conversation for payments players,” PYMNTS wrote. “But for every promise of financial efficiency and inclusion, there are equally urgent questions hovering in the wings about illicit finance, monetary sovereignty and market disruption.”

Last week saw the U.S. Federal Reserve rescind mentions of “reputational risk” from bank supervision programs, something that had effectively blocked banks from engaging with crypto or stablecoin providers.

But the tone is more cautious in Europe, with the European Central Bank and Bank for International Settlements arguing that widespread stablecoin use could hinder central bank control of monetary policy.