A projection has emerged that the altcoin market’s traditional bullish cycle is disappearing and only coins with practical utility will rise.

On March 6 (local time), blockchain outlet Cointelegraph reported that Matt Hougan (맷 호건), chief investment officer at Bitwise, said, “The era when all cryptocurrencies rise together is over,” adding that “a non-traditional altcoin season seems likely.”

He added that the traditional pattern in which funds rotate from bitcoin and ether into DeFi and NFTs will no longer be repeated, and that only coins used in the real market will see their value reassessed. He said the next altcoin season will be more differentiated than before.

In the cryptocurrency market, it is commonly believed that when bitcoin hits a peak, funds move into ether and altcoins, starting an “altcoin season.” But while bitcoin recently fell to around $60,000 and then rebounded, the altcoin market has shown little movement. CoinMarketCap data showed bitcoin trading at $70,237 as of March 6.

Industry views are split over the end of the altcoin season. Cryptocurrency analyst Matthew Hyland (매튜 하이랜드) argued that the altcoin market could reopen, saying bitcoin dominance charts have been weak for several weeks. In contrast, in December last year, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes (아서 헤이즈) countered that “an altcoin season always exists,” adding that “only those who do not hold rising altcoins will feel there is no season.”

Maen Ftouni (마엔 프투니), chief executive of CoinQuant, which produces algorithmic trading tools, said established cryptocurrencies that hold exchange-traded funds, or are expected to receive them, will absorb a significant portion of the capital deployed in the next altcoin season.

Sentiment, a cryptocurrency analytics platform, said social media mentions of altcoins recently fell to the lowest level in 2 years. The outlet said that as investors increasingly focus only on bitcoin, debate over the future direction of the altcoin market is expected to intensify.