Crypto: Why Is The Altseason Taking So Long To Start?

The altcoin market is experiencing an unusual situation at the beginning of 2025. While some tokens are showing price increases, the marked absence of retail investors hinders the emergence of a true altcoin season, according to several analysts in the crypto sector.

The recovery of altcoins hindered by the absence of investors

Analysts from Nansen, a renowned crypto intelligence platform, are observing a concerning phenomenon: the rise in prices of certain altcoins is not accompanied by an increase in the number of active users.

Nicolai Sondergaard, an analyst at Nansen, points out that this configuration is unusual compared to previous cycles. “The altcoin season will always be there, but it may not be the same as the one that people experienced before,” he explains.

The example of Algorand is particularly revealing. On February 10, the network had only 182,170 daily active wallets, while it had over 1.31 million at its historical peak of $1.46 in December 2021. The same observation applies to Chainlink, whose active addresses fell from 11,280 in May 2021 to just 3,860 in February 2024.

The total market capitalization of altcoins (excluding the top 10) is stagnating around $277 billion, which is a staggering drop of 77% compared to the peak of $492 billion reached in November 2021.

Memecoins capture the attention of investors

The current enthusiasm for memecoins diverts a significant portion of the capital that would traditionally have fueled the altcoin market. A striking example: on February 14, a trader made a spectacular profit of $28 million on the memecoin “Broccoli,” inspired by the dog of Binance’s co-founder.

Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder of Redstone, analyzes the situation pragmatically: “The decline in the number of daily active addresses on most altcoins suggests that we are earlier in the cycle. The price recovery without corresponding growth in the number of users indicates an initial speculative phase, preceding widespread adoption.”

This situation is all the more unusual as memecoins traditionally gain popularity at the end of a bull cycle. Their early dominance disrupts the classic pattern of the crypto market. The onset of a true altcoin season may be delayed longer than expected.