As Bitcoin breaks through $120,000 and Ethereum returns to $3,600, market discussions about the return of the Altcoin season are gradually heating up.
The uncertainty remains whether the Altcoin season has truly arrived, but if a new round of capital inflow cycle begins, which investment opportunities should we focus on?
VX：TZ7971
Unlike the previous "wild growth" driven by retail investors and speculative sentiment, institutional capital participation will change the market's pricing rights. Their capital scale is larger, investment logic is more rigorous, with greater emphasis on compliance and fundamentals, and stronger market discourse. This means that areas capable of attracting institutional capital are likely to become market highlights.
Which coins might attract institutional attention?
Based on Bitcoin and Ethereum trends, tokens incorporated into corporate balance sheets are more likely to become important investment directions in this Altcoin season. Currently, listed companies have included some mainstream Altcoins in asset reserves, including BNB, SOL, TRX, HYPE.
BNB: As the core of Binance ecosystem, BNB is backed by the world's largest trading volume exchange, with strong cash flow support. Binance recently announced a settlement with US regulatory authorities, further consolidating its compliance status.
SOL: Solana is known for high-performance blockchain, with strong advantages in MEME trading and a relatively complete ecosystem. In 2024, Solana Foundation collaborated with multiple traditional financial institutions to explore RWA tokenization, attracting institutional capital attention. Recently, Letsbonk.fun's rise has driven Solana transaction volume surge, showing continuous ecosystem activity. SOL spot staking ETF has been approved, which might provide reference for SOL spot ETF launch, but specific progress still requires observing market and regulatory dynamics.
TRX: TRON attracts massive stablecoin transactions with low cost and high throughput, with USDT accounting for over 50% on TRON chain. In early 2025, TRON announced collaboration with a Hong Kong fintech company to explore compliant stablecoin applications. By partnering with NASDAQ-listed SRM Entertainment for reverse merger, it aims to enter mainstream US capital markets.
HYPE: Unlike the three assets that have experienced multiple market cycles, HYPE is an emerging public chain token that topped the on-chain contract throne due to continuously rising derivative trading volume, being one of the few projects demonstrating "cash flow capability" in early stages, with more detailed data provided in the subsequent DeFi section.
ETF Candidate Tracks: Which Altcoins Can Institutions Invest In?
Potential ETF candidate tokens include: SOL, XRP, LTC, DOGE, ADA, DOT, HBAR, AXL, APT.
These tokens are mostly large-cap public chain tokens. Although some tokens are limited to trading media or pricing units and gradually faded from market focus, favorable ETF-related news since late 2024 has renewed institutional and market attention.
If traditional SOL spot ETF gets approved in the future, it might further enhance market attractiveness. A similar situation applies to XRP, with ProShares Ultra's futures-based XRP ETF already approved by NYSE. Ripple Labs' 5-year regulatory dispute with SEC might conclude, with high probability of SEC approving XRP spot ETF this year. XRP's price trend also shows resilience through multiple market corrections. The strong remain strong, a principle well-verified in crypto.
LTC and HBAR also have high approval probabilities, with neither marked as securities, having clear compliance attributes. HBAR has demonstrated strong resistance in multiple market impacts.
RWA Track
Chainlink's decentralized oracle is crucial infrastructure for many RWA projects. In 2024, Chainlink collaborated with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and other financial institutions to provide data and settlement support for tokenized bonds and real estate asset tokenization.
RWA naturally aligns with institutional investment preferences, serving as a "bridge track" combining real-world returns and compliance expectations. Currently, only Ondo (ONDO) and Centrifuge (CFG) have formed scale and issued tokens. Additionally, Chainlink (LINK), an indispensable technical pillar of the RWA track, is also worth attention.
DeFi Track
With Ethereum ecosystem's continuous warming, DeFi projects on it are most likely to benefit from capital spillover effects. AAVE, the lending track leader, and UNI, the DEX track leader, might become priority fund choices due to mature ecosystem positions and stable revenue models. HYPE, as an emerging potential project (previously mentioned in asset reserve track), shows investment attractiveness through rapid growth in derivative trading.
Stablecoin Track
The next wave of genuine cryptocurrency adoption might come from stablecoins and payments. With the Genius Bill's introduction, stablecoin regulatory frameworks are becoming clearer.
Stablecoin tracks typically form synergistic effects with RWA and DeFi tracks. While DeFi tracks experience capital outflow and protocol deposit depreciation, RWA and CDP achieve significant TVL growth.
In the stablecoin track, centralized stablecoins like USDT and USDC dominate due to USD reserve anchoring and wide application scenarios. If selecting decentralized stablecoin governance tokens as investment targets, options include MKR behind Dai or ENA behind USDe.
Sky (formerly MakerDAO) leads the decentralized stablecoin domain, maintaining healthy financial status through US Treasury tokenization investments, demonstrating solid fundamentals. Currently, it's attempting to create its ecosystem narrative through brand reconstruction.
Only coins with solid fundamentals, clear narratives, and potential institutional acceptance might traverse the valuation reconstruction fog in the next cycle to become true winners.
