Bitget COO: No Altcoin Season Coming, Bitcoin Will Lead This Cycle

Bitget’s Chief Operating Officer, Vugar Usi Zade, says there’s no logical reason to expect a broad altcoin rally this cycle. Instead, he believes Bitcoin will dominate while only specific narrative-driven tokens may perform.

• Bitget COO Vugar Usi Zade said there’s no logical reason for a broad altcoin rally in 2025.
• He believes Bitcoin has fully decoupled from altcoins and now moves independently.
• Future rallies will likely center around specific narratives, not all tokens.
• Usi Zade says crypto investors expect profits too fast, hurting long-term sustainability.
• Many traders now recommend holding only Bitcoin, dropping ETH from the usual mix.

Vugar Usi Zade, the COO of Bitget, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, said during the Token2049 conference in Singapore that the market is unlikely to see a classic “altcoin season.” In past cycles, altcoin seasons saw nearly every crypto token surge in price after Bitcoin started rallying. But this time, Usi Zade said, there’s no fundamental reason for that to happen.

He explained that most projects have not introduced any major technological breakthroughs or new use cases. “There haven’t been any big things coming out of projects,” he said. “Why would the price go up just because it’s the time? It’s not.” This lack of innovation, he noted, means the market doesn’t have the momentum needed for a synchronized altcoin pump.

According to Usi Zade, Bitcoin now trades independently from both traditional markets and the rest of the crypto sector. “Bitcoin is its own rally; its impact is almost zero on the rest of the market,” he said. “We’ve seen so many days where Bitcoin is green while everything else is red. The money isn’t flowing from Bitcoin to altcoins anymore.”

Instead of broad “seasons,” Usi Zade predicts shorter, trend-driven cycles where specific narratives dominate. For example, if real-world assets (RWA) gain attention, tokens related to that theme may surge — but the rest of the market will stay flat. “Today we talk about RWAs, and maybe a few projects in that area go up, but it doesn’t extend beyond that,” he explained.

Usi Zade also said one of the biggest problems in crypto is short-term thinking. Investors want profits within months, but sustainable projects take years to grow. “It took Amazon more than ten years to become profitable,” he said. “Now we want a crypto project to do that in eight months. That’s the biggest problem — the way the entire market is built.”

He compared crypto funding structures with traditional business models, noting that in normal markets, early investors sell to other funds while the company continues to build. In crypto, tokens hit exchanges almost immediately, allowing retail investors to trade freely. This makes projects vulnerable to sharp price drops, which can destroy community trust and momentum. “When your token hits zero, your project is dead — and it’s almost impossible to bring it back,” Usi Zade added.

The Bitget executive also pointed out a shift in investment advice. Many industry veterans now suggest new investors stick only to Bitcoin, abandoning the old 70/30 split between Bitcoin and Ethereum. “Now, no one tells you to hold both,” he said. “Everyone says just Bitcoin.” Ethereum, he added, remains stable, but Bitcoin continues to set new highs, giving people “no motivation” to diversify.

Currently, Bitcoin dominates around 58% of the market, while Ethereum holds about 12%, according to CoinMarketCap. This stability in dominance shows Bitcoin’s strength compared to the slower-moving altcoin sector.

Final Thought

With limited innovation and investors focused on short-term profits, a full altcoin season seems unlikely. Bitcoin continues to lead the market, while altcoins struggle to capture attention. For now, most experts agree that the next big rally — if it happens — will likely be a Bitcoin-driven one.