Crypto coins
Representative image of various crypto tokens. Pixabay

KEY POINTS

  • Glassnode's Check said more crypto holders are "increasingly unwilling" to swap their BTC and ETH for altcoins
  • He said weak demand for ETH ETFs will further prove there is "no serious demand" for altcoins
  • He also predicted that alternative digital currencies will ultimately struggle in the coming years

Altcoins, or crypto tokens often described as "alternatives" to Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized digital asset, may be nearing the end of their life, an industry expert predicted.

James Check, a lead analyst at blockchain and market data provider Glassnode, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that altcoins, including memecoins, will face some serious headwinds in the coming years.

He reasoned that most cryptocurrency holders already have enough Bitcoin or Ethereum assets, which, following the recent developments with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), "are now confirmed winning tickets."

He said many digital assets holders of the world's two largest cryptocurrencies are "increasingly unwilling" to snap up altcoins since they know they will grow their assets "by just sitting in spot [exchange-traded funds]." Check further noted that crypto investors do invest in memecoins every now and then but not to same extent as they do with solid digital coins such as BTC and ETH.

"We may not be too far from the last gasp of alts, and I have a feeling the weak ETH ETF demand over time will be the straw that breaks it. It will be a reminder that there is no serious demand for this stuff, and that will quite down future moon expectations."

Check isn't the only industry expert who thinks demand for Ether ETFs will be weak compared to the demand for Bitcoin ETFs. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas has argued that he doesn't think there will be many investors who feel the need "to go beyond Bitcoin/gold for their crypto/precious metals allocation."

Finally, Check said he expects the altcoin subsector to suffer an "increasingly hard time in the years ahead" as more investors realize that there is no real value in Bitcoin alternatives.

Despite Check's gloomy prediction about the altcoin market, several notable altcoins and memecoins have been making waves in recent months, including Shiba Inu (SHIB), which recently raised $12 million to build its new layer 3 blockchain. SHIB is the second-largest memecoin by market cap, only behind Dogecoin (DOGE).

BRETT, a top memecoin on Coinbase's Ethereum layer 2 blockchain Base, recently said it was nearing a market value of $500 million and it remains optimistic of achieving an upward trend this year.

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