Bitcoin Gains 28% While Median Altcoin Lost 74% in Two Years — SkimNews
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- Bitcoin gained 28% over two years while the median mid-cap altcoin lost 74%, per a Glassnode and Bybit report — a stark reversal of the usual "altseason" rotation in which capital flows from Bitcoin down into smaller tokens.
- Ethereum landed roughly sideways over the same stretch, while speculative small caps like PEPE carry futures open interest of about 24% of market cap versus Bitcoin's roughly 2%, showing leverage has pooled in the riskiest corners.
- Bitcoin surged back above $80,000 after a dovish Federal Reserve forecast, lifting the total crypto market capitalization 4.6% in a day to about $2.85 trillion.
- Several majors outran Bitcoin in that bounce — Solana rose roughly 10% on the day, with NEAR and Uniswap posting far larger gains, hinting at the kind of breadth missing for a year.
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs have pulled in about $55.2 billion in cumulative net inflows, dwarfing the roughly $13.1 billion into Ethereum funds, which recently logged a multi-day outflow streak; Solana's newer spot ETFs have drawn about $29.7 million.
Why it matters: Investors who diversified beyond Bitcoin into mid-cap altcoins lost roughly three-quarters of their capital while Bitcoin holders gained 28%. Institutional flows confirm the concentration: Bitcoin ETFs absorbed $55.2 billion versus just $13.1 billion for Ethereum funds, and leverage piled into PEPE at roughly 24% of market cap while Bitcoin sat at 2%.
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