At the start of 2025, several altcoins surged to new all-time highs. Others climbed to multi-month peaks, riding the wave of the Donald Trump-fueled rally that swept through the crypto market.
However, Trump’s escalating trade wars and broader macroeconomic unrest have led to a significant downturn in many altcoins, raising questions about the timing of the next altcoin season.
Altcoin Season Slips Further Away
Altcoin season refers to a market cycle in which crypto assets other than Bitcoin significantly outperform BTC in terms of price gains. Many altcoins witness significant price surges during this period, often due to increased investor speculation, capital rotation from BTC into other crypto assets, and bullish sentiment in the market.
This cycle commences when at least 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform BTC over a three-month period. However, this is far from the reality. The Altcoin Index, which tracks this trend, has plunged to its lowest level since October 2024, signaling continued weakness in the sector.
As of this writing, only 24% of top altcoins have outperformed leading crypto Bitcoin over the past 90 days, highlighting its dominance in the current market cycle. This persistent underperformance suggests that an altcoin season may still be far off.
Further reinforcing this bearish outlook, TOTAL2, the metric tracking the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies excluding BTC, has remained in a descending parallel channel since the beginning of the year.
This pattern signals a sustained downtrend. It is formed when an asset’s price moves between two downward-sloping parallel trendlines, with lower highs and lower lows over time. As of this writing, TOTAL2 is at $1.14 trillion, plummeting by 17% since January 1.
This decline confirms the lack of strong bullish momentum across the altcoin market, hinting at zero likelihood of an altcoin season kicking off anytime soon.
Bitcoin Dominance Climbs as Market Pullback Deepens
While the market has witnessed a significant pullback recently amid Trump’s trade wars, Bitcoin dominance has continued to increase. An assessment of Bitcoin’s dominance (BTC.D) on a daily chart confirms the same.
This metric, which measures the percentage of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization that Bitcoin holds, has remained above an ascending trend line since last December. As of this writing, it sits at 61.29%.
If BTC’s dominance remains elevated, it could further delay the prospects of an altcoin season.
Solana (SOL), EOS, and Jupiter (JUP) are three Made in USA coins making headlines this week with sharply different trajectories. Solana has dropped below $100 amid market volatility and tariff-driven uncertainty.
EOS is up nearly 15% over the past seven days, standing out as one of the few large-cap gainers. Jupiter remains the top crypto aggregator by volume, even as its price hovers near all-time lows.
Solana (SOL)
Solana has dropped over 10% in the past 24 hours, briefly dipping below the $100 mark earlier today.
The sharp decline reflects broader weakness across the crypto market, with SOL struggling to maintain key psychological support levels amid volatility caused by Trump’s tariffs.
If bearish momentum continues, SOL could retest the $95 support level, with a break below opening the door to further downside toward $90.
However, if the trend reverses, the token could push toward resistance at $112, and a decisive breakout there might see it rally to $124 or even $136 on strong bullish momentum, making Solana recover its position as one of the most important made in USA coins.
If this upward momentum holds despite the broader market correction, EOS could push higher to test resistance around $0.88, with potential to break above $0.90 and even challenge the $1 mark.
However, if sentiment shifts and EOS follows the market downturn, it could fall back to support at $0.67. If that level fails, further declines toward $0.59 or even $0.54 may be in play.
Jupiter (JUP)
Jupiter, Solana’s top aggregator, has seen its market cap drop below $1 billion after falling more than 10% in the past 24 hours, now trading dangerously close to its all-time lows.
It also ranked as the fourth-largest protocol by fees in the last seven days, generating $14 million, trailing only Tether, Circle, and Pump.
If the downtrend continues, Jupiter could slip below the $0.30 mark, setting new lows; but if it regains bullish momentum, the token may climb to $0.35, $0.41, and potentially retest the $0.50 level.
China’s recent directive for its state-owned banks to decrease reliance on the US dollar has amplified a growing trend among countries seeking alternatives to the dominant reserve assets. In some instances, Bitcoin has emerged as a viable competitor.
BeInCrypto spoke with experts from VanEck, CoinGecko, Gate.io, HashKey Research, and Humanity Protocol to understand Bitcoin’s rise as an alternative to the US dollar and its potential for greater influence in global geopolitics.
The Push for De-Dollarization
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, China has gradually reduced its reliance on the US dollar. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has now instructed state-owned banks to reduce dollar purchases amid the heightened trade war with US President Donald Trump.
China is among many nations seeking to lessen its dependence on the dollar. Russia, like its southern neighbor, has received an increasing number of Western sanctions– especially following its invasion of Ukraine.
Furthermore, Rosneft, a major Russian commodities producer, has issued RMB-denominated bonds, indicating a shift towards RBM, the Chinese currency, and a move away from Western currencies due to sanctions.
This global shift away from predominant reserve currencies is not limited to countries affected by Western sanctions. Aiming to increase the Rupee’s international use, India has secured agreements for oil purchases in Indian Rupee (INR) and trade with Malaysia in INR.
The country has also pursued creating a local currency settlement system with nine other central banks.
As more nations consider alternatives to the US dollar’s dominance, Bitcoin has emerged as a functional monetary tool that can serve as an alternative reserve asset.
Why Nations Are Turning to Bitcoin for Trade Independence
Interest in using cryptocurrency for purposes beyond international trade has also grown. In a notable development, China and Russia have reportedly settled some energy transactions using Bitcoin and other digital assets.
“Sovereign adoption of Bitcoin is accelerating this year as demand grows for neutral payments rails that can circumvent USD sanctions,” Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, told BeInCrypto.
Two weeks ago, France’s Minister of Digital Affairs proposed using the surplus production of EDF, the country’s state-owned energy giant, to mine Bitcoin.
Last week, Pakistan announced similar plans to allocate part of its surplus electricity to Bitcoin mining and AI data centers.
Meanwhile, on April 10, New Hampshire’s House passed HB302, a Bitcoin reserve bill, by a 192-179 vote, sending it to the Senate. This development makes New Hampshire the fourth state, after Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma, to have such a bill pass a legislative chamber.
If HB302 is approved by the Senate and signed into law, the state treasurer could invest up to 10% of the general fund and other authorized funds in precious metals and specific digital assets like Bitcoin.
According to industry experts, this is only the beginning.
VanEck Predicts Bitcoin to Become a Future Reserve Asset
Sigel predicts Bitcoin will become a key medium of exchange by 2025 and, ultimately, one of the world’s reserve currencies.
His forecasts suggest Bitcoin could settle 10% of global international trade and 5% of global domestic trade. This scenario would lead to central banks holding 2.5% of their assets in BTC.
According to him, China’s recent de-dollarization will prompt other nations to follow suit and lessen their reliance on the US dollar.
“China’s de-dollarization efforts are already having second- and third-order effects that create opportunities for alternative assets like Bitcoin. When the world’s second-largest economy actively reduces its exposure to US Treasuries and promotes cross-border trade in yuan or through mechanisms like the mBridge project, it signals to other nations—especially those with strained ties to the West—that the dollar is no longer the only game in town,” Sigel said.
For Zhong Yang Chan, Head of Research at CoinGecko, these efforts could prove catastrophic for the United States’ dominance.
“Broader de-dollarization efforts by China, or other major economies, will threaten the status of the dollar’s global reserve currency status. This could have [a] profound impact on the US and its economy, as this would lead to nations reducing their holdings of US treasuries, which the US relies on to finance its national debt,” he told BeInCrypto.
However, the strength of the US dollar and other dominant currencies has already shown signs of weakening.
A General Wave of Currency Decline
Sigel’s research shows that the four strongest global currencies—the US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound, and European euro—have lost value over time, particularly in cross-border payments.
The decline of these currencies creates a void where Bitcoin can gain traction as a key alternative for international trade settlements.
“This shift isn’t purely about promoting the yuan. It’s also about minimizing vulnerability to US sanctions and the politicization of payment rails like SWIFT. That opens the door for neutral, non-sovereign assets—especially those that are digitally native, decentralized, and liquid,” Sigel added.
This lack of national allegiance also sets Bitcoin apart from traditional currencies.
Bitcoin’s Appeal: A Non-Sovereign Alternative
Unlike fiat money or central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), Bitcoin doesn’t respond to any one nation, which makes it appealing to some countries.
For Terence Kwok, CEO and Founder of Humanity Protocol, recent geopolitical tensions have heightened this belief.
For these same reasons, experts don’t expect Bitcoin to replace fiat currencies fully but rather provide a vital alternative for certain cases.
A Replacement or an Alternative?
While Bitcoin offers several advantages over traditional currencies, Gate.io’s Kevin Lee doesn’t foresee its eventual adoption causing a complete overhaul of the currency reserve system.
Recent data confirms this. The number of Bitcoin transactions has fallen significantly since the last quarter of 2024. Bitcoin registered over 610,684 transactions in November, but that number dropped to 376,369 in April, according to Glassnode data.
The number of Bitcoin active addresses paints a similar picture. In December, the network had nearly 891,623 addresses. Today, that number stands at 609,614.
Bitcoin number of active addresses. Source: Glassnode.
This decline suggests reduced demand for its blockchain in terms of transactions, usage, and adoption, meaning fewer people are actively using it for transfers, business, or Bitcoin-based applications.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin network must also ensure its infrastructure is efficient enough to meet global demand.
Can Bitcoin Scale for Global Use?
In 2018, Lightning Labs launched the Lightning Network to reduce the cost and time required for cryptocurrency transactions. Currently, the Bitcoin network can only handle around seven transactions per second, while Visa, for example, handles around 65,000.
“If expansion solutions (such as the Lightning Network) fail to become popular, Bitcoin’s ability to process only about 7 transactions per second will be difficult to support global demand. At the same time, as Bitcoin block rewards are gradually halved, the decline in miners’ income may threaten the long-term security of the network,” Guo, Director of HashKey Research explained.
While the confluence of geopolitical shifts and Bitcoin’s inherent characteristics undeniably create a space for its increased adoption as an alternative to the US dollar and even a potential reserve asset, significant hurdles remain.
Achieving mainstream Bitcoin adoption hinges on overcoming scalability, volatility, regulatory hurdles, stablecoin competition, and ensuring network security.
The unfolding panorama suggests Bitcoin will carve out an important role in the global financial system, though a complete overhaul of established norms seems unlikely in the immediate future.
The BNB Chain has officially completed the Lorentz mainnet hard fork, marking a significant technical leap forward for both BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and OpBNB.
With the upgrade, the network reduces BSC block times to 1.5 seconds, while OpBNB now boasts 0.5-second blocks. This makes it one of the fastest Layer-2 (L2) networks.
BNB Chain Completes Lorentz Hard Fork
The Lorentz upgrade is expected to significantly improve transaction confirmation speed, enable more responsive decentralized applications (dApps), and enhance the overall user experience.
“Welcome everyone to experience a faster and smoother BNB Chain,” the network stated.
The Lorentz upgrade builds on momentum from the Pascal hard fork, which laid the groundwork for this new era of performance improvements.
These upgrades aim to position BNB Chain as a top-tier ecosystem for developers and users seeking high throughput and low latency.
“Lorentz at 1.5s blocks? Solana already does 0.4s. But Maxwell is at 0.75s… BNB’s roadmap is evolution on crack,” one user quipped.
Despite this news, BNB’s price is up by a modest 0.29% in the last 24 hours. As of this writing, it was trading for $608.22.
While BNB Chain enjoys smooth progress, Ethereum’s upcoming Fusaka hard fork is mired in internal controversy. Specifically, the now-scrapped EVM Object Format (EOF) upgrade has become contentious.
Originally slated to be part of Fusaka, EOF aimed to modernize Ethereum’s virtual machine (EVM) architecture. This could make future upgrades easier and improve developer tooling.
However, in a post on Monday, April 28, Ethereum Foundation executive Tomasz Kajetan Stańczak clarified that EOF would not be part of the upcoming May 7 Pectra upgrade. Further, its inclusion in Fusaka is under debate.
“The Pectra upgrade does not include EOF, nor intended to include EOF. Everything on Pectra is going as planned for the May 7th release,” Stańczak articulated.
Fate of Ethereum’s EOF on the Balance
In a follow-up post, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko confirmed EOF’s removal from Fusaka, citing concerns over complexity and potential delays.
“EOF was removed from the Fusaka network upgrade today,” Beiko stated.
The decision followed contentious developer calls. Strong disagreements emerged over whether the EOF was technically necessary or merely a symbolic improvement.
“EOF is probably dead due to a lack of rough consensus. This is a massive milestone… symbolic of Ethereum evolving toward maximal consideration of user impact,” said Storm, a data researcher at Paradigm.
Some developers voiced concerns that EOF added too much complexity and risked future maintainability. Others argued that dropping EOF represents a shift toward prioritizing user-centric governance over rigid adherence to prior technical roadmaps.
Supporters of EOF believe it would have made Ethereum’s core system cleaner and more modular. Such an outcome would align with the Ethereum Foundation’s broader vision of the platform as the “world computer of humanity” and an “infinite garden” that supports sustainable, decentralized growth.
Still, with Fusaka now targeted for Q3 or Q4 2025, likely in September or October, the Ethereum community will continue debating what constitutes necessary innovation versus over-engineering.
In the short term, the contrast between BNB Chain’s aggressive technical advancements and Ethereum’s philosophical debates reflects two approaches to blockchain evolution. While one focuses on speed and optimization, the other targets resilience and social consensus.
