What exactly has caused Bitcoin to hit new highs during this bull market, while altcoins have hit new lows?

Author: Blockchain Knight

While the crypto market has been labeled a bull market this cycle, the actual experience has been quite the opposite. While Bitcoin has hit several all-time highs, the upward trend has been lackluster, while the pullback has been brutal. Altcoins have generally plummeted by over 90%, prompting retail investors to flee the market.

Even core supporters have questioned the quality of its "bull market", which is generally recognized as the most difficult bull market in the industry's history. Bitcoin has doubled since its low in 2023, but the market's soul has become empty.

This situation stems from three core reasons.

First, institutions have completely reshaped the market landscape. Wall Street giants like BlackRock and Fidelity aren't here to speculate; instead, they're taking control of cryptocurrency infrastructure, custody networks, and tokenized real-world assets, purchasing the liquidity and compliance channels that all participants must lease.

Although this "basic adoption" has consolidated the foundation of the industry, it has sucked away market vitality and is incompatible with the speculative culture dominated by retail investors.

Second, MEMEs have led to a collapse in the industry's significance. Once a satirical form, MEMEs became the dominant narrative from 2023 to 2025. Various "community coins" and "animal coins" have repeatedly surged and plummeted thanks to virality, turning the market into a dead end.

Even industry veterans have fallen into the hype trap, with retail investors' greed colliding with Web3's satirical culture, ultimately leaving both sides hurt.

Third, the macroeconomic environment suppressed risk appetite. Trump's tariff policy triggered a stock market correction and drained liquidity. This, coupled with persistently high interest rates, led to soaring funding costs, a drying up of capital, and a sideways trend for risky assets like cryptocurrencies. What was supposed to be a "wealth era" for retail investors has ultimately become a prolonged test of patience.

Ultimately, Bitcoin emerged as the sole survivor. Its resilience during the market crash, fueled by institutional funding and regulatory approval, underscores the enduring power of cryptocurrencies.

The maturity of this bull market is less about ecstasy and skyrocketing, and more about the calmness that a financial system should have, but it makes profit-seekers feel exhausted.

In this “hollow bull market,” market creativity, retail investor energy, and optimism have become collateral damage to progress.

Ultimately, this is the industry's self-punishment for choosing popularity over practicality, and it also reminds us that not all cycles are for getting rich, some are just for people to remember their original intentions for entering the market.