Altseason Is Canceled. Forever.

It’s end of 2025, and “altseason” has quietly been pushed from 2024 to 2025 to now maybe 2026. What’s changed isn’t timing, it’s belief. Fewer people actually think it’s coming anymore.

The uncomfortable reality is that altcoins used to rally on new buyers. That buyer base is basically gone. Crypto Twitter, maybe ~50k people, already owns altcoins. These are cycle veterans, already exposed, already burned, already allocated. There’s no fresh capital here to move markets.

Retail is fragmented and underfunded. The only entities that can actually move prices are funds, institutions, and wealthy allocators. They draw the chart. And they are not buying altcoins.

Why? Because most altcoins don’t represent ownership.

Governance tokens especially have been exposed over the past year. On paper, token holders vote. In practice, turnout is tiny, execution is optional, and core teams or foundations retain override powers under “security” or “urgency.” When votes conflict with insider preferences, outcomes get delayed, reframed, or bypassed. Over time, rational holders stop participating. Governance turns into theater.

Sky(MakerDao) is a good example. Votes happened. Debates happened. And yet major decisions were effectively decided elsewhere. Participation collapsed once it became clear votes didn’t constrain outcomes.

Even if governance worked perfectly, it still wouldn’t solve the core issue: institutions don’t buy voting rights. They buy ownership.

This leads to the deeper structural flaw: the DAO vs devco split. Tokens live in DAOs. Teams, IP, trademarks, and execution live in labs companies. When acquisitions happen, buyers acquire the devco, not the DAO. The token isn’t bought. Holders don’t benefit. We’ve seen this repeatedly with Tensor, Padre, Axelar, and others.

The people and IP move on. The token is left governing an empty shell.

This problem even applies to Ethereum. ETH is a utility token, not ownership. It doesn’t guarantee cash flows, equity, or control. Its valuation depends on demand and relevance, not rights. And relevance is fragile in a world of L2s, fee compression, and improving tech.

Institutions aren’t avoiding altcoins because they “don’t get crypto.” They’re avoiding them because there’s nothing to own.

Until tokens represent real ownership, enforceable rights, or cash flows, altcoin season probably stays a meme. Fixing that likely means regulation, securities, and a very different crypto culture.

And that’s the real tradeoff no one wants to talk about.