Top analyst Tom Dunleavy believes the next altcoin season will be significantly different from previous cycles. He added that altcoins may retain 30%-35% of the cryptocurrency market capitalization but at much higher levels than previous cycles.

Dunleavy is the head of the venture capital department at Varys Capital, a cryptocurrency-focused venture investment company with offices in Thailand and the UAE.

In a recent conversation with TheStreet Roundtable host Scott Melker, Dunleavy shed light on the prospects of leading cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Chainlink, etc.

Melker cited two recent reports showing an optimistic outlook for altcoins. In one report, Bitwise bet on ETH, SOL, XRP, LINK, etc. as the 'cleanest' altcoin investment to take advantage of the crypto boom.

In another report, analyst Timo Oinonen highlighted that the stablecoin balance on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange reached a record $31 billion in June. The report stated that the long-awaited altcoin season may have arrived.

XRP Is A 'Banking Meme Coin'

Dunleavy stated that he agrees with the assessment of all these cryptocurrencies except one.

Ethereum is where most of the stablecoin activity takes place, so it makes sense to include it in the list of leading assets, he emphasized. ETH is trading at $2,812.21, down 9.5% year-on-year.

However, he said he could understand why there is a pessimistic mindset about ETH in the cryptocurrency community because people expect its price to actually benefit from the boom of stablecoins and tokenization.

Solana also witnessed a large amount of stablecoin activity, he said, while emphasizing its important position in the altcoin market. SOL is trading at $159.33, up 13% year-on-year.

Dunleavy added that Chainlink, even if LINK has not shown any significant price volatility for years, still provides predictions for both stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) cryptocurrencies.

LINK is trading at $14.64, up 14.5% year-on-year.

The only cryptocurrency that the head of the Varys Capital venture expressed skepticism about is XRP, due to its centralized model compared to other alternative cryptocurrencies.

XRP only has 35 validators and is slower at 20 transactions per second (TPS), he added. Although Ripple is a stablecoin, other stablecoins have higher liquidity, he emphasized.

XRP still resembles a 'banking meme coin', which Dunleavy said he is unsure whether to bet on or not. It is trading at $2.49, up 473% year-on-year.

A Different Altcoin Season Is Predicted

Other altcoins are a 'great way to capitalize on' the growth of stablecoins and RWA cryptocurrencies in the coming years. Melker asked Dunleavy if he sees these factors having a spillover effect on altcoins and whether a true altcoin season is indeed approaching.

Dunleavy said this time, the altcoin season will be different from previous cycles. As Bitcoin is expected to have significant capital inflows through ETF funds and national interest rates, altcoins will have to be limited to the usual cryptocurrency market capitalization of 30%-35%.

Bitcoin reached a record high of $113,833.84 on July 10. With a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, it accounts for 62% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. However, Dunleavy added that since the market has expanded, this altcoin season will be much larger.$XRP