Only Ethereum can save altcoins. Today, the market finally feels a bit like an altcoin season. The biggest difference in this bull market compared to 2017 and 2021 is that the market is too fragmented. In previous bull markets, it seemed like funds were all in one pool, whether it was Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other altcoins, the funds rotated together. So when Bitcoin rises high enough, the funds naturally chase after altcoins.

The entire market thrives together, while this round primarily features everyone fighting their own battles. The buying pressure for Bitcoin is mostly in the stock market, while retail players are primarily on-chain, with both sides not interfering with each other. This has led to a rather awkward situation for CEX, as there are neither new funds nor active retail investors. This is also why Binance created Alpha and is competing for users on-chain, because various narratives are happening on-chain, and CEX simply cannot compete. If they provide spot trading for winning leaders, it would lead to a situation where CEX is draining liquidity. Therefore, during this round, CEX has almost uniformly restricted access, regardless of how hot you are on-chain; they only arrange contracts. For spot trading, apart from a few major VC coins, they only arrange projects they are familiar with, such as Alpha. Although this arrangement can bring back some users who originally stayed on-chain, it still cannot solve the problem of incremental funds. Additionally, the influx of Alpha and the forced large-scale listing of coins make the days of old CEX even tougher. In fact, for a long time in this round, ETH has been in this awkward environment, with most on-chain activities happening on Solana. Major CEXs like Binance only support their own BNB chain, and ETH is also being drained by its own Layer 2 solutions. Therefore, even Ethereum finds it difficult to perform strongly in such an environment, while other altcoins generally follow the lead. In past bull markets, there was almost always only one leader, ETH, for altcoins. Reflecting on all the various sectors we've engaged with over the years, which one hasn't been parasitic on ETH? This is also why, even though this round seems lively with new big and small coins and hundredfold returns emerging every day, it still hasn't formed an altcoin season.