DeFi Tokens Skyrocket in 2025, Leaving Legacy Coins (LTC, BCH, XMR) in the Dust
Yield farmers are feasting while Bitcoin’s old guard collects dust. DeFi’s explosive 2025 rally has turned once-dominant assets like Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Monero into afterthoughts—proof that even in crypto, you either innovate or become a museum piece.
The DeFi Juggernaut Won’t Stop
Protocols offering real utility—lending, derivatives, liquidity mining—are sucking capital from OG chains faster than a vampire attack. Turns out, ‘digital gold 2.0’ narratives don’t cut it when you’re competing with 20% APYs.
Graveyard Shift for Legacy Coins
LTC’s ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold’ pitch? Aged like milk. BCH’s ‘medium of exchange’ dreams? Buried under layer-2 solutions. XMR’s privacy edge? Outflanked by zero-knowledge DeFi apps. Meanwhile, TradFi institutions still can’t tell the difference—but at least they’re overpaying for ‘exposure.’
Changing behavior patterns
Crypto markets are cyclical by nature. They run without interruption 24 hours a day against a backdrop of high volatility and low liquidity which can create an emotional trading environment. In previous cycles, altcoins often moved in unison, rising as bitcoin consolidated and dropping en masse when it rose or fell.
This time, however, seems different, possibly due to the increased participation of institutions in the the industry. The rise in DeFi tokens can be attributed to increasing institutional interest in ether (ETH), which could pave the way for a search for yield with firms battling to secure the highest returns.
The same can be said for layer-2 networks. As institutions run into the Ethereum blockchain's issues with latency and efficiency, they may consider networks like Arbitrum that allow liquidity to flow from decentralized exchanges to staking protocols at a fast rate. That network's ARB token is up 15% in the past 24 hours.
Not so sanguine
Still, Petr Kozyakov, CEO at payments firm Mercuryo, said the rise in altcoins will be short-lived.
"While altcoins are also in the green with ethereum spiking past the $3,000 mark, the underlying ‘orange pill’ narrative remains steadfastly in place," he said. "Bitcoin’s growing status as a store of value is one that more and more big players and institutions are simply unable to ignore."
That's not a narrative that finds much support from Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX founder turned fund manager.
“Get ready for a monster alt season,” he told his followers on X after predicting that ETH WOULD reach $10,000 this cycle.
If Hayes’ prediction holds true, bitcoin could face short-term difficulty as liquidity will inevitably flow into the altcoin market as traders attempt to capture speculative gains. This could also be a hammer blow to the old-school crypto coins, which all lack major catalysts for a boost.
