The cryptocurrency market is bracing for altseason. If you haven't heard of that term before, this is when Bitcoin (BTCUSD) starts losing its dominance and money flows towards altcoins. The crypto market has been very peculiar this time, thanks to spot exchange-traded funds causing significant inflow into BTC.
As a result, Ethereum (ETHUSD), a crypto that has trounced Bitcoin's gains in every cycle since inception, has so far failed to do so. Traders started doubting whether altseason would happen due to that, but Ethereum has finally started making progress in closing the gap. ETH is pressing against its all-time high and could cross $5,000 in the coming months.
Regardless, the difference this time is that the market is far more selective. In 2021, every dog-themed ticker could triple overnight. This time, capital will likely go to projects that have ETFs and real-world utility. Analysts are especially eyeing the following two altcoins.
Solana (SOLUSD)
Solana (SOLUSD) is still in "beta" and was once called the "Ethereum killer," since the chain ostensibly solved the Blockchain Trilemma. This is a belief that a decentralized network cannot have optimal decentralization, security, and scalability at the same time. Unfortunately, Solana was then rocked by major outages, one lasting 17 hours in 2021. Such network stalls are almost unheard of when it comes to other major chains.
Since then, the team has made significant improvements, and there have been no major outages in well over a year. The Solana blockchain is now the go-to platform for meme coin developers. It hosts thousands of tokens that are actively traded. The blockchain is perfect for it, since fees are extremely low, and transactions get processed fast. If you compare Solana's fees to those of Ethereum, they may look negligible for occasional transactions, but Solana retains the edge for fast-paced trading.
Two meme coins that are on Solana that you've likely heard of are the “$TRUMP” and "$MELANIA" tokens. Those Trump-connected token launches brought a lot of publicity to the network and were seen as tacit support for SOL from the president. This was reinforced when Trump's executive order for the “Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile” included Solana.
With all this publicity and support, SOL is likely to perform well in a forthcoming altseason. In the U.S., the first spot Solana ETF was launched back in July.
XRP (XRPUSD)
XRP (XRPUSD) was also named alongside Solana for the stockpile. This project became an overnight hit as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started loosening its grip on the crypto space. The company responsible for XRP, Ripple, faced significant legal challenges and was hit with lawsuits from the SEC. Companies rarely prevail in lawsuits with the SEC.
But early last month, the SEC and Ripple jointly agreed to dismiss their appeals. On Aug. 6, 2025, they filed a stipulation with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, with each side bearing its own costs. The court approved this on Aug. 22, 2025, making Judge Torres' 2023 ruling final and unappealable. So, XRP sold on exchanges is no longer considered a security, though institutional sales were unregistered securities offerings.
XRP is up 412.6% over the past year due to these tailwinds, but analysts see more gains to come, especially if it becomes mainstream and partners up with more banks. The SEC's retreat has opened up the pathway for banks to openly use Ripple's technology to speed up remittance processing.
On the SEC's website, as part of its request for public comments on the future of crypto, there's a somewhat questionable but optimistic proposal that claims XRP could unlock trillions and free $1.5 trillion from banking liquidity, with $7.5 billion in annual cost savings.
With the SEC warming up to XRP, it could approve the first spot XRP ETF. Many applications are pending, and an approval will likely lead to a sharp rally. Analysts believe they can "pull in over $5 billion in inflows within their first month of trading."
