Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes was bearish on BTC, but with the ongoing market rally, his tune is changing. In a July 11 X post, Hayes called Bitcoin’s (BTC) breakout to new all-time highs a key turning point. The former…

Arthur Hayes signals start of ‘monster alt season’ as markets flip bullish

The crypto market has been on a tear in 2025, and the latest 99Bitcoins Q2 
State of Crypto Market Report, authored by Manisha Mishra and sponsored by 
KCEX, lays it all out. The quarter saw institutional demand surge, Bitcoin 
($BTC) hit a then-ATH of $111,980, and crypto hiring spike 753%. Despite the 
rally, the total market cap was still 12% below its $3.7 trillion peak, 
hinting at room to run. With stablecoin adoption booming and long-term holders 
stacking, Q2 may have been the real start of this cycle’s breakout. Read the 
full report here: State of Crypto Q2 2025 – 99Bitcoins A Record-Breaking 
Quarter for Bitcoin Bitcoin lit up Q2 with a 25.66% gain, smashing past 
resistance to hit a then-record $111,980 on May 22. That put it well ahead of 
gold’s 7.21% rise and most equity indices, marking a sharp reversal from Q1’s 
pullback. According to 99Bitcoins’ Q2 report, the rally was driven by 
institutional inflows, ETF demand, and growing sovereign interest, with 
governments now holding 2.5% of Bitcoin’s total supply. Meanwhile, spot ETF 
flows consistently outpaced miner issuance, tightening supply just as demand 
surged. Chris Wright of 21Shares summed it up: “We believe that Bitcoin ETFs 
will attract 50% more inflows this year compared to last year. This would 
result in net inflows of approximately $55 billion in 2025, representing an 
increase of around $20 billion year-over-year.” A golden cross in late May 
confirmed the uptrend, following a clean breakout from months of 
consolidation. It’s a textbook bullish structure. With price action and 
fundamentals in sync, Q2 marked the clearest shift yet: Bitcoin is back, but 
powered by institutions, not retail. Institutions Took the Wheel, Retail 
Turned to Altcoins According to the 99Bitcoins report, this bull run has a 
different driver behind the wheel. And it’s not Reddit. 9 out of 10 experts 
interviewed in the Q2 report said retail traders have shifted their focus to 
the best altcoins, chasing faster gains while institutions quietly accumulated 
Bitcoin. The on-chain data backs it up. Glassnode shows that 30% of $BTC’s 
supply is now held by centralized entities, with large players dominating 
inflows. Meanwhile, Google Trends reveals that retail interest in “Bitcoin” 
searches stayed surprisingly low throughout Q2, even as $BTC hit new highs. 
Confidence among long-term holders also climbed. UTXO activity dropped, and 
the amount of BTC in long-term storage kept rising. A sign that serious 
capital isn’t looking to sell anytime soon. Stablecoins and DeFi Picked Up 
Steam If Q2 proved anything, it’s that stablecoins aren’t just stable, they’re 
also scaling. The Circle IPO popped 168% on day one, marking the first 
stablecoin issuer to go public and signaling TradFi’s growing appetite for 
crypto exposure without the volatility. According to 99Bitcoins, 81% of 
crypto-aware SMBs now want to use stablecoins for daily ops, and the number of 
Fortune 500s planning to integrate them has tripled since last year. On the 
DeFi side, Ethereum ($ETH) held L1 dominance, Chainlink ($LINK) led dev 
activity, and $HYPE – the native token of Hyperliquid – saw serious traction, 
fueled by the DEX’s rise to 70%+ of all perp DEX volume. While others chased 
memes, HYPE rallied on actual utility. In short: DeFi’s still cooking, and 
stablecoins are fueling the fire. Memecoin Mayhem After tanking in Q1, the 
memecoin market bounced back slightly in Q2, though volatility stayed extreme 
and price action remained erratic. Q2 saw the meme coins hit new heights, with 
over 5.9 million new tokens launched and most of them churned out via 
pump.fun. It was chaotic, noisy, and pure degen energy. While most faded 
instantly, tokens like $FARTCOIN and $SPX kept riding the wave. That said, the 
surge in token activity came with a dark side: phishing and wallet-targeted 
hacks climbed, especially among memecoin holders. Regulatory Wins and Macro 
Shifts Driving Confidence If Q2 had a theme, it was relief on both the policy 
and economic fronts. The U.S. pulled back on crypto enforcement, scrapped IRS 
reporting rules for DeFi, and signaled a more constructive stance overall. 
Meanwhile, the Fed held rates steady for the fourth straight time, hinting at 
a possible cut in July. With unemployment flat and growth slowing, capital 
started flowing into safe-haven assets, and this time, Bitcoin was firmly on 
that list. The result? Confidence surged. Bitcoin ETF inflows accelerated, 
volatility dropped, and $BTC’s macro narrative strengthened. It’s no longer 
just a risk asset; it’s becoming part of the defensive playbook. Elsewhere, 
$XRP finally closed its long-running legal battle with the SEC, potentially 
clearing the runway for a new ATH later this year. What’s Next for Q3? Back in 
Q2, 99Bitcoins forecasted that if BTC could flip $111K–$112K resistance, the 
path to $120K would open, with $135K as a stretch target. Fast forward to now, 
and that prediction is aging well: Bitcoin is already trading at above $118K, 
edging toward that psychological milestone. The report also noted $BTC was 
holding firm above $103K support, forming a bullish structure backed by rising 
miner wallet balances, shrinking exchange reserves, and growing illiquid 
supply – all signs of confidence from long-term holders. Still, Q3 isn’t 
without risk. ETF inflows could slow, and macro headwinds, from global 
conflict to sudden rate hikes, remain on the radar. But if institutional flows 
stay hot and the Fed delivers a rate cut, $135K no longer feels like a 
moonshot. It’s just part of the next leg up. Final Thoughts: A Bull Market 
With Depth The 99Bitcoins Q2 report by Manisha Mishra paints a clear picture: 
this bull market isn’t built on retail hype. Institutions, regulatory 
tailwinds, and real product traction are powering it. From ETF inflows to 
stablecoin adoption and supply-side tightening, the signals all point toward a 
more mature, resilient crypto cycle. And with Bitcoin already pushing towards 
$120K, many of the Q2 projections are already playing out. If momentum holds, 
and macro conditions don’t throw a curveball, Q4 could be the real breakout. 
Read the full report here: State of Crypto Q2 2025 – 99Bitcoins This article 
is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. 
Please always do your own research (DYOR) before investing in crypto.

99Bitcoins Q2 Report Unveils What’s Powering the 2025 Crypto Boom

Bitcoin’s price is holding firm despite growing chatter about the end of its 
market dominance. However, analysts are turning their attention not to 
Bitcoin’s price but to its waning market share as signs that altcoins may 
finally be ready to take center stage in what could become a full-blown 
altcoin season. A post on X has highlighted a specific breakdown structure in 
BTC dominance, which is linked to nine factors indicating that the altcoin 
season has begun. Technical Factors Showing Fall Of Bitcoin Dominance 
According to the analyst, Bitcoin dominance reached a peak of exactly 66% on 
June 27, 2025, a date he calls significant for its esoteric code 434 and its 
occurrence on a new moon. From a technical perspective, the 66% mark coincided 
precisely with the 0.786 Fibonacci retracement level, a region many traders 
consider a reversal zone. More importantly, several warning signals are 
flashing for Bitcoin traders. Related Reading: Altcoin Season Not Remotely 
Close, Bitcoin Dominance Still Too High: Market Expert Says The analyst&#8217;s post 
on the social media platform X features a few price charts to emphasize how 
the Bitcoin dominance might be fading, alongside nine factors. From a purely 
technical lens, the dominance chart looks increasingly exhausted. The first 
factor is the most recent highest monthly RSI in the history of the Bitcoin 
dominance chart. This event has created an overbought condition, and the next 
outlook is a possible crash of the RSI. The MACD, in fact, has already crossed 
into bearish territory. Furthermore, the histogram has turned negative, and 
the faster line has moved below the slower one, which is a classic signal of 
an impending downtrend. Another interesting factor is that Bitcoin dominance 
has now broken a key diagonal support line that held firm through much of 2024 
and 2025, which is another possible structural breakdown. Fundamental Factors 
Show Strong Rotation Into Altcoin Pairs While the technical picture is 
deteriorating, the fundamentals are also stacking in favor of altcoins very 
quickly. The first fundamental factor is the importance of upcoming altcoin 
spot ETFs, which have the possibility to redirect institutional flows from 
Bitcoin into Ethereum, XRP, and others. Related Reading: Time To Forget 
Altcoin Season? Bitcoin Dominance At This Level Is This Only Hope ETFs such as 
the Spot XRP, Dogecoin, and Solana ETFs could rapidly increase inflows into 
the rest of the crypto market, similar to how Spot Bitcoin ETFs caused massive 
inflows into Bitcoin. The analyst also highlighted the likelihood of upcoming 
U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts, which would tilt market conditions in favor of 
altcoins over Bitcoin. Momentum has also begun to shift in some trading pairs, 
particularly XRP/BTC and ETH/BTC, both of which are showing reversal signs 
from critical levels. The XRP/BTC chart displays repeated failed attempts to 
break above 0.0000215 BTC, a horizontal resistance that has now been tested 
five times on the daily candlestick timeframe chart. At the time of writing, 
the XRP/BTC pair has returned to this level yet again, and based on this 
pattern, any clean breakout here could confirm a decisive rotation into XRP. 
Likewise, Ethereum has begun to recover from long-term oversold conditions 
when measured against Bitcoin. The rounded bottom pattern forming on the 
ETH/BTC weekly chart shows a reversal from undervaluation, which in past 
cycles has caused substantial gains for Ethereum relative to BTC. Featured 
image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

Bitcoin Dominance Falls: 9 Factors To Watch For That Says The Altcoin Season Has Begun

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