Altcoin season is here, with Rex-Osprey’s dogecoin and XRP ETFs set to launch soon
Bitcoin’s dominance has dropped to 57%, it’s lowest point since last year.
Altcoin fever is rising, with bitcoin’s dominance tumbling to 57%, its lowest point since October 2024, while the CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index has risen to 70, its highest level in more than three months.
The altcoin boom comes as Rex-Osprey’s dogecoin and XRP ETFs are expected to launch tomorrow. These are the first ETFs for both tokens in the US and a watershed moment for the $1.72 trillion space.
In the past year, XRP is up an eye-popping 416%, while doge is up 162%. In comparison, bitcoin and ethereum, the two largest cryptos by market cap, are up 96.2% and 94.1% in the past year.
While this will be the first spot XRP ETF, Teucrium Investment Advisors launched the first-ever XRP-based ETF in April, the 2x Long Daily XRP ETF.
Jake Hanley, Teucrium’s managing director and senior portfolio specialist, told Sherwood News that the expanding XRP ETF ecosystem is “a good thing.”
“We have long believed this outcome was inevitable. The XRP Army is lighting up social media around this launch, and I expect Rex will do well,” he said.
While many see a spot dogecoin ETF as a turning point, legitimizing a coin that started as a joke, they also note its lack of utility.
Kyle Chassé, founder of MV Global, told Sherwood that while a dogecoin ETF is a bullish signal, the token, unlike bitcoin and ethereum, lacks a clear utility or a strong developer ecosystem.
“Its value is almost entirely driven by sentiment, community, and brand recognition. The ETF will supercharge these factors, but it doesn’t solve the long-term question of what dogecoin is beyond a cultural touchstone. The risk of a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ event is high,” he said.
Not everyone is impressed by a doge ETF, including Doug Colkitt, initial contributor to blockchain Fogo. He told Sherwood that “an ETF doesn’t turn a meme into a blue chip; it just gives institutions a cleaner way to speculate on the joke.”
“Let’s be honest: an ETF wrapper doesn’t change the fundamentals — it just lets Wall Street pump doge with a straight face,” Colkitt said.
The impending launches of the Rex-Osprey funds have also opened the altcoin ETF filing floodgates, which is already a very crowded field. As of the end of August, there were more than 90 crypto ETF filings, ranging from litecoin to trump, polkadot, and avalanche.
Just this week:
Bitwise filed for an avalanche ETF, joining the ranks of Grayscale and VanEck.
Tuttle Capital filed for three “Income Blast” ETFs, including for bonk, litecoin, and SUI.
Canary Capital updated its prospectus filing for its litecoin ETF, which is “due for final approval decision (or denial?) by the SEC in the first week of October,” according to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart.
The SEC is also set to approve or deny several other ETFs in October, including a slew of solana, XRP, and cardano funds, per Seyffart.
Kevin Rusher, founder of RAAC, said that in the long term, ETFs are just another wrapper for altcoins, so their success will depend on the popularity of the altcoins they track.
“As crypto investors become more sophisticated, it’s likely ETF demand will be diluted as they explore more complex offerings, such as yield-generation strategies within the digital finance ecosystem,” Rusher said. “Crypto IPOs and digital asset treasury companies will also compete with these new ETFs for assets.”
