Ethereum? XRP? Solana? No, You'll Find Exponential Altseason Returns In Lesser-Known Coins, Experts Say

With Bitcoin BTC/USD trading in price discovery and institutional capital pouring into crypto markets, the long-anticipated "altseason" may finally be underway.

But industry insiders say the biggest gains may not come from Ethereum ETH/USD or XRP XRP/USD: instead, it's lesser-known tokens like Alpaca Network's PACA or Telegram-linked TON/USD that could emerge as breakout performers.

"We’re in the early stages of what will likely be one of the most historic altseasons we've ever seen," said Michael Gord, CEO of GDA Capital. "Liquidity is re-entering the system… capital is already rotating into ETH and high-beta Layer 1s."

Among those Layer 1s, Solana SOL/USD is gaining momentum as both experts highlighted it as the fastest horse for the next six months.

"Solana is moving with the agility of a Web2 product and the scalability of a next-gen chain," Gord noted, citing its rapid ecosystem growth across NFTs, DeFi, and gaming.

Thomas Kralow, chairman of Evedex, echoed that view, adding, "If meme coins and NFT volume resurge, SOL could outpace ETH short-term… its ecosystem's retail-driven momentum often outperforms in altseasons."

Still, the real opportunities may lie in less obvious names.

Also Read: Bitcoin Hits Dollar All-Time High, But Trails In Euro, Swiss Franc: Dollar What’s Driving The Divergence?

Gord named Alpaca Network's PACA as one of the most promising plays in the decentralized AI infrastructure space.

"Through the launch of Modelz.ai, they're tokenizing AI models themselves… transforming AI into a liquid, composable asset class," he said.

He also pointed to Flashy Finance, which combines gaming, social, and DeFi functions, a new category he calls CultureFi.

"The next wave is about culture as capital," Gord emphasized.

Meanwhile, Kralow suggested The Open Network, backed by Telegram's massive user base, could quietly climb the ranks.

"It's gaining traction in payments and bots… developer activity is rising," he said. He also mentioned high-performance chains like SEI SEI/USD and SUI SUI/USD, which are building strong DeFi and NFT foundations.

Not everyone agrees on the winners, but there's more consensus on who could disappoint.

"ETH might underwhelm relative to expectations," said Gord, pointing to scalability bottlenecks and rising competition. Kralow added that XRP could struggle if legal clarity fails to translate into ecosystem growth.

As for what defines this altseason? Gord said: "This bull run and altseason is going to be the cultural onboarding of Web3 into the global financial narrative."

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