Arthur Hayes Claims to Those Waiting for the Altcoin Season: “The Altcoin Season Never Ended Anyway”

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes made striking statements about the “altcoin season” that cryptocurrency investors have been eagerly awaiting. According to Hayes, the altcoin season never actually ended; investors simply missed the real winners because they focused on the wrong assets.

Arthur Hayes, one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency world, assessed the current state of the market in his latest podcast appearance. He stated that investors often expect a direct repetition of past cycles (such as 2017 and 2021), arguing that this approach is a major mistake.

Hayes criticized many investors who complained that “altcoin season hasn’t arrived,” stating: “Altcoin season has always been there, but you just didn’t have the assets that were rising. People expect a random token ranked 255th on CoinGecko to go up tenfold, but those days are over.”

The renowned figure argued that to succeed in this cycle, one must “stop looking to the past and focus on new themes and assets.”

Hayes explained some of the greatest success stories of this cycle with the following examples:

• Solana (SOL): After Sam Bankman-Fried’s imprisonment, SOL, which was thought to be “dead,” dropped to as low as $7, but made a dramatic comeback, reaching levels of $300.
• Hyperliquid (HYPE): Hayes described the HYPE token, which launched at $2-3 and quickly rose to $60, as one of the best stories of this cycle.

Hayes, who anticipates changes in market liquidity conditions, stated that he maintains his $250,000 target for Bitcoin for 2026. In the altcoin market, he indicated that privacy-focused (Zero-Knowledge/ZK) technologies and on-chain interest-bearing projects (like Ethereum) could shine in the coming period.