While the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin set new records in 2025, many altcoins, including Ethereum, showed more limited upward momentum.
In this context, altcoins generally lag behind $BTC, and the cryptocurrency-focused research firm Blockworks Research published a comprehensive report analyzing the market dynamics of altcoins in recent years.
According to the research, altcoins are underperforming $BTC: only 1.7% of altcoins that reached a market capitalization of at least $50 million and had a 24-month history from early 2020 to June 2026 managed to outperform Bitcoin.
Research data shows that in the long term, Bitcoin has outperformed the vast majority of altcoins.
"The situation changed after the 2021 bull run!"
The report highlighted significant shifts in the performance of $BTC and altcoins. It was noted that during the 2020-2021 bull market, a significant portion of altcoins outperformed Bitcoin in returns, but this success proved unsustainable.
According to the report, between February 2020 and November 2021, roughly one in three altcoins outperformed Bitcoin in returns. However, 86% of those altcoins have lost more than 90% of their value since their peak.
In contrast, among the 187 altcoins that outperformed Bitcoin during the 2021 bull market, only $OKB was able to maintain its superior performance relative to Bitcoin in the subsequent period.
"Only 22 altcoins managed to outperform Bitcoin!"
Analysts determined that only 22 altcoins outperformed Bitcoin in returns from 2020 to 2026. However, the study noted that it analyzed only projects that reached a market capitalization of at least $50 million between 2020 and 2026, not all cryptocurrencies.
The list of altcoins included the following cryptocurrencies: "BNB, $OKB, GT, LEO, BGB, WBT, MX, CAKE, Ethereum, Solana, and Tron".
*This is not investment advice.
end-content
