Although there were some signs of revival at the end of this week for the altcoin market, many of the more popular assets in the space continued to trade down. For example, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Chainlink (LINK -5.42%) ended the period 9% lower, Filecoin (FIL -3.62%) declined by 5%, and Near Protocol (NEAR -0.14%) lost over 3% of its value.
We're still in a period of adjustment after the big market shake-up that followed the launch of spot Bitcoin (BTC -1.24%) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Many coins and tokens are picking themselves off the ground, but slowly.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs still got most of the attention
Bitcoin, by far the most popular cryptocurrency and the one with the highest market capitalization, casts a long shadow over the digital currency landscape. With the debut of those spot Bitcoin ETFs, many people and institutions reallocated their crypto investments toward Bitcoin, to the detriment of altcoins.
As of Friday afternoon, though, it seems this cycle is nearing an end. On Friday, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF became the first spot Bitcoin ETF to hit $2 billion in assets under management (i.e., the sum of all investments controlled by a particular entity for the benefit of its investors). The great whoosh of capital into such assets should thin out into more of a breeze.
Inevitably, focus has now shifted to spot crypto ETFs that are not Bitcoin. Grayscale Investments, a company that was instrumental in bringing spot Bitcoin ETFs to the market and operates one (Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF), is pushing to list an Ethereum product.
Yes, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed a decision on approving the Grayscale spot Ethereum ETF -- as it did the previous day with a similar Ethereum-based security from the busy BlackRock. Regardless, the fact that non-Bitcoin crypto spot ETFs are likely to hit the market before long is swinging the spotlight back to altcoins.
Waiting for the inevitable -- spot altcoin ETFs
The universe of altcoins is large, however, and there are some obscure names toward the bottom of the list. That said, there is clearly much investor hunger for spot crypto ETFs, and you can bet ambitious financial services companies are on the prowl for the right coins and tokens on which to build such products.
Just now, then, I'd say it's worthwhile for investors to bargain-hunt with some of the more familiar names in the altcoin space -- Chainlink, Filecoin, and Near Protocol all fit the bill nicely. These assets have the advantage of anchoring useful functionalities and so have good potential for wider adoption.
