Altcoins Ready to Shine Under a Trump Administration in 2025
The crypto market is abuzz with anticipation as the landscape begins to shift in favour of digital assets. With Gary Gensler stepping down as SEC Chair and the Trump administration poised to take office in 2025, the prospects for a more favourable regulatory environment are stronger than ever.
This shift could mark the beginning of a new era for altcoins, as deregulation and clearer guidelines encourage innovation and capital flow across the sector.
Altcoin Market Positioned to Rebound
Historically, Bitcoin dominance tends to decline when conditions favor risk-on assets. Trump’s policies, coupled with a declining interest rate environment, set the stage for capital flows to pivot into higher-potential altcoin markets.
The groundwork for this shift is already visible in technical indicators, as highlighted in the chart below. ‘Others’ is the total market cap of cryptocurrencies outside of the top 10 and we have plotted this against Bitcoins market cap to illustrate altcoin outperformance.
The altcoin-to-BTC ratio is showing signs of a potential bottom, a pattern reminiscent of previous cycles where altcoins rallied strongly against Bitcoin. This chart highlights the current technical setup, suggesting that the conditions for an altcoin resurgence are falling into place.
The SEC’s Heavy Hand: A Brake on Innovation
Under Gary Gensler's tenure, the SEC’s aggressive enforcement actions created a cloud of uncertainty that stifled innovation and growth, particularly in the altcoin and DeFi sectors.
High-Profile Lawsuits: Ripple Labs, the issuer of XRP, faced a landmark lawsuit from the SEC in 2020, with the case dragging on until 2023. While Ripple secured a partial victory, the prolonged legal battle highlighted the chilling effect of regulatory uncertainty.
Exchanges Under Siege: Coinbase and Binance, two of the largest crypto exchanges, were targeted in lawsuits in mid-2023. The SEC accused both platforms of offering unregistered securities and operating without proper licensing, sparking concerns over the listing of altcoins and freezing institutional interest in emerging projects.
DeFi in the Crosshairs: DeFi protocols like Uniswap Labs were scrutinized for their role in enabling decentralized trading. Legal ambiguity around whether DeFi platforms constituted securities exchanges discouraged development and investment in this rapidly growing sector.
These actions not only suppressed capital inflows but also forced many projects to consider relocating operations offshore to more crypto-friendly jurisdictions.
Deregulation: A Potential Tailwind for Altcoins
With the Trump administration signaling a pro-crypto stance, the stage is set for a regulatory pivot. A more hands-off approach could breathe new life into altcoins and DeFi by:
Unlocking Institutional Capital: Regulatory clarity would give institutional players the confidence to invest in altcoins and DeFi without fear of legal repercussions.
Revitalizing Innovation: Developers and projects would feel encouraged to launch within the U.S., fostering a new wave of innovation across sectors like gaming, decentralized infrastructure, and AI-integrated finance.
Expanding Liquidity: A supportive environment for stablecoins could bring much-needed liquidity into the market, benefiting altcoins across the board.
The SEC’s overreach has stifled blockchain innovation, forcing fundamentally strong projects to the sidelines while speculative memecoins captured attention.
DeFi protocols are redefining traditional finance by enabling transparent, global access to lending, borrowing, and interest rate derivatives without intermediaries, offering users lower costs and greater accessibility. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) remove counterparty risk, allowing peer-to-peer trading with enhanced security and efficiency compared to centralized platforms.
The list goes on!
Beyond finance, decentralized AI is transforming industries like healthcare and autonomous systems by democratizing computing power, enabling collaborative AI development without centralized gatekeepers.
Similarly, decentralized infrastructure protocols are replacing legacy cloud services with trustless, cost-effective solutions that prioritize privacy and user control. These innovations outperform traditional systems by offering greater transparency, efficiency, and empowerment for users.
Within the blockchain ecosystem, there are real projects solving real problems while generating real cash flows at the same time. We believe traditional investors are undervaluing the disruptive power of these innovations. There are no alternatives globally. It is inevitable that more capital will flow into the ecosystem in the months to come.
2025: The Year of the Altcoin?
Trump’s administration has signaled intentions to prioritize crypto innovation, aligning with industry values such as decentralization and self-custody. By removing the regulatory bottlenecks that have restrained growth, altcoins and DeFi could enter a new phase of explosive adoption and value creation.
For investors, the current market dynamics present a rare opportunity to capitalize on an altcoin revival as the political and economic climate shifts.
Please get in touch with Steffen (steffen@swissone.capital) or Chris (chris@swissone.capital) if you would like to find out how to tap into our Top 50 passive index product that gives investors exposure to this potential growth opportunity.
Bitcoin Technical Outlook:
The market ripped higher in the second half of November eager to test the $100k level but failed to reach it in the latest move before profit taking ensued likely driven by the end of Microstrategy's frenzied buying spree. But we've seen more companies popping up and adding Bitcoin to their balance sheet which has once more revived the BID and Bitcoin caught another rally at the $90k levels. We expect more volatility in the next week or two before the $100k level is broken in December 2025.