The Bitcoin Supremacy Delusion: An Internal Monologue from the Crypto Trenches

[Internal monologue of a trader, 3:47 AM, staring at charts, third espresso of the night]

Bitcoin at $109,000. Again. Bitcoin is up 0.5% over the past 24 hours, currently trading just above $109,000 after briefly crossing $110,300. The orange coin sits there like some digital deity, absorbing all the oxygen in the room while everything else suffocates. BTC climbed 13% in the first six months of 2025, continuing to outshine the broader market. Meanwhile, Ethereum's ether · ETH$2,519.43, the second-largest crypto asset, tumbled 25%, and Solana · SOL$148.93 shed nearly 17%.

And here I am, watching the altcoin apocalypse unfold in real-time. Ethereum down 25% while Bitcoin parties. Solana bleeding 17% while Bitcoin flexes. The smaller tokens? Don't even look. Just... don't.

You know what this reminds me of? That dinner party where one guest dominates every conversation while everyone else sits there wondering why they showed up. Bitcoin is that guest. Loud, confident, hogging all the attention while the rest of the crypto space quietly contemplates their life choices.

The irony burns. All those years of "diversification" and "ecosystem plays" and "next-generation blockchain technology" – and we're back to Bitcoin maximalism by market force. Not ideology. Not choice. Just pure, brutal market dynamics crushing everything that doesn't wear orange.

They've also found favor with traditional finance; spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund net inflows in 2025 have totaled $14.4 billion through July 3, according to data from Farside Investors. Fourteen billion dollars flowing into Bitcoin ETFs. That's institutional money betting on digital gold while treating everything else like digital dirt.

The ETF flows tell the real story. Wall Street doesn't understand DeFi. They don't care about smart contracts or decentralized governance or any of the philosophical underpinnings that supposedly make Ethereum special. They want exposure to "crypto" – and to them, crypto means Bitcoin. Period.

So here we are, watching the great convergence trade play out in reverse. Instead of altcoins catching up to Bitcoin, Bitcoin is leaving everyone else in the dust. The "flippening" has become the "reckoning."

And the retail investors? They're getting educated in real-time about correlation versus causation. Just because crypto moves together sometimes doesn't mean it always will. Just because something calls itself "digital silver" doesn't mean it follows "digital gold." Just because you bought the dip doesn't mean the dip is done dipping.

The psychological warfare is brutal. Every day Bitcoin hits a new local high, altcoin holders feel a little more foolish for not being 100% Bitcoin. Every day Ethereum fails to reclaim its previous highs, the smart contract narrative feels a little more hollow. Every day Solana bleeds another percentage point, the "Ethereum killer" thesis looks more like assisted suicide.

But here's what's really keeping me up at night: the opportunity cost paralysis. Do you chase Bitcoin momentum at $109k? Do you double down on battered altcoins betting on a rotation? Do you just... sit there and watch while the market sorts itself out?

The trading platforms are loving this chaos. While traditional markets trade in boring single-digit percentage moves, crypto is serving up 25% swings like they're appetizers. Places like

are processing volumes that would make traditional exchanges weep with envy. The volatility is creating opportunities for those brave enough to surf the tsunami.

For those who've given up on timing the market, there's always the grind-it-out approach. Platforms like

and offer ways to stack sats while Rome burns. Sometimes the best strategy is just showing up every day, collecting your digital pennies, and letting time work its magic.

The gaming angle is getting interesting too. While traditional crypto speculation turns into a bloodbath, platforms like

and are creating alternative value propositions. Maybe the f