Bankless Essay Argues Bitcoin May Underperform as Altcoins With Real Fundamentals Lead Next Cycle

The argument matters less as a bitcoin call than as a framing shift: the bull case for the next cycle is being rebuilt around fee revenue and buybacks rather than narrative or macro catalysts. That reframes what counts as a quality asset, and it puts tokens with visible cash flows — and the venues that host them — in a different competitive position than bitcoin's ETF-driven demand story. Whether the revenue-and-buyback thesis actually holds up across a full cycle, and whether bitcoin's cited overhangs resolve or simply fade, is the open question worth watching.