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The last crypto bull market, which ended in October 2025, rewarded narratives and stories more than actual economic activity. Meme coins and networks making big promises and little in the way of new or useful features caught buyers’ attention. Now, as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is grinding its way through its worst stretch since 2022, there are early signs of a recovery in the market thanks to a handful of projects.
The emerging contenders for leaders in the next bull market are different because they’re operating more like businesses than cryptocurrencies of the past. Here’s which coins to watch and what to expect if the market continues to perk up.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Cash flow could become the name of the game
Traditionally, crypto majors other than Bitcoin, like Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Solana, and XRP, have a complicated relationship between their token’s value and the extent to which their blockchains are actually used for economically productive activity.
Those chains collect fees, but only a small portion reaches token holders directly; the rest flows to validators, stakers, or ecosystem funds. That’s part of the reason holding Ethereum for the past five years left holders with losses of 8% despite enormous technical improvements, capital inflows, and network usage.
The coins that will win in the next crypto bull market will likely invert that dynamic, ensuring that holders get compensated for tying up their capital and attracting more investment as a result.
Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: HYPE) is the most prominent example. Its Assistance Fund is a mechanism that captures close to 99% of the trading fees on the chain’s decentralized exchange into HYPE token purchases, which are burned and removed from circulation. It has bought back more than $2 billion worth of its token since launch, soaking up 4.7% of its maximum supply at about four to five times the burn rate of Ethereum.
Lighter (CRYPTO: LIT) is another decentralized exchange and one of Hyperliquid’s competitors, and it runs the same playbook with its supply. All trading fee revenue funnels into LIT token repurchases, and per the June 30 tokenomics update, those coin purchased through those buybacks will be permanently burned; 6.3% of supply is already gone.
Another riff on this holder-friendly tokenomics concept is Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO). It operates as an ecosystem of different subnets which offer artificial intelligence (AI) training and related services. Its recent upgrade gave every subnet its own unique token; leading subnets, like Chutes, recycle their platform revenue into buybacks of their subnet tokens, so that holders of the subnet’s asset can capture value from demand for the subnet’s computing services.
