Michaël van de Poppe explains why most altcoins will struggle to survive past 2026

Cryptocurrency analyst Michaël van de Poppe has issued a warning that most altcoins may not survive beyond 2026 due to poor structural performance, increasing competition, and weak economic models.

This statement comes amid a volatile cryptocurrency market in 2026. Many experts forecast a prolonged downturn, while others believe favorable factors could converge to open a new growth cycle.

The 2026 Altcoin Culling: Why Many Tokens Will Fail and Only a Few Will Remain Resilient

“This is truly a harsh bear market year, with most altcoins losing about 90% of their value. I believe most of them will never recover,” he shared.

Van de Poppe pointed out several reasons why altcoins might face difficulties next year, notably weak tokenomics and inefficient financial management. According to him:

“The primary reason many altcoins struggle to survive is due to founders managing finances poorly, building unreasonable tokenomics models, or experiencing such deep price drops that recovery becomes impossible.”

Additionally, the prolonged bear market is a significant factor. Van de Poppe describes this as “the longest bear market” in crypto history, comparing it to the post-dot-com bubble period.

“Looking back at the collapse after the dot-com bubble, most projects and tech companies from that era never made a comeback,” he noted.

Rapid technological advancements are also changing the competitive landscape. Van de Poppe cited earlier-generation projects as examples, showing that newer, more efficient solutions have replaced many altcoins built in previous cycles.

In some cases, the initial problems these projects aimed to solve no longer exist, reducing their practicality and long-term growth potential. He also believes that the entry of large organizations into the market, while beneficial for the crypto industry as a whole, could disadvantage smaller projects.

“For example, Neo in 2017, now there are superior solutions for the issues they aimed to address… When big organizations enter, it positively impacts the entire industry but poses a significant challenge for smaller teams that lack competitive capacity,” he added.

Although he warns that most altcoins will not perform well in 2026, Van de Poppe still sees potential in some projects. According to his analysis framework, altcoins likely to endure are those demonstrating a disconnect between price performance and fundamental growth.

He believes projects with active on-chain growth, increasing total value locked (TVL), high trading volume, and rising fee revenue — even if their token prices are weak or declining — are potential long-term survivors. He highlighted Arbitrum, Aave, and NEAR as prime examples.

“The current price of Arbitrum is at an all-time low, while its ecosystem growth has increased nearly 200% at the same time. That’s where you can find quality altcoins,” Van de Poppe commented.

This view aligns with industry consensus that a broad altcoin season may not occur, with only select assets benefiting as the market matures.

Therefore, the gap between surviving and failing altcoins is expected to become more pronounced in the next cycle. While this culling process may lead to short-term losses, in the long run, it will strengthen the crypto ecosystem by focusing value on projects with solid fundamentals and high resilience.

Mr. Giáo