The contrast between 2025 and prior years really comes down to this: traditional assets like gold have the luxury of absorbing nation-state capital flows with ease. Bitcoin, though? It's playing by different rules—it needs genuine market liquidity and robust infrastructure to pull in that kind of capital. That's the real barrier right now.

What stands out most to me is the token equity angle. This is where the real unlock happens for altcoins. When you've got proper tokenomics built in—where holders actually accrue value and see returns—that's when you shift from speculation to real value capture. That's the shift we need to see more of across the space.