Industry executives from Bitwise, Wintermute, and the Arbitrum Foundation confirm this trend, with Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley calling it the end of crypto's "CoinMarketCap leaderboard" era. Investors are now assessing projects based on addressable markets, adoption, and economic value capture. Wintermute data shows institutional counterparties accounted for 72% of its spot OTC flow in H1 2026, up from 59% a year prior, concentrating in major cryptocurrencies and revenue-generating tokens. Grayscale's Zach Pandl notes Bitcoin remains a macro asset, while other cryptocurrencies face stricter fundamental scrutiny. Hyperliquid's HYPE token, for example, is up about 20% in the past year based on its platform's trading activity and economics.