Glassnode and Bybit: Bitcoin up 28% in two years as median mid-cap altcoins sink 74%
By Satoshi’s Wire
September 20, 2026
A Glassnode and Bybit report circulating on Sunday desks says that over two years Bitcoin gained about 28% while the median mid-cap altcoin lost about 74%, with Ethereum roughly sideways—framing a broken “altseason” rotation as the cycle’s defining divergence. Decrypt and Gate News both carry the Sunday wrap; Ape Index files it as a bid-currency concentration story for NFT desks, not a rehash of earlier Glassnode demand-warning wires or today’s Solana ETF streak piece.
The report’s core language, as those outlets relay it: Bitcoin compounded higher while the mid-cap complex “halves and halves again.” Data are as of the settled close of August 23, and Glassnode’s venue coverage is limited, so figures describe tracked venues rather than the entire market. Attribute the 28% / 74% / sideways-ETH split and the August 23 cutoff to Glassnode × Bybit via Decrypt/Gate; do not invent cohort definitions or unstated sample sizes.
Leverage concentration is the practical Ape Index takeaway. Bitcoin futures open interest sits near 2% of Bitcoin’s market cap in the report, while speculative small caps carry far more—PEPE near 24% of its market cap. Decrypt summarizes that froth pooled in the riskiest corners even as Bitcoin did the heavy lifting on price. That matters for NFT bid currency because SOL, ETH, and meme-adjacent wallets often fund marketplace offers; high leverage on thin alts can snap bids without rewriting Bitcoin’s wrapper demand.
Institutional flow still tilts to the top in the same wrap: spot Bitcoin ETFs about $55.2 billion in cumulative net inflows versus roughly $13.1 billion into Ethereum funds, which recently logged a multi-day outflow streak. The report’s Solana spot ETF cumulative print near $29.7 million is dated to that August 23 snapshot—keep it separate from later September Solana ETF weekly-inflow streak tallies already logged on 8bitcrypto. Decrypt’s framing: flow concentrates where performance concentrates.
A live question in the Sunday reprints is whether a recent rebound is rotating risk back down the curve. Decrypt notes Bitcoin reclaimed above $80,000 after a dovish Federal Reserve forecast, with total crypto market capitalization up about 4.6% in a day to roughly $2.85 trillion, Solana up about 10% on that bounce day, and names like NEAR and Uniswap posting larger percentage gains. Treat those bounce figures as Decrypt’s session context around the report, not as proof that the two-year mid-cap drawdown has reversed.
For collectors, a Bitcoin-led two-year tape with alt mid-caps deep underwater can firm BTC as settlement preference while leaving Solana and Ethereum NFT floors more sensitive to local liquidity than to a broad altseason narrative. Keep MultiversX’s pause, PEPE’s Sunrise mint, BlackBerry’s tokenized equity, and Alchemix Transmuter tickets in their own wires—those are L1 risk, meme rails, RWA issuance, and DeFi-position NFT secondary, not this Glassnode performance gap.
Desks should also remember the report’s own caveats when comparing charts. Venue-limited open interest and ETF tallies can understate activity on untracked platforms, and a median mid-cap loss is not the same as every altcoin’s path—NEAR and Uniswap outrunning Bitcoin on a rebound day can coexist with a crushing two-year mid-cap median. For NFT settlement, that means reading Bitcoin strength as a funding backdrop while still checking chain-specific marketplace tape before calling an altseason for collectibles.
Ape Index’s checklist stays narrow. Confirm the two-year 28% Bitcoin / 74% median mid-cap / sideways ETH split, the 2% vs ~24% PEPE open-interest contrast, the $55.2B vs $13.1B ETF cumulative comparison, and the August 23 data cutoff against Glassnode × Bybit coverage rather than screenshot bots. Watch whether breadth holds after the $80K rebound, whether Ethereum ETF outflows reverse, and whether mid-cap medians stabilize. Attribute all performance, leverage, and ETF cumulative figures in this article to the Glassnode and Bybit report as relayed September 20.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or trading advice. The NFT market is highly volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any decisions related to digital assets. The cover image for this article may have been created using artificial intelligence (AI).
