Apr 26, 2026
Are altcoins low-hanging fruit, or are these assets dead in the water? Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary has thoughts. On an episode of The Breakdown Podcast (1), the venture capitalist calls altcoins "poo poo" and says they have "no future" — despite being interviewed by Blockworks, a company known for covering crypto markets.
Per his reputation, O'Leary doesn't mince words.
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"I cut the garbage and keep what works," he says in his X caption, sharing a viral clip of the interview. (2)
O'Leary puts his faith in Bitcoin and Ethereum
The interview comes at a time when the tectonic plates of market sentiment are shifting. Since its sharp February selloff, Bitcoin has remained well below the $90,000 mark, and far off its all-time high of over $120,000 per coin. (3)
When Bitcoin drops, so does the rest of the crypto market
The bellwether is so important to crypto markets, other cryptocurrencies are simply referred to as "altcoins." O'Leary says he sold 26 of them after the 2025 market collapse, keeping only Bitcoin, USD (a stablecoin), and the largest altcoin, Ethereum. He says the other coins are "screwed" because they lack marketing dollars and "there's no reason to own them."
Is this a fair assessment?
The size of the altcoin market suggests altcoins are still getting plenty of attention. Crypto tracker CoinMarketCap pegs the size of the market at over $700 billion, excluding Ethereum. (4)
There's no signs of the market slowing. If anything, short-term interest is poised to grow. Since February, the CMC Fear and Greed Index has climbed from "extreme fear" to "greed," lofted by what some see as the start of Bitcoin's post-February recovery. (5)
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People are paying attention to altcoins, especially now. But are they actually profiting from ownership?
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2025 was the year of dead coins
O'Leary says altcoins that collapsed in 2025 "never came back." There's truth to that.
Over 50% of coins tracked by CoinGecko (6) have failed from 2021 through 2025, and 86 of those failures occurred in 2025.
CoinGecko's analysis credits much of that failure to sites like pump.fun, which make it easy to spin up meme coins with names like Peanut, Fatcoin, and Mother Iggy. (7)
It would be unfair to blame the death of altcoins entirely on meme-coin generators. After all, 91% of crypto coins that existed in 2014 are now totally abandoned. Some failed because they didn't take off. Others failed because buyers were "rug pulled" and ditched the coin.
History says most coins die fast. The performance of your typical altcoin is comparable to penny stocks, speculative shares of companies that trade for less than $5 per share. Sahm Financial Academy suggests 60% of penny stocks approach zero value within three years. (8)
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The data suggests altcoins, like penny stocks, are risky ventures at best.
O'Leary says the liquidity is with Ethereum and Bitcoin, which are easily traded and bounce back after downswings. They're generally considered the "safest" crypto assets. But it's too early to say whether the rest of the crypto market has no future — and a few names break the mold.
Some altcoins are liquid and useful, for now
Recent policy changes have made it easier for crypto investors to sort scam from substance.
Over a dozen assets have been classified as "digital commodities" by The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). (9)
To be classified a digital commodity, an asset must be linked to and derive value from an underlying crypto system, rather than the expectation for profit, Fidelity says. (10) In other words: The cryptocurrency must be useful for reasons other than "numbers go up."
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Solana, like Ethereum, is a smart contract platform upon which developers can build. (11) Chainlink secures on chain transactions. (12) Both are among the assets classified as digital commodities.
The vast majority of coins are considered securities, filtering out vast swaths of useless "poo poo" coins for the crypto-curious. (Most crypto coins lack real-world value.)
Investors who remain interested in crypto — despite O'Leary's warnings — might consider looking into cryptocurrencies with real-world value. These are less likely to be abandoned and are more likely to attract institutional interest. (13)
A word of warning: Even digital commodities are volatile. Bitcoin, sometimes called "digital gold" and among the most stable of coins, is currently down over 30% from its all-time-highs. Like with most volatile assets, patience is key.
In the words of Kevin O'Leary, "Discipline wins."
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Blockworks (1); X (2); CoinMarketCap (3),(4),(5); CoinGecko (6); Storm Partners (7); Sahm Capital (8); The Motley Fool (9); Fidelity (10); Solana (11); Chainlink (12); Grayscale (13)
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Cole Tretheway has been covering money for four years. He started as an intern at The Motley Fool Money, covering best-of credit cards, savings accounts and financial products. He's since expanded into holistic personal finance, including the psychology of money.
