The altcoin movement is showing no signs of slowing down, with Bitcoin today slumping to an all-time low 36% of the total crypto market cap (i.e., dominance), according to statistics from CoinMarketCap. This comes after having represented 60% just one month ago (December 4), down from 86% under a year ago (February 28).
Since first being mined in 2009, Bitcoin has become synonymous with the concept of cryptocurrency itself. So often would conversations start with one asking “do you know about this cryptocurrency thing?”, to which the other would reply, “what, like Bitcoin?”
Indeed, whilst the broader public has gradually become aware of Bitcoin – contributing to its monumental rise in value – billions upon billions of dollars have come flooding into altcoins; a broad term encompassing all cryptocurrencies created after Bitcoin.
Today marked the first ever instance whereby the combined worth of the top 4 coins (excluding Bitcoin) exceeded that of the trailblazing digital coin. At the time of writing, Bitcoin (market cap of $234.29b USD) is $11.54b shy of the summation of Ripple ($96.43b), Ethereum ($84.98b), Bitcoin Cash ($44.42b), and Cardano ($20b).
Further illustrating this paradigm shift in the cryptocurrency market is the fact that today saw a record high market share attributed to what CoinMarketCap categorises as ‘others’. Boasting 21.1% dominance, this group is currently comprised of all cryptocurrencies ranked outside the top 12 (in market value), as well as Cardano (#5) and Stellar (#8).
The exposure to an ever-growing community of crypto investors has been a blessing for altcoins. Only one month ago – on December 3 – there were 16 coins with a market cap in excess of $1 billion, according to CoinMarketCap’s historical data. Since then, that total has more than doubled to 36 at the time of writing.
The reason for Bitcoin being so out of favour are varied. Coinciding with the plummeting market share has been the coin’s reduced usage among the very people who helped pioneer its movement – dark web users – which was explored by us today. The biggest reason behind the slump, however, appears to be the emergence of various altcoins pledging to fix the several flaws that have long crippled the viability of Bitcoin.
