Share this article
Bitcoin Dominance Sinks Below 50% for First Time Since 2018
Bitcoin's share of the overall industry market capitalization has fallen as ether and other altcoins have surged in price.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:45 p.m. Published Apr 22, 2021, 3:31 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Bitcoin (BTC) dominance, or the ratio of the largest cryptocurrency's value to the overall market capitalization of digital assets, slipped below 50% for the first time since 2018, according to the data sites CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The ratio was 48% as of 15:44 coordinated universal time (11:44 a.m. ET) and came as ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain and the second-largest overall, surged to a new all-time high.
Bitcoin's market value is about $1.02 trillion, versus about $2.13 trillion for CoinGecko's universe of 6,816 digital coins. Ether's share of the market capitalization is about 14%.
Although 12-year-old bitcoin is up 88% this year, reaching an all-time high just below $65,000 earlier in April, the rally has stalled recently, and the price has since faded to about $55,000. Instead, traders have bid up prices for other cryptocurrencies, from Aave's AAVE tokens (+347% year to date) to Zcash's ZEC (+330%).
That's in addition to the well-documented rallies in ether, up 256%, and , which has climbed 50-fold in 2021.
The rapid price increases are drawing comparisons to the rampant speculation that took place during cryptocurrencies' last big bull run in 2017 and early 2018, punctuated by a spate of so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs, many of which gave way to steep losses later in 2018.
"It’s a signal the market is risk-on and 'alts' are outperforming," David Grider, an analyst at FundStrat, told CoinDesk in an email. "This is the scenario we’ve been seeing lately, and it reminds us of mid-2017."
Read More: Despite Price Drop, Bitcoin's 'Fundamental Narrative Has Not Changed,' Stack Funds Says
More For You
Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
More For You
BNB rises 2.5%, nears $900 mark as prediction market growth signals utility expansion
A new physically backed BNB exchange-traded product launched on Nasdaq Stockholm, adding to existing investment options.
What to know:
- BNB token climbed 2.5% to $89e, approaching the $900 resistance level, with increased trading volume suggesting fresh buying interest.
- A new physically backed BNB exchange-traded product launched on Nasdaq Stockholm, adding to existing investment options like Grayscale's pending ETF filing.
- BNB Chain saw significant growth in prediction markets, with platforms like Opinion Labs logging over $700 million in 7-day trading volume and cumulative trading volumes crossing $20 billion.
Top Stories
