Share this article
Bitcoin, Ether and Stablecoins Total 80% of $1T Crypto Market Cap as Investors Flee Altcoins
The combined market capitalization of BTC, ETH and stablecoins reached the highest level since February 2021, digital asset research firm K33 Research noted.
Updated Jun 14, 2023, 2:34 p.m. Published Jun 13, 2023, 4:03 p.m.
The dominance of bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and stablecoins in the crypto market surged to its highest level since February 2021 as investors fled from smaller tokens after last week’s U.S. regulatory clampdown.
The combined market capitalization of the two largest digital assets and stablecoins compose 80.5% of the total cryptocurrency market valued at some $1 trillion, digital asset research firm K33 Research noted in a report Tuesday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Altcoins – an umbrella term for alternative cryptocurrencies – suffered a dramatic sell-off last week as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed multiple tokens securities in lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance, Binance.US and Coinbase. Top 10 crypto assets such as Binance’s BNB, Cardano’s ADA and Solana’s SOL – all tagged as securities in the lawsuits – lost as much as 30% of their value over the week.
If the SEC’s allegation about a slew of tokens being securities are proven right, token issuers and exchanges would face a mounting burden to register with the SEC. Popular retail trading platforms Robinhood and eToro have decided to end U.S. trading for some tokens flagged by the SECs, while market makers have likely sold tokens in anticipation of lower trading demand.
Altcoins underperform
The legal battle could drag on for years, K33 wrote, impeding capital inflows to the assets under SEC scrutiny and propelling the investment case for BTC and ETH as safer bets from regulatory risks.
“Funds will likely retort to a hands-off approach due to excess compliance work and overall low trading volumes, disincentivizing market participants to engage. This could limit liquidity further onwards and lead to a prolonged slow market,” K33 wrote.
“Over the next year, we could thus see the BTC and ETH dominance strengthen further due to the cost and risk burden of allocating capital to altcoins from the 2017 era and beyond,” the report added.
The two leading cryptos have outperformed smaller tokens this year so far, preserving much of their gains from this year’s crypto market recovery. BTC and ETH are up 57.3% and 45.4% year-to-date, respectively, according to CoinDesk data.
Other cryptocurrencies, however, dropped to new yearly lows, with BNB and MATIC tumbling 2.7% and 15%, respectively, since the start of the year.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin gets 'base case' price target of $143,000 at Citigroup
The Wall Street bank said its bitcoin forecast relies on further crypto ETF inflows and a continued rally in traditional equity markets.
What to know:
- Citigroup's base case for bitcoin (BTC) is a rise to $143,000 in 12 months.
- Analysts highlight $70,000 as key support, with the potential for a sharp rise due to revived ETF demand and positive market forecasts.
- The bear case sees bitcoin falling to $78,500 amid a global recession, while the bull case predicts a rise to $189,000 due to increased investor demand.
Top Stories
