Bitcoin’s (BTC) market capitalization dominance stood below the 50% mark in the early hours of Wednesday at press time after 30 months of staying above that level.
What Happened: The apex cryptocurrency’s market dominance was 49.5% at press time, as resurgent altcoins brought an end to its majority dominance of the crypto market. Ethereum (ETH), which touched an all-time high of $2,702.91 on Tuesday, was second in terms of market dominance at 14.7%.
BTC traded 2.65% higher at $54,886.41, while ETH traded 5.51% higher at $2,634.94 at press time.
Market Dominance Of Various Cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. Data From CoinMarketCap
At the beginning of the year, BTC enjoyed a market dominance of over 70%, while ETH was nearly at the 11% level.
Dogecoin (DOGE), a cryptocurrency often discussed by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) chief Elon Musk on social media, had a market dominance of 0.16% at the start of the year.
See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)
DOGE’s market dominance is currently 1.67%. The cryptocurrency has soared a whopping 5,563.55% since 2021 began and is currently trading 0.23% higher at $0.27.
Why It Matters: It was reported earlier that Bitcoin’s loss of market dominance could usher in an altcoin season. Analyst Michaël van de Poppe has predicted a “bullish summer” for altcoins.
Some of these altcoins have meanwhile seen their own market dominance rise even as Bitcoin’s declined.
Binance Coin (BNB) now has a market dominance of 4.18%, while Polkadot (DOT), and Cardano (ADA) enjoy dominance of 1.5% and 2% respectively.
At the beginning of the year, BNB and ADA had a market dominance of 0.7%, while DOT’s hovered around the 1% mark.
These cryptocurrencies have also risen considerably in price buoyed by the white-hot Decentralized Finance or DeFi arena.
Price increases in YTD terms are: 1,338.81% for BNB, 624.25% for ADA, and 256.62% for DOT.
Even smaller coins in terms of market capitalization have managed to gain in terms of market dominance.
PancakeSwap (CAKE) now has a market dominance of 0.27%, Dent (DENT) of 0.05%, and Stellar (XLM) of 0.55%.
Gainers among altcoins are primarily either compliments or competitors to Ethereum. Smart contract platforms enjoy a combined market cap of $474 billion, while DeFi related coins have one of $76.10 billion, as per Messari data. This has ushered in an era of so-called Ethereum killers.
Read Next: Ethereum Killers Are Advancing At Record Pace This Year: What You Need To Know
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