What the numbers say: Bitcoin (BTC) has recently surpassed 50% in market dominance for the first time in two years. The popular cryptocurrency lastly reached this level in April 2021. The figure means that Bitcoin alone now makes up half of the total crypto market cap of $1.1T. The token is currently the largest cryptocurrency, with its $531B market cap, ahead of Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), Binance Coin (BNB), and USD Coin (USDC) in the top five. Besides, the combined market dominance of BTC and ETH accounts for 70%, with the latter having a 20% share. What it means: Market dominance refers to a crypto asset's control of the entire crypto market. The dominant asset mostly holds the power to impact competition and prices in the industry. Relevance: Bitcoin's market dominance has increased by over 10.5% since November 2022, when the previously third-largest crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy. The sudden surge was attributed to the investors gravitating to the flagship crypto asset, seeing it as a safe harbor after the collapses of several high-profile crypto firms last year. Brands that should care: Following these collapses, the U.S. regulators increased the crackdown on the crypto industry. Most recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed two consecutive lawsuits against major crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, over alleged U.S. securities law violations. Over the last several months, many other crypto trading platforms, such as Kraken, Gemini, and Bittrex, similarly came under increased scrutiny by the SEC. The heightened regulatory tension is also expected to affect Bitcoin's market dominance upward in the long term. |
