Bitcoin Dominance Crosses 70% for the First Time Since March 2017

Bitcoin has added another $700 to its price tag over the past 24 hours, pushing its dominance rate above 70% for the first time since March 2017. This demonstrates that Bitcoin has definitively established itself as a market leader, leaving little room for altcoins to thrive. 

Bitcoin Dominance at 26-Month High

Bitcoin’s dominance index tracks the relative share of Bitcoin in the entire crypto market. At the time of this writing, it stands at 70.1%, which is the highest it has been since March 2017. 

As CryptoPotato reported, Bitcoin surged upwards of $700 in the past 24 hours, catapulting over $10,000 to around $10,360. This sudden spike also elevated its overall market dominance, which increased by more than 1.1% in the same period. 

The fact that Bitcoin’s dominance is increasing suggests that the cryptocurrency has definitively established itself as the market leader. It’s perhaps because Bitcoin has managed to prove its use cases and utility, whereas the majority of altcoins still have a long way to go in that regard.

At the same time, it’s clear that Bitcoin’s network is only growing stronger. Recently, the network’s hashrate surged past 80 quintillion hashes per second, reaching an all-time high. 

Where Does This Leave Altcoins?

Naturally, the logical question is what is happening to altcoins? The truth is that they’ve been struggling over the past few months. 

Irrespective of the direction of Bitcoin’s price, altcoins seem unable to reclaim any notable market share. In other words, regardless of whether Bitcoin goes up or down in value, altcoins keep on struggling. 

At the time of this writing, all large-cap alternative cryptocurrencies in the top 10 are trading in the green.

However, they’ve been struggling to reclaim any amount of market share. Currently, Ethereum represents around 7.2% of the crypto market, followed by Ripple with 4.26%, and Bitcoin Cash with 2.05%. 

It will be interesting to see whether altcoins eventually catch up, and whether there is any chance of an ‘altcoin season’ in the near future.