Bitcoin's market share falls below 50% for the first time since 2018

Bitcoin’s market share, or the value of the largest cryptocurrency as a percentage of the entire crypto market, slipped below 50% for the first time since 2018, according to data from CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko.

As of 3:44 pm UTC, Bitcoin’s dominance was 48%. Meanwhile, ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, has surged to a new all-time high.

Bitcoin’s market cap is about $1.02 trillion, compared to the combined value of the 6,816 cryptocurrencies listed on Coingecko, which is about $2.13 trillion. ETH’s market share is about 14%.

After 12 years of history, Bitcoin has risen 88% this year, reaching an all-time high of just under $65,000 in April. However, this rally has stalled recently, and the price has since fallen to the $50,000 level. As a result, traders have begun to chase other cryptocurrencies, such as Aave's AAVE token (up 347% so far this year) and Zcash's ZEC (+330%).

This does not include the much-publicized surge in ETH, which rose 256%; and Dogecoin (DOGE), which has risen 50 times in 2021.

The rapid rise in the price of coins has been compared to the frenzy of speculation that occurred during the last crypto market bull run from 2017 to early 2018, when a frenzy of ICOs led to a frenzy of activity, most of which collapsed in late 2018.

"This is a sign that the market is not afraid of risk and that 'altcoins' are leading the way," David Grider, an analyst at FundStrat, told CoinDesk in an email. "This is a scenario we have seen recently, and it reminds us of mid-2017." (CoinDesk)