The Bitcoin dominance in the crypto market has become the lowest in its history due to the growing interest of investors in alternative digital currencies, the so called altcoins.
On Tuesday, Bitcoin's market capitalization was $231.7 billion, which is approximately 36% of the total value of cryptocurrencies. Thus, Bitcoin’s share of the crypto market has dropped to its historical minimum. At the beginning of 2017, the Bitcoin dominance in the cryptocurrency market exceeded 80%.
Since the beginning of 2017, Bitcoin has increased almost twelvefold: its rate has risen from less than $1,000 in early 2017 to a historic high of $19,891 recorded on the Bitfinex exchange on December 17.
However, afterwards, Bitcoin significantly fell. On December 22, the rate dropped to a minimum of $10,718, after which it recovered to $13,000.
While bitcoin investors see the current depreciation as a natural correction after its spectacular growth, market regulators and central bankers continue to warn about the inflation of the bubble in the cryptocurrency market.
At the end of December, Morgan Stanley analysts warned that the real cost of Bitcoin could be zero.
Researchers noted that if Bitcoin is not used as a means of payment on an equal footing with the dollar and other fiat currencies, then in the end its cost will be zero.
Elsewhere, Ripple, which is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading at $2.08.
On Friday, the capitalization of Ripple grew by 50%. Ripple market capitalization continued to grow during the weekend and exceeded $100 billion, surpassing Ethereum and moving on the second place. Ethereum has a market capitalization of around $85 billion and fell to the third place.
In 2017, the value of Ripple increased by more than 19,600%. The rise in the value of the ripple in 2017 exceeded the growth in the cost of the Ethereum and Bitcoin, which rose in price by “only” 9000% and 1400%, respectively.