Altcoins Take a Bigger Share of the Cake
One of the most resounding features of the latest rally is the fact that
bitcoin played only a minor role.
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Though still the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin’s influence on the market
has quickly faded, with the likes of Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH) and even Cardano (ADA)
controlling a bigger share of the overall cake.
At the time of writing, there were 43 cryptocurrencies with a market value
of $1 billion or more.
Three additional assets were valued at more than $900 million and 19
more had a cap of half at least half a billion.
For bitcoin, prices climbed back above $16,304.20 today
and were last seen hovering around $15,550.
The real story continues to be Ripple XRP, which briefly traded above $3 a token
as traders rushed to capitalize on the best-performing currency of 2018.
Interestingly, bitcoin held that titled in six of seven years through 2016
Recent gains in the market have also been driven by lesser known coins that analysts
say offer huge potential for the digital economy.
**We’ve already mentioned Cardano – now the world’s no. 5 crypto by market cap –
but there’s also NEM (XEM), Stellar (XLM), IOTA (MIOTA) and Tron (TRX).
These altcoins are part of the top-11 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
As these tokens surge, bitcoin’s share of the total market has fallen to an
all-time low of 34.6%.
Ripple controls 16.6% of the market and Ethereum 12.7%.
Put differently, altcoins now represent two-thirds of the crypto universe.
The recent price rally suggests cryptos are picking up where they left off in 2017.
However, some analysts are concerned that evolving regulations could rain
on bull market’s parade.
**Last week, South Korea became the latest country to issue stern warnings
about cryptocurrency speculation, with a government official warning that
major exchanges could get shut down if newly implemented
rules fail to cool the market.
The South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) has issued swift bans
on new trading accounts on domestic exchanges, and has barred anyone
from opening anonymous trading accounts.
The new rules come into effect this month, and follow earlier efforts to
restricted minors and non-residents from trading on
domestic cryptocurrency exchanges.
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