‘Altcoin season’ anyone? Bitcoin dominance falls after XRP’s win

Bitcoin (BTC) dominance has fallen following Ripple’s partial victory against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, with a brief surge in altcoin prices causing BTC dominance to fall below the 50% mark.

Bitcoin dominance — a measure of how many Bitcoins make up the total crypto market cap — dropped to 49.76% during Asian trading on July 14, according to Tradingview.

Just a few weeks earlier, BTC market dominance had finally managed to climb above 50% after a two-year dry spell, amidst a flurry of applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs from major financial firms. Over the past 24 days, Bitcoin’s dominance has ranged between 51% and 52%.

BTC market cap dominance. Source: Trading view

The recent decline in Bitcoin dominance came as the crypto community clamored for the return of “altcoin season.”

Boosted by Ripple’s court victory, XRP token rocketed 83% to reach an intraday high of $0.866, and briefly became the fourth largest crypto asset by market cap. It currently sits in 5th place after tussling with Binance Coin (BNB).

ALTCOIN SEASON

— Carl From the Moon (@TheMoonCarl) July 13, 2023

The move was also noticed by members of the crypto community who enthusiastically celebrated Ripple’s victory.

Several altcoins that are also designated securities by the SEC jumped by double digits on July 14.

XRP is declared not a security.

Bitcoin dominance: pic.twitter.com/veZDJTHQlu

— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) July 13, 2023

Ethereum (ETH) gained an impressive 8% to above $2,000 for the first time in three months while Cardano (THERE IS) pumped a massive 25% to reach $0.357 at the time of writing.

Solana (SOL), another token considered a security by the SEC, is up 34% to reach $29 at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Polygon (MATIC) has pumped up 20% to trade at $0.854.

Stellar Lumens (XLM), a payments network launched in 2015 as a fork of the Ripple codebase, generates over 50% of news.

Related: Which altcoins will survive the SEC crackdown? Bitcoin OG explains

However, it remains to be seen whether this altcoin rally is sustainable as the longer term view still suggests that the crypto market is range bound.

At the time of writing, BTC’s dominance is back at around 50.11% just above its 50-day moving average. The asset only managed a 3.5% daily gain until it reached $31,686 and outperformed its altcoin counterparts.

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