Bitcoin Dominance Grows as Altcoins Sink

The cryptocurrency market has seen an unprecedented divergence in performance over the past two years. According to a report from analytics firm Glassnode and crypto exchange Bybit, Bitcoin has gained 28% while the median mid-cap altcoin lost 74%. This stark reversal of fortunes marks a significant shift in investor sentiment.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has performed relatively flatly over this period, underscoring how narrowly gains have concentrated at the top. The report notes that leverage is also distributed unevenly, with Bitcoin carrying futures open interest worth around 2% of its market capitalization, while speculative small caps carry far more.

The recent surge in Bitcoin's price above $80,000 has pulled the broader market up with it, with the total crypto market capitalization increasing by 4.6% in a day to about $2.85 trillion. However, institutional demand still tilts heavily towards the top assets, with spot Bitcoin ETFs having pulled in about $55.2 billion in cumulative net inflows, dwarfing the roughly $13.1 billion into Ethereum funds.