Bitcoin Reclaims 50% Market Dominance Following BlackRock ETF

Bitcoin’s market dominance has again breached the 50% mark after two years following the filing of the BlackRock ETF. 

This marks the first time since 2021 when China announced a complete ban on crypto mining and Tesla distanced itself from the asset that the dominance metric has risen above 50%. 

Recapturing Its Throne 

Bitcoin dominance is the measure used to determine how much Bitcoin makes up the total crypto market capitalization. The dominance crossed the 50% mark on the 6th of June, 2023, and then settled slightly lower at $49.9%, according to data sourced from TradingView. At present, Bitcoin dominance is back above the 50% mark, hovering at around 50.5%. This means that Bitcoin now accounts for half of the total $1.1 trillion market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market. Out of this, Bitcoin’s currency market capitalization is around $520 billion, according to data from Coingecko. 

Bitcoin’s market dominance has surged by over 10% since the 27th of November 2022. This increase has primarily been driven by investors looking at Bitcoin as a safe haven for their investments following the dramatic collapse of the Sam Bankman-Fried-led FTX exchange and growing regulatory scrutiny of altcoins in the United States of America. Bitcoin was last near the 50% mark in June 2022, after which the crypto markets saw a significant drop thanks to dogged and persistently high inflation in the US. This high inflation led the Federal Reserve to take aggressive steps to contain it. 

However, Bitcoin’s dominance metric has come under some criticism for under-representing Bitcoin’s actual market share by also including stablecoins in its calculations. But, this year has also seen the stablecoin markets struggle, with the Securities and Exchange Commission ordering Paxos to shutter its BUSD in February. This move erased billions from circulation. 

Ethereum Holds Steady 

While Bitcoin had dropped significantly in 2022, Ethereum had seen an even more significant drop, with the ETH/BTC pair dropping to a ratio of only 0.05%. However, with Bitcoin’s market dominance on the upswing, Ethereum (ETH) has held its position quite steady and has been around the 20% mark for the better part of a year. At present, the combined value of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) make up around 70% of the entire crypto market.

Bitcoin Dominance To Grow? 

Some, such as MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor, believe that Bitcoin’s market dominance will continue to grow, eventually reaching 80% of the total market in the next few years. According to Saylor, increasing regulatory scrutiny and pressure from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission would eventually cause a majority of other market assets to “go away.” 

“Regulatory clarity is going to drive #Bitcoin adoption by eliminating the confusion & anxiety that has been holding back institutional investors. Bitcoin dominance will continue to grow as the #Crypto industry rationalizes around $BTC and goes mainstream. The entire industry is destined to be rationalized down to a Bitcoin-focused industry, with maybe half a dozen to a dozen other Proof of Work tokens.” 

Saylor also blamed the lack of any institutional money making its way to the crypto markets on the confusion and anxiety created by the thousands of other cryptocurrencies that have positioned themselves as an alternative to the world’s largest cryptocurrency. He also pointed out that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler has called a commodity. 

“Bitcoin is the universally, globally-acknowledged digital commodity in this industry.”

Despite the fear and uncertainty prevailing in the markets, Bitcoin’s value has grown over 3% over the past week. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $26,768, according to data from Coingecko. 

The BlackRock Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)

One of the major drivers of Bitcoin’s price and dominance in recent days is BlackRock announcing that it is filing for a Bitcoin Spot Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), according to crypto research firm Santiment. Investors are quietly confident that the ETF may receive approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a filing by the Nasdaq stock exchange with the SEC, Coinbase Custody Trust Company would be the custodian of the fund’s Bitcoin holdings, while the Bank of New York Mellon would custody the fund’s fiat currency. 

However, some have also raised concerns about the Bitcoin Spot Exchange Traded Fund after details hidden in the filing shed light on what BlackRock could potentially do in the event of a Bitcoin hard fork. According to the ETF filing, in the event of a hard fork, BlackRock would get to decide which fork to go with, effectively deciding on the future of Bitcoin.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.