Bitcoin Dominance Reaches 4-Year High, Squeezing Altcoins Like Ethereum and Solana

Bitcoin's dominance relative to other major cryptocurrencies continues to soar reaching a new 4-year high.

Bitcoin’s dominance relative to other major cryptocurrencies continues to soar reaching a new four-year high.

Bitcoin (BTC) has reached a four-year high in market dominance as it continues to plow through the crucial $96,000 resistance level. BTC’s dominance now stands at 64%, signaling an unrivaled strength over other major cryptocurrencies.

This metric, which measures Bitcoin’s share of the total crypto market capitalization, has shot up significantly in 2024 as investors seek a safe haven amid macroeconomic uncertainty.

As BTC’s price continues to march higher, signals of institutional inflows via ETFs and corporate treasury adoption, like Metaplanet’s 5,000 BTC holdings, are also fueling this rally. But what does this mean for other major blockchain chains like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Binance Chain (BNB)?

ETH, despite a recent 15% surge to $1,800 over the last two weeks, struggles with a market dominance of just 7.4%, its lowest since January 2020. Its ETH/BTC ratio, at 0.115, also underscores BTC’s outperformance, driven by ETH’s high transaction costs and slower innovation compared to newer layer-1 chains.

Solana and Binance Chain, while gaining traction for faster transactions, lack the institutional trust Bitcoin commands. Analysts at AZcoins suggest that Bitcoin’s dominance may peak soon, potentially triggering an altcoin season as capital rotates to undervalued projects. However, regulatory uncertainty and weak fundamentals in many altcoins could delay this shift.

For now, Bitcoin’s dominance stifles altcoin growth, as investors prioritize its proven store-of-value narrative over speculative ventures. Chains like Ethereum and Solana, meanwhile, are trying to innovate rapidly or risk losing further ground. Solana’s focus on scalability offers hope, but without broader adoption, altcoins face a prolonged trough of disillusionment. Bitcoin’s reign, backed by BlackRock’s Larry Fink calling it a hedge against U.S. debt and orange-pilled BTC maxis like StrategyS' Michael Saylor, suggests altcoins still need compelling use cases to compete.