Crypto News
Altcoin Dominance Exceeds 50%, What This Means For Bitcoin
On-chain data shows the trading dominance of altcoins is now more than 50%; here’s what this may mean for Bitcoin.
Altcoin Trading Dominance Has Increased To More Than 50%
As pointed out by an analyst in a CryptoQuant post, sustainable moves in the market have usually started with Bitcoin going up first. The “trading dominance” indicator measures the percentage of the total trading volume that any crypto is contributing.
When the value of this metric rises for any coin, it means the volume share of that particular coin is going up, showing that there is increased trading interest from investors. On the other hand, declining dominance suggests the coin is losing steam as not many holders are trading it compared to the rest of the market.
Historically, Bitcoin and Ethereum have dominated most of the market volume, as their combined dominance has usually stayed above 50%. However, there have also been some points where the altcoins (other than ETH) have flipped the picture.
The below chart displays the trend in the dominance of these altcoins over the last year and a half:
Looks like the value of the metric has seen some rise in recent days | Source: CryptoQuant
As shown in the graph, the dominance of altcoins (minus Ethereum) has recently increased, and the metric’s value is now greater than 50%. The quant has highlighted previous instances of such a trend in the chart.
It would appear that usually whenever these altcoins have occupied the majority of the trading volume, the price of Bitcoin has followed up with some decline. According to the analyst, the dominance of altcoins generally rises above this mark when investors are becoming bored of BTC, so they start trading alts instead. Since these coins, in general, carry a higher risk than BTC, their prices are fragile and easy to squeeze.
Because of this, price moves that start with altcoins can be unstable. The quant lists the 2018 ICO bubble, the bull run in the second half of 2021, and the ETH merge as some extreme examples. On the other hand, moves where Bitcoin has rallied first, and Ethereum/altcoins have followed have been more healthy and sustainable.
If the historical occurrences of altcoin dominance spiking above 50% are anything to go by, Bitcoin could see a decline soon. However, it’s not certain, as there have been a few lone spikes above this level before that never ended up causing any noticeable effects on the market. Also, even if a decline occurs, its degree may not be as intense as in some previous examples.
BTC Price
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $16,800, up 1% in the last week.
The value of the crypto seems to have moved sideways over the last couple of days | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView
Featured image from Kanchanara on Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com, CryptoQuant.com
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Legislators need to educate themselves on Web3 if they care about protecting consumers, Steven Eisenhauer, chief risk and compliance officer at Ramp, writes.
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The Ministry of Justice in South Korea announced plans to introduce a crypto-tracking system to counter money laundering initiatives and recover funds linked to criminal activities.
The “Virtual Currency Tracking System” will be used to monitor transaction history, extract information related to transactions and check the source of funds before and after remittance, according to local media outlet khgames.
The South Korean Ministry of Justice will introduce a “cryptocurrency tracking system” in the first half of this year to strengthen the tracking of money laundering and recovery of criminal proceeds using cryptocurrencies. https://t.co/2CLkaLUrX6
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 29, 2023
While the system is slated to be deployed in the first half of 2023, the South Korean ministry shared plans to develop an independent tracking and analysis system in the second half of the year. A rough translation of the ministry’s statement reads:
“In response to the sophistication of crime, we will improve the forensic infrastructure (infrastructure). We will build a criminal justice system that meets international standards (global standards).”
The South Korean police previously established an agreement with five local crypto exchanges to cooperate in criminal investigations and ultimately create a safe trading environment for crypto investors.
Related: South Korean prosecutors request arrest warrant for Bithumb owner: Report
The South Korean Supreme Court ruled that crypto exchange Bithumb must pay damages to investors over a 1.5-hour service outage on Nov. 12, 2017.
The finalized ruling from the supreme court ordered damages ranging from as little as $6 to around $6,400 be paid to the 132 investors involved.
“The burden or the cost of technological failures should be shouldered by the service operator, not [the] service users who pay commission for the service,” the court stated.
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Bitcoin hashrate is becoming highly centralized, with a few mining pools controlling most of the blockchain mining power. The latest data from Mempool indicates that 50% of the total hashrate is held by Foundry USA and Antpool.
A Highly Centralized Mining Network
Foundry USA has maintained a hashrate of over 30% of the total Bitcoin network for several weeks. It became the first mining pool of non-Chinese origin to lead the list in November 2021, following the ban on Bitcoin mining in China in the middle of the same year.
Back then, Foundry USA contributed 17% of the total Bitcoin hashrate. Today, the US-based pool averages 34.1% of the mining power, equivalent to about 104 EH/s, considering that the Bitcoin hashrate is around 300 EH/S.
Related Reading: First Bitcoin Mining Powered By Nuclear Energy To Open In The U.S. In Q1 This Year
Antpool comes in second with about 18.0% of the total hashrate equivalent to about 58 EH/s. The Chinese-based pool used to be the largest Bitcoin pool but was affected by the ban on crypto mining which caused several miners in the region to migrate.
What Is Behind This Trend?
The graph shows that over 80% of Bitcoin’s mining power is concentrated among just 5 pools. This contrasts with the beginning of 2022, when these five mining pools barely exceeded 60% of the hashrate.
Some factors could have contributed to this rise. One of which is the location of the servers of the said pools. The closer the servers are to the pools and mining facilities, the lower the information transfer latency. This means that a miner will likely get more shares in the mining process and earn more Bitcoin (BTC) by connecting to a closer server.
Another factor is the financial incentives offered by these major mining pools. Bigger mining pools can consistently distribute profits to their members, who pay a commission for mining with their resources, driving more miners to their ecosystem. This is evident with the high mining difficulty in recent weeks due to the bullish movement of Bitcoin, making it difficult for smaller mining pools to be profitable.
Related Reading: Why The S&P 500 Could Help Send Bitcoin Soaring Higher
However, Bitcoin’s highly centralized mining system poses significant dangers to the cryptocurrency. The miners could agree to reject transactions that do not meet a specific parameter leading to a 51% attack.
We’ve seen such attacks occur on other Proof-of-Work blockchains like Ethereum Classic, which could be a problem for Bitcoin. In addition, these pools are recognized companies and could face pressures from regulatory agencies trying to control activities on the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin Price
So far, Bitcoin is still maintaining its bullish trend, with the leading cryptocurrency up by 40% since the start of the year. As of the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $23,400, according to data from Tradingview.com.
Featured image from Pixabay, charts from Trading View, Coinwarz, and Mempool
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