Bitcoin dominance surges to 60% amid crypto market downturn

Bitcoin dominance, a term used to describe the total market share that bitcoin maintains relative to other cryptocurrencies, has surged to a yearly high amid a wider pullback among digital assets and global equities markets. 

Bitcoin’s total market cap now represents nearly 60% of the total amount of capital in the crypto industry, according to The Block’s data page. This is up from a bitcoin dominance of about 51% on Friday.

Bitcoin was trading at around $51,000 at publication time after briefly falling below $50,000 in Asian trading hours. This is the lowest price Bitcoin has traded at since the launch of several spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January.

Although the price of bitcoin has dropped, its dominance has surged because rival cryptocurrencies including dogecoin, XRP and BNB have lost more in value. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has also seen a significant drop and is now trading below $3,000.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Monday following a bleaker jobs report on Friday that rekindled fears of a potential recession. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index plunged 12% on its worst day since the 1987 Black Monday crash for Wall Street, sparking concerns that a popular trading strategy involving the Japanese yen called the “carry trade” is now unwinding.