The total market value of cryptocurrencies exceeds $24 billion, but high transaction fees cause Bitcoin's share to continue to fall to 81%

No one can deny that the cryptocurrency industry is booming. However, some would like to see more money flowing into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at a faster rate. One interesting trend is that Bitcoin's market share in the entire cryptocurrency industry is declining. The total market value of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is now over $24 billion, and Bitcoin accounts for nearly 81%, compared to over 95% in January 2014.

Bitcoin has been the dominant cryptocurrency for a long time. This is normal, as Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency that gained some traction. However, some altcoins have proven to be the favorites of speculators and traders. Although these altcoins have few use cases, they are perfect vehicles for value speculation. Therefore, some funds are flowing from Bitcoin to altcoins.

Bitcoin's market share continues to decline

There is nothing to be alarmed about this trend. In fact, diversification of cryptocurrency portfolios is a good thing. Although Bitcoin still accounts for the vast majority of the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies, its share has indeed fallen. In fact, this downward trend has been going on for a long time.

Back in January 2014, Bitcoin accounted for 96% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. Today, that number has dropped to 84%. Some say that while that’s not a huge change, it still shows that the cryptocurrency landscape is changing.

According to the development chart, Bitcoin has gone through this cycle before. In January 2015, June 2016, and at the end of 2016, Bitcoin's market share fell below 80%. However, Bitcoin successfully rebounded each time, and it is expected that this pattern will be repeated. After all, there is no reason to abandon Bitcoin holdings and switch to any altcoins, but some altcoin investments do look attractive.

One of the major factors in Bitcoin's market share "death" is the high transaction fee problem. As Bitcoin's transaction fees are growing rapidly, the low fee advantage of altcoins has made them more and more popular. However, no altcoin network has been tested to handle the daily transaction volume of Bitcoin. Until then, it is difficult to say which currency will eventually reduce costs. What is certain is that reducing Bitcoin transaction fees would be a good start.

Additionally, people need to remember that not every altcoin is a competitor to Bitcoin. For example, Ethereum is not positioned as a “currency” like Bitcoin. Ripple is not a competitor to Bitcoin because it is a very competitive technology that is attractive to banks. Dash and Monero are competitors to Bitcoin. However, only time will tell how the market capitalization distribution of the cryptocurrency industry will change in the future.