‘Altcoin season’ anyone? Bitcoin dominance tumbles after XRP victory

Bitcoin market dominance briefly dipped below 50% as altcoins deemed securities by the SEC notched double-digit gains.

Bitcoin (BTC) dominance has taken a tumble in the wake of Ripple’s partial victory against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with a surge in altcoin prices briefly causing BTC dominance to fall under the 50% mark. 

Bitcoin dominance — the leading cryptocurrency’s proportion of the total crypto market cap — fell to 49.76% during Asian trading on July 14, according to TradingView.

Just weeks earlier, BTC market dominance finally managed to rachet above 50% after a dry spell of two years amid a slew of applications for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds from major financial firms. Over the last 24 days, Bitcoin dominance had been hovering around 51% and 52%.

The recent dip in Bitcoin dominance comes as the crypto community is chanting the return of “altcoin season.”

Boosted by Ripple’s court victory, the XRP (XRP) token jumped 83% to top out at an intraday high of $0.866 and briefly became the fourth-largest crypto asset by market capitalization. It currently sits in fifth place after a tussle with BNB (BNB).

ALTCOIN SEASON

— Carl From The Moon (@TheMoonCarl) July 13, 2023

The move was also noticed by members of the crypto community who celebrated the Ripple triumph.

Several of the altcoins also alleged to be securities by the SEC surged double digits on July 14.

XRP declared not a security.

Bitcoin dominance: pic.twitter.com/veZDJTHQlu

— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) July 13, 2023

Ether (ETH) gained an impressive 8% to top $2,000 for the first time in three months, while Cardano (ADA) pumped a massive 25% to reach $0.357 at the time of writing.

Solana (SOL), another token deemed a security by the SEC, was up 34% to reach $29 at the time of writing. Meanwhile, Polygon (MATIC) pumped 20% to trade at $0.854.

Stellar (XLM), a payments network launched in 2015 as a fork of the Ripple codebase, cranked over 50% on the news.

Related: Which altcoins will survive the SEC crackdown? Bitcoin OG explains

However, it remains to be seen if this altcoin rally is sustainable, with the longer-term view still showing that crypto markets are range-bound.

At the time of writing, BTC dominance is back to around 50.11%, just above its 50-day moving average. The asset only managed a 3.5% daily gain to top out at $31,686 and was outperformed by its altcoin brethren.

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