Bitcoin Dominance ‘Reverting to Mean’ of 90%, Says Blockstream CEO

Bitcoin (BTC) is reverting to its historical 90%+ market dominance at altcoins’ expense, one of the industry’s best-known figures has declared.

Back: Bitcoin will hit 90% dominance again

In a Twitter debate with Primitive Fund co-founder Dovey Wan on Sept. 9, Blockstream CEO Adam Back said altcoins’ previous supremacy was a temporary feature of the cryptocurrency space. 

Wan had queried whether Bitcoin would continue making market cap gains, and if these would become a permanent new status quo. 

As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s share of the overall crypto market cap now stands at around 70%, its highest since March 2017. 

The scales have shifted in BTC’s favor dramatically this year; at one point in 2018, Bitcoin accounted for less than 40% of the cap.

“It's a reversion to mean,” Back summarized about the current trend, adding the full cycle takes around two-and-a-half years to complete.

As such, he said, building on arguments he made in August, Bitcoin should end up back at 90% market cap dominance or even higher, as was the case prior to 2015. 

Altcoin death narrative gains strength

Many have already voiced their agreement on Bitcoin’s return to form. In recent weeks, vocal criticism of altcoins has come from veteran trader Peter Brandt and RT host Max Keiser.

Both believe alt markets have boomed and burst, with Keiser repeatedly claiming they will never recover from losses against BTC seen over the past year. 

Technical support forms a major factor in the latter’s argument. Bitcoin’s network hash rate — an indicator of how much computing power is dedicated to maintaining it — is currently hitting all-time highs on an almost daily basis. 

Meanwhile, separate research has already argued Bitcoin’s actual position among cryptocurrencies is already more than 90%.