Bitcoin Dominance Surged to 47% in March as Crypto Market Rallied

 | Mar 22, 2023 09:01AM ET

Bitcoin dominance surged above 47% in March in the wake of the current chaos roiling the global banking system.

Bitcoin dominance, the ratio of Bitcoin’s market cap to the overall crypto market, surged in March amid the recent banking crisis that saw three central US banks collapse in one week. The move coincides with a surge in the price of Bitcoin, which has also hit a nine-month high.

h2 Bitcoin Price Breaks Through $28,000 Amid Banking Crisis/h2

Bitcoin jumped above $28,000, its highest level in nine months, on Monday amid a rally that saw the flagship cryptocurrency gain more than 15% over the past week. The cryptocurrency is trading above $28,200, currently, essentially flat over the past day.

The surge comes after the current chaos roiling the global banking system. Specifically, the collapse of three major US banks in a matter of one week and an intervention by US regulators to avert a banking crisis — all of which once again put Bitcoin in the spotlight as an alternative banking system.

Yassine Elmandjra, an analyst at Ark Invest, has argued that the rally is a sign of Bitcoin’s value as a safe haven asset. He claimed that Bitcoin’s recent price behavior also suggests the increasing regulatory pressure had no impact on the leading cryptocurrency, he wrote in the firm’s weekly newsletter.

“In the face of the U.S. and European banking crises, bitcoin’s price appreciation suggests that lax regulatory oversight had no impact on the decentralized, transparent, and auditable crypto asset ecosystem.”

“Last weekend, when many banks were closed, and others were facing bank runs, bitcoin didn’t skip a beat: it settled ~$33 billion, facilitated ~600k transactions, issued 2,037 new BTC at a steady and predictable ~1.8% inflation rate, attracted ~1 million new addresses, and generated $43 million for miners securing the network,” Elmandjra added.

h2 Bitcoin Dominance Reaches Record 47% /h2

Bitcoin dominance has reached a nine-month high of above 47% over the past couple of days, according to data from TradingView. The figure last hit a high above 48% in June last year during the collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

Bitcoin dominance can be an essential metric for seasoned traders as it reveals whether Bitcoin or the altcoins are performing better. Some analysts believe a higher Bitcoin dominance shows a healthier crypto market, indicating that not much money is in more speculative altcoins.

“A bitcoin dominance run is generally viewed as healthy for the crypto market, as it signals that froth in the market is relatively low (crypto traders are choosing to buy bitcoin over more speculative altcoins),” FundStrat Research noted in a tweet Tuesday.