Having a moment… bitcoin. While the OG crypto's current market cap of $487B+ represents a three-month low, bitcoin's share of the total cryptocurrency market has climbed to nearly 46%. That's the highest level in nearly two years, and suggests that traders are selling their altcoin bags (like: solana, cardano) more quickly than their BTC holdings. A changing regulatory landscape may be at play.
Who's at faultcoins… After FTX's blowup last year, the SEC has hit industry players like Coinbase and Binance with lawsuits. As part of the crackdown, the regulator identified 19 additional cryptocurrencies as securities, meaning they’d need to follow the SEC's rules. (FYI: the SEC has said that, in total, nearly 70 tokens are securities.) If the courts agree, those altcoins could become much harder to trade in the US. The suits could take years to resolve, but we may already be seeing the fallout:
This month eToro and Robinhood said customers would soon no longer be able to purchase some altcoins on their platforms. (Snacks is part of Sherwood Media, a subsidiary of Robinhood.)
Bitcoin has managed to stay mostly out of the fray because many regulators (even the SEC) agree it's a commodity. A possible reason: it's considered sufficiently decentralized.
Risk appetites aren't stable… The crypto market is fairly new, and investors and regulators are still dialing in their positions. When bitcoin launched over a decade ago, it was seen as a risky place to park $$. While bitcoin still has a volatile rep, the risk spectrum may be shifting as regulators spotlight altcoins, and US crypto cos look overseas.