During the week of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, Ethereum (ETH) outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) in the cryptocurrency market. While Bitcoin experienced significant volatility and ultimately calmed around $43,000, it closed the week in the red, unlike Ethereum and most other major cryptocurrencies.
The long-awaited approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. came on Wednesday, with the products hitting the market on Thursday. However, the week was marked by a series of downturns, including a security breach and a controversial statement from SEC Chair Gary Gensler. This led to Bitcoin’s price surging over $49,000 following the ETF launch and subsequently dropping by over $7,000 within 36 hours.
Over the weekend, Bitcoin’s price stabilized around $43,000, but its weekly performance showed a decline of more than 2%, resulting in a market cap reduction to $840 billion. Consequently, Bitcoin’s dominance over altcoins fell below 50%, having lost over 3% in the week.
In contrast, Ethereum enjoyed a rise of more than 13% over the same period, trading above $2,500. This increase may have been driven by anticipation that Ethereum would also see the launch of exchange-traded products. Other altcoins such as Tron, Chainlink, Polkadot, Avalanche, Solana, Polygon, Litecoin, and Dogecoin also posted gains. Binance Coin (BNB) was the only top 10 altcoin to register a minor daily decline.
Overall, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by $40 billion compared to the previous Sunday, despite a significant drop of over $80 billion from Thursday’s peak.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Quantify Crypto