Bitcoin Dominance Reaches Lowest Point Since January, as Investors Eye Ether (ETH)

With investors' eyes on ether as the Merge approaches, bitcoin's dominance has dropped to levels not seen since January.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below the key $19,000 level on Wednesday, continuing its recent slide as broader markets remained skittish amid concerns over hawkish Federal Reserve monetary policy.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value fell to as low as $18,943, down about 6% over the past 24 hours. BTC lost $1,000 in value in about four hours.

Bitcoin’s recent weakness comes despite a broader recovery in crypto markets from the severe downturn earlier this year. Still, some traders have pointed to signs of relative weakness in BTC compared to other major coins.

After rallying sharply ahead of the Ethereum Merge, ether (ETH) has started to underperform relative to bitcoin (BTC) in recent days. Still, ETH outperformed BTC on Wednesday, dropping “only” 8% over the past 24 hours.

ETC, the token for Ethereum Classic, fell sharply on Wednesday, dropping 17% over the past 24 hours. The move nearly erased the token’s gains earlier this week, which were fueled by anticipation of a wave of crypto miners shifting to the ETC network following the Merge.

In other crypto news, senior executive departures from Pantera Capital, a major cryptocurrency hedge fund and venture capital investor with $4.7 billion in assets, are wider than previously reported, according to people familiar with the matter.

Curve Finance, a prominent stablecoin swap application, is nearing the launch of its native stablecoin, dubbed crvUSD, as per the initial code released by its developers on Tuesday.

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Asset

Ticker

Returns

DACS Sector

Polygon

MATIC

−9.4%

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Ethereum

ETH

−8.1%

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Loopring

LRC

−8.0%

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