Ripple and Ethereum keep breaking records while Bitcoin takes a back seat

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It's another green day in the world of cryptocurrencies, with all of the ten largest coins rising significantly in value in the last 24 hours. However, this time it's not Bitcoin that's leading the charge. 

Yes, Bitcoin's price rose to $14,043 — a 4.99% increase in the last 24 hours — bringing the most popular cryptocurrency's market cap to $235.6 billion. But it's still a long way from Bitcoin's all time high of $19,962 in December. 

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But all of the other major cryptocoins rose far more than Bitcoin. Ripple, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose 11.48% to a new record of $2.47. Ethereum, which is in third place, rose 16.97%, to $889.77 — another all-time high. And Stellar, which is currently in eighth place by market cap, grew a whopping 36.03%, which brought its price to a record high of $665. 

Image: coinmarketcap.com

All in all, the market cap of the entire cryptospace is currently at a record $654.2 billion, an impressive feat considering Bitcoin has lost thirty percent of its value in the last couple of weeks. 

There's no significant news to which we can attribute this recent growth. Ripple, which had recently overtaken Ethereum as the second-largest cryptocoin, has been growing like a weed for a while now without any major developments. As for Ethereum, it likely benefitted from the launch of a test network for Casper, a significant upgrade for Ethereum which is currently in alpha stage. 

While it historically wasn't very smart to bet against Bitcoin, it looks like it's time for all the other cryptocurrencies to shine. Bitcoin dominance as measured by CoinMarketCap — the percentage of Bitcoin's market cap compared to the market cap of all other cryptocoins — is at a historic low of 36%.

Image: coinmarketcap.com

It's possible that the hoards of investors who recently entered the crypto space (popular exchange Coinbase has grown its user base by millions in the last couple of months) are now diversifying into coins that aren't Bitcoin. It's also possible that Bitcoin's largely stagnant development — in contrast to the extremely busy roadmaps from most of its competitors — is driving investors away. On the flip side, it's not unimaginable that Bitcoin is just taking a little break before it explodes again.

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