Glassnode report: Bitcoin increased by 28% over two years, while the median market value of altcoins dropped by 74%

A report jointly released by the cryptocurrency analysis company Glassnode and the exchange Bybit shows that Bitcoin has risen 28% over the past two years, while the median market cap altcoins have fallen by an average of 74%, and Ethereum has remained basically flat. The report views this divergence as a hallmark of the current market cycle, contrasting sharply with the previous pattern of capital rotating from Bitcoin to smaller coins during the "altcoin season" as the market matures.

The distribution of leverage also shows a trend of centralization. The report points out that the open interest in Bitcoin futures accounts for about 2% of its market cap, while this ratio for speculative small coins like PEPE is close to 24%, indicating that risk bubbles are accumulating in the most dangerous corners of the market. The data is as of the close on August 23, and since Glassnode covers a limited number of trading platforms, the relevant figures only reflect the venues it tracks.

Institutional capital flows are also clearly biased towards Bitcoin. The cumulative net inflow into spot Bitcoin ETFs is about $55.2 billion, far exceeding the approximately $13.1 billion for Ethereum ETFs, which have recently experienced several days of net outflows. Earlier this week, after the Federal Reserve released a dovish forecast, Bitcoin regained the $80,000 mark, driving the total cryptocurrency market cap to increase by 4.6% in a single day to about $2.85 trillion, with coins like Solana, NEAR, and Uniswap seeing even larger gains that day.