An altcoin that comes very close to Bitcoin in terms of marketcap?

[Ahli38]

Bitcoin has long been the only cryptocurrency to remain firmly at the top among other cryptocurrencies. And so far no altcoin has ever surpassed Bitcoin’s market capitalization. Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and appears to be firmly entrenched in its second-place position. As too date no altcoin has shown any signs of approaching Bitcoin’s market cap. And the gap is very wide compared to some of the altcoins in the top ten. New competitors like Solana or Hype still have a very hard time catching up to Ethereum So I personally think it’s very difficult for other altcoins to come close to Bitcoin. And it seems that a major overhaul would be needed for an altcoin that wants to rival Bitcoin like  having a strong vision like Bitcoin’s regarding its scarcity or even its ever-growing popularity, where it consistently attracts people to use it for their various needs.

(Source)

I’d like to know, is there a scenario in which an altcoin could surpass Bitcoin?

[_act_]

There is a reason people said bitcoin, and altcoins to refer to other coins. That saying alone means a lot. I do not think any coin can have up to the marketcap that bitcoin is having. The only coin I think may compete later could be USDT, but which is a stable coin that is backed by fiat. I do not think that will even be possible because bitcoin marketcap will be growing. Even during bear market, bitcoin is far much higher than all the stable coins combined. So I do not think any coin can surpass bitcoin marketcap.

[internetional]

Any token of a real-world asset can overpass bitcoin:
- tokenized gold,
- tokenized oil,
- tokenized copper,
- tokenized NVDA,
- tokenized USD,
- ...

This is bound to happen. All it takes is not having several different tokens of the exact same dollar chipping away at each other's market cap, but rather one universally recognized and widely used token (plus, maybe, a few competitors - for the fringe crowd who don't like mainstream solutions).

[asriloni]

I’d like to know, is there a scenario in which an altcoin could surpass Bitcoin?

Ethereum had ever surpassed Bitcoin in the past, but the paradigm was shifting bitcoin to be in the same level as gold in digital form. Nevertheless it's being value more because it's used as hedging asset against inflation. That's why more people are owning bitcoin rather than alts.

On other hand, altcoins is just like its name " alternative coin", which refer to the alternative coin for bitcoin as the main coin. So it seems the scenario altcoins to surpass bitcoin won't happen because bitcoin being value as store of value asset.

The only possible scenario is that stable coin to surpass bitcoin by depositing any of available fiat in the world to mint it but this is only a dystopia story that has zero chance to happen.

At the end of the day, the word about altcoin has said it all why it will never able to surpass bitcoin, though the chance is there. It's because it's being created for alternative of bitcoin.

[Mrbluntzy]

If Ethereum was not able to reach same marketcap of Bitcoin all this while, how much more will other projects be able to reach it? Bitcoin is the cause through which all of these altcoins came to existence, Bitcoin was the original idea of crypto and so it will always remain at the top and have no altcoin competing with the marketcap. I read somewhere that in previous years, there were some coins listed among the top 10 coins then but now, they have declined and have been replaced by other coins and probably in the future too, the top 10 coins today could be below the list but Bitcoin will always sit on the top.

[PVequalNRT]

If Ethereum was not able to reach same marketcap of Bitcoin all this while, how much more will other projects be able to reach it? Bitcoin is the cause through which all of these altcoins came to existence, Bitcoin was the original idea of crypto and so it will always remain at the top and have no altcoin competing with the marketcap. I read somewhere that in previous years, there were some coins listed among the top 10 coins then but now, they have declined and have been replaced by other coins and probably in the future too, the top 10 coins today could be below the list but Bitcoin will always sit on the top.

Trust is earned, Bitcoin made it possible without any team or leadership, it's the developers that are doing the work and contributions and all these years, it has performed incredibly better than what's expected. If you flip to altcoins, there is no a single altcoins that is not controversial with one or two things about the coin. It's either it's too centralized, they hack chain or they halt the chain for network failure, all different excuses is why most will not reach Bitcoin.

However, things might change. Altcoins can't and will not remain here for a very long time. If people hold altcoins for 5 years more and the growth remain like this, there wouldn't be interest and I'm sure the market makers wouldn't sit around and watch their investments that way but I will admit, none can pass Bitcoin with any growth.

[Slow death]

In my opinion, there is no scenario where any altcoin could overtake Bitcoin. This is because wealthy individuals and large companies, when investing in cryptocurrencies, look for the safest and most reliable option and Bitcoin has proven to be the most reliable. Altcoins have owners who could simply disappear, whereas Bitcoin despite having a creator was launched by an anonymous figure who vanished years ago; consequently, there is no single person capable of destroying Bitcoin. Anyone looking to invest in cryptocurrency realizes this early on. Altcoins also rely on Bitcoin for price appreciation, so buying Bitcoin is a much better choice. It is rare to see an altcoin consistently rising in price against Bitcoin ( BTC - Alt pair ). If we look at the past for instance, the case of ETH:



The price fell from 0.12 BTC in 2018 to 0.032 in 2026, and when major companies observe this, they quickly realize that ETH's price only reached its current level because the price of Bitcoin rose so much; for instance, if the price of Bitcoin were to drop to $10,000 right now, ETH would be worth $340. Therefore, it doesn't make much sense for the wealthy to buy large amounts of ETH when they could buy Bitcoin, which is more reliable. Altcoins fail to be independent.

[Stalker22]

I wont say it is impossible, but it would require a big market shift for another altcoin to surpass Bitcoin as the leader in market cap.  I believe it is highly unlikely for any of the existing ones to bridge that gap, unless Bitcoin suffers a systemic failure.  a very improbable scenario.

Sure, there is always the chance for a new network to invent a whole new global asset class or financial infrastructure that surpasses a mere store of value.  Or, as mentioned by internetional above, a completely tokenized version of an existing real-world asset, e.g. gold.

[o48o]

Any token of a real-world asset can overpass bitcoin:
- tokenized gold,
- tokenized oil,
- tokenized copper,
- tokenized NVDA,
- tokenized USD,
- ...

This is bound to happen. All it takes is not having several different tokens of the exact same dollar chipping away at each other's market cap, but rather one universally recognized and widely used token (plus, maybe, a few competitors - for the fringe crowd who don't like mainstream solutions).

But why would it be even relevant to compare them? It's just a matter of how much someone wants to issue them.

If the value comes from outside of the chain and it's put into tokens issued by some centralized company, i don't see it comparable to value coming from the chain and coins itself? Other one is manufactured value.

Personally i don't see much value in synthetics (aka pegged tokens) as an invention. They are good for trading pairs but they are far from "real world assets" they are sold as.

[Ndabagi01]

There will be none that will come close to bitcoin market cap. There is a saying that you can’t beat the reach, that’s the same thing with bitcoin and with other cryptocurrencies now. Bitcoin already achieved that dominance and also will not lose its strength to be replaced from that position. Comparing the market cap of Ethereum to that of Bitcoin is already a major sign that no altcoin will come close to Bitcoin, such altcoin is yet to be created as of today. Bitcoin dominance and capitalisation will continue to increase, this is not what I can foresee in other altcoin even if they try to catch up.

[noorman0]

It currently seems difficult for altcoins to reach a total market cap approaching that of Bitcoin. In every market cycle, a new "favored" altcoin emerges, acting as a hurdle, a source of clutter, and noise that hinders established altcoins like Ethereum from reaching the next tier of market capitalization.

After all, the way people classify cryptocurrencies remains unchanged, which indirectly dictates public perception regarding long-term portfolio diversification. We frequently hear influencers advise allocating "70–80% to Bitcoin and the rest to altcoins", a mindset that effectively locks Bitcoin into commanding up to 80% of the market cap for years to come.

[Rengga Jati]

For now, with this kind of current situation, if not changing, Difficult.
This will be very difficult. Let alone comparing an altcoin to Bitcoin's market cap. Even with Bitcoin's current value and market cap, even the top 18 altcoins are unlikely to be able to rival Bitcoin's market cap.

The primary focus of altcoins should not be how to beat Bitcoin, but rather on improving quality, realizing the concepts outlined in the roadmap, and various developments that can support those projects. After all, their competition isn't Bitcoin, but other altcoins. Therefore, it's difficult for an altcoin to approach Bitcoin's market cap.

[Accardo]

The market cap of all nine alts under Bitcoin combined still didn't hit bitcoin's market cap. It'll be a difficult thing for any alt to have a close contact with bitcoin's market cap because most government treasuries and ETFs are stored in Bitcoin, countries like Elsavado buy and adopts Bitcoin. With Bitcoin being the center of attraction for investors who have an eye in crypto, the market cap is expected to give such a gap to all other alts.

[batang_bitcoin]

I’d like to know, is there a scenario in which an altcoin could surpass Bitcoin?

The chance is very little, 0.001% in a million when one of the big financial institutions becomes too vocal about what they're going to support if they're investing to crypto. And what they can do is being all in into that altcoin but I think that every investor who has seen the stability and how established bitcoin is will only invest into that for a short period of time and gonna profit as much as they can and will leave it for bitcoin after successful profit taking. We all have the idea how the altcoins market is so unstable even for Ethereum, there's a possibility that it will be replaced by another one someday.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Last time altcoin almost creeping up to bitcoin's market cap, it was ethereum in 2021, the market cap was almost half of bitcoin but it's still nowhere closing the gap against bitcoin, after that there's none and I don't think there will be any within decades into the future. That's how domineering bitcoin is.

Any token of a real-world asset can overpass bitcoin:
- tokenized gold,
- tokenized oil,
- tokenized copper,
- tokenized NVDA,
- tokenized USD,
- ...

This is bound to happen. All it takes is not having several different tokens of the exact same dollar chipping away at each other's market cap, but rather one universally recognized and widely used token (plus, maybe, a few competitors - for the fringe crowd who don't like mainstream solutions).

I know these tokenized real-world asset can never overtake bitcoin's market cap because they have too much company issuing different kind of tokenized real world asset, the liquidity is fragmented, and fortunately tokenized real-world asset's market cap counted by their circulation and most of them are perpetual which mean they aren't really backed by real thing and didn't count toward market capitalization.

[dwyane36]

There will be none that will come close to bitcoin market cap. There is a saying that you can’t beat the reach, that’s the same thing with bitcoin and with other cryptocurrencies now. Bitcoin already achieved that dominance and also will not lose its strength to be replaced from that position. Comparing the market cap of Ethereum to that of Bitcoin is already a major sign that no altcoin will come close to Bitcoin, such altcoin is yet to be created as of today. Bitcoin dominance and capitalisation will continue to increase, this is not what I can foresee in other altcoin even if they try to catch up.

In fact, ETH was the only altcoin that, during the hype surrounding ICOs in 2017, had a chance to surpass BTC and take its place as leader in market dominance. During that period, BTC's market dominance fell to 37%, while ETH's rose to 31%. However, as we know, ETH didn't go any further than that and hasn't come close to that level again in the years since.

[$crypto$]

Long ago heard, ETH killer Bitcoin --- Solana killer ETH.

So until now there will be no altcoins whose market capitalization is close to bitcoin, it's too far to be true, some say it depends on the infrastructure, I'm not sure they can surpass it.

Any token of a real-world asset can overpass bitcoin:
- tokenized gold,
- tokenized oil,
- tokenized copper,
- tokenized NVDA,
- tokenized USD,
- ...

This tokenization will not go past bitcoin's capitalization because it goes too far, unless we buy their shares in a market that should not be a form of tokenization.

Comparison of its market capitalization.

https://coinmarketcap.com/view/tokenized-stock/
https://companiesmarketcap.com/assets-by-market-cap/

[SatsPH]

Long ago heard, ETH killer Bitcoin --- Solana killer ETH.

So until now there will be no altcoins whose market capitalization is close to bitcoin, it's too far to be true, some say it depends on the infrastructure, I'm not sure they can surpass it.

And from what I researched, ETH was the closest in 2018, and they called it the Flippening. And it was really close that they almost got close to Bitcoin, but then Bitcoin goes on another run and ETH wasn't able to duplicate that hype.

And then Ripple as well, and then they call it Rippening, and yet, just like ETH, when they thought that they are about to be the number 1, Bitcoin again, goes on a big spike and it was never the same again.

So after that big test, nobody come close to beating Bitcoin in terms of marketcap.

[internetional]

Any token of a real-world asset can overpass bitcoin:
- tokenized gold,
- tokenized oil,
- tokenized copper,
- tokenized NVDA,
- tokenized USD,
- ...

This is bound to happen. All it takes is not having several different tokens of the exact same dollar chipping away at each other's market cap, but rather one universally recognized and widely used token (plus, maybe, a few competitors - for the fringe crowd who don't like mainstream solutions).

But why would it be even relevant to compare them? It's just a matter of how much someone wants to issue them.

Actually, I don't think it's really fair to compare them. But everyone does it anyway! Just look: earlier in this thread, there's even a screenshot showing two types of tokenized dollars sitting in the 3rd and 6th spots in the crypto market cap rankings. With that approach, it's inevitable that over time they'll take up the entire top 10. They make much more sense to capital, and capital flows right into them.

[Charles-Tim]

Any token of a real-world asset can overpass bitcoin:
- tokenized gold,
- tokenized oil,
- tokenized copper,
- tokenized NVDA,
- tokenized USD,
- ...

Among the ones that you listed, I guess the highest among them in marketcap is XAUT which is the 34th and having $3 billion marketcap. If you compare it with bitcoin, can you see how many times bitcoin is creater than it? Over 500 times greater is bitcoin to tether gold. They are even not comparable to ethereum, solana and many other altcoins that are volatile, not to talk of bitcoin.