Crypto markets are heading towards saturation – with a predictable result. After 2017 witnessed a token offering bonanza, it is no longer interesting to mention that a business has incorporated some token into its revenue model (unless it is truly revolutionary and escaped public attention before now). The next step in market evolution is differentiation. An opportunity for functional projects delivering real-world value to separate from the vaporware and take a lions’ share of the outstanding market capitalization (number of coins outstanding multiplied by market price). This is a graph of coin market value relative to Bitcoin, sometimes called a Bitcoin Dominance Chart.
It is clear Bitcoin remains well past one billion USD but a pack of followers are establishing themselves above the critical threshold. One billion USD as a representation of total network capitalization is a blunt instrument for measuring total value. But it is 2018 and “coinmarketcap” has become a measuring stick to many cryptoasset investors.
In fact, only 20 coins have a total market capitalization (as calculated on coinmarketcap.com). This may be a signal that the broader market is maturing in a sense and offering more discipline to market participants. There are no Graphene based chains among those coins over one billion USD. Let that sink in.