Over the past year, bitcoin surged by 153%, with numerous other digital currencies also seeing substantial increases. Yet, assessing the top cryptocurrencies in relation to bitcoin’s performance, the annual shifts present a distinctly varied perspective.

2023 Sees Altcoins Lag Behind Bitcoin’s Rally Despite Overall Market Boom

The landscape of top cryptocurrencies has evolved significantly since December 2022, with the overall market value of the crypto economy soaring from $811 billion to $1.68 trillion, marking an impressive increase of over $909 billion. During this period, while ethereum has witnessed a 95% surge this year, its value compared to BTC has diminished. Specifically, ETH decreased from 0.07237 BTC to 0.05432 BTC, translating to a loss exceeding 24% against bitcoin, the premier cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Ethereum wasn’t the only digital currency to experience a decline relative to BTC. Binance coin (BNB) also saw a substantial reduction, falling from 0.0146 BTC to the present 0.007219 BTC. This signifies that BNB has lost 50.55% of its value when measured against bitcoin. Solana’s journey paints a contrasting picture, boasting an 877% surge against the dollar, and an impressive ascent of over 257% against BTC. Within a year, SOL escalated from 0.0006985 BTC to the current 0.002496 BTC.

Conversely, XRP experienced a decline of about 30% against BTC, descending from 0.00002096 to 0.00001462. Cardano’s ADA saw a more modest decrease of approximately 6.54%, dropping from 0.00001544 to 0.00001443 per unit against bitcoin. Meanwhile, Avalanche (AVAX) emerged as another notable contender, elevating from 0.0007008 BTC to 0.001006 BTC, marking a 43.55% increase against bitcoin over the year.

DOGE faced a notable setback, losing 52.79% against BTC, falling from 0.000004591 BTC to the current 0.000002167 BTC per unit over the past year. Polkadot (DOT) also saw a reduction, moving from 0.0002659 BTC to 0.0002074 BTC, a 22% decline over the same timeframe. As of December 2023, BTC’s dominance has risen to around 50% from December 2022’s 39.9%, while ETH’s influence has slightly decreased to 16.7% from its previous 18.4%.

What’s also interesting is the fact that the infamous ‘Altcoin Season’ appears to be getting closer as figures from blockchaincenter.net’s Altcoin Season Index shows a score of 67 when ‘Altcoin Season’ starts above 75. Blockchaincenter.net’s Altcoin Season Index rule is that If 75% of the top 50 coins performed better than bitcoin (BTC) over the last season (90 days) it is officially Altcoin Season.

What do you think about the top coins and their performances against bitcoin over the last 12 months? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.