Sorry, Bitcoin, Altcoins Start Grabbing the Spotlight in Mainstream Media

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 26, 2023 06:55 EDT

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Bitcoin (BTC) prices have been grabbing all the headlines in the mainstream media of late, with the token pushing toward the key USD 20,000 mark – but with altcoins also surging, some major conventional media outlets are now helping millions of their readers to find altcoins that outperformed BTC.

In a roughly 1,000-word report named “Beyond Bitcoin: These Cryptocurrencies Are Doing Even Better,” Bloomberg took a deep-dive into the world of altcoins, commenting that tokens like ethereum (ETH), Ripple’s XRP, litecoin (LTC) are currently “giving the world’s most famous digital currency a run for its money.”

Journalist Edward Robinson wrote that some “cryptocurrencies are posting even gaudier numbers than the progenitor of digital money.”

He singled out ETH for note, calling it a “longtime favorite of tech geeks,” with XRP labeled “a lightning rod for crypto-critics.”

However, the media outlet warned that “crypto veterans” claimed that rushing to buy up altcoins was tantamount to “making bets based on little more than market momentum,” which could be an “unwise” decision.

Robinson wrote,

“While many of these cryptocurrencies soared right alongside bitcoin in 2017, so, too, did they nosedive when bitcoin collapsed in 2018 and became mired in a period known as crypto winter. Now they appear to be following the same pattern once again.”

And Robinson included a “guide to the most valuable alternatives to Bitcoin in the crypto universe,” naming ETH and XRP again, as well as LTC and adding,

“A new generation of digital assets moving up the league table are more influenced by Ethereum’s design than Bitcoin’s. Three of the standouts are chainlink (LINK), cardano (ADA) and polkadot (DOT).”

Altcoins have also been peaking on Google Trends of late, a suggestion that it may not just be mainstream journalists who have developed an interest in ETH, XRP and the rest of late.

Meanwhile, CNN followed a very similar tack in an article named “Forget bitcoin. These cryptocurrencies are surging even more.”
CNN Business writer Paul R. La Monica wrote about XRP, too, also name-checking litecoin, polkadot, cardano and stellar (XLM).

La Monica explained,

“These smaller coins are to a certain extent riding the hype that has lifted bitcoin to a new record. Bitcoin has benefited from a weaker dollar and expectations that a prolonged period of super low interest rates will eventually create inflation. That boosts the appeal of a digital currency.”

And in a bullish flourish that will fill altcoin cheerleaders with joy, he added,

“Many cryptocurrencies have done well lately, several of them are still well below their peaks – unlike bitcoin. So they may have more room to catch up.”

Meanwhile, earlier this year, major crypto exchange Coinbase said that although most of its users initially favor BTC, the vast majority also go on to trade altcoins and other digital assets: “Among customers with at least five purchases, 60% start with bitcoin but just 24% stick exclusively to BTC.”

At the time of writing (08:58 UTC), BTC trades at USD 19,402 and is unchanged in a day, rallying by 15% in a week. The price is up by 42% in a month and 165% in a year.
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Learn more:
Coin Race: Top Winners/Losers of November; XRP Steals the Month From Bitcoin
Institutional Bitcoin Investors Hodl As S&P DJI Opens New Crypto Bridge
Crypto in 2021: Institutions Prefer Bitcoin, Retail Open to Altcoins
In 2021, Bitcoin To Hit USD 25K, Ether – USD 900 – Median Estimates Of Pre-rally Survey

(This article was updated at 10:05 UTC to add the findings of a research by Coinbase).