Bitcoin Leads 1.3% Gain, Altcoins Lag in Recovery

Cryptocurrency prices have been experiencing a period of slow but steady gains over the past 48 hours, with Bitcoin leading the charge while most altcoins lag behind in recovery. In a recent post on the X platform, Samson Mow, a prominent Bitcoin maximalist and CEO of JAN3, highlighted the misleading nature of unit bias among altcoins. According to Mow, the idea of Ethereum reaching $9,200, XRP hitting $5,800, and Solana climbing to $3,400 is virtually impossible given the current supply of these tokens.

Mow's post challenges the way investors perceive the value of altcoins like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana. He proposed reframing altcoin valuations by applying Bitcoin’s supply model to them. Bitcoin was created with a total possible circulating supply of 21 million units, with 19.85 million of those currently in circulation. At the time of writing, one unit of 21 million Bitcoins is trading around $88,000. This price might be too much for retail traders, making the idea of owning a whole unit of XRP or Solana feel more accessible to newcomers and retail traders compared to buying a fraction of Bitcoin with the same capital.

To expose how misleading this mindset can be, Mow reimagined altcoin valuations by dividing their total market capitalizations by Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap. This is essentially asking what one unit of these assets would cost if they had the same scarcity of supply as Bitcoin. Based on current market caps, Ethereum would be valued at approximately $9,200, XRP at $5,800, and Solana at $3,400. Given the current price of Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, these figures are unrealistic and reveal how much of the altcoin appeal is driven by unit bias rather than actual value. Furthermore, it shows that Bitcoin has better fundamentals and scarcity in its supply dynamics.

For Mow and other Bitcoin maximalists, the disparity in Bitcoin supply and that of popular altcoins is yet another reason why Bitcoin dominance is likely to grow stronger in the long run. Notably, the inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs and increasing recognition among traditional finance investors are strengthening the case for Bitcoin’s dominance going forward. Mow’s perspective stands in opposition to the outlook held by some analysts who still anticipate an incoming altcoin season. These analysts believe that Bitcoin dominance, despite currently sitting at a yearly high, could be on the verge of a reversal. One notable technical analysis even projected a sharp crash in dominance toward the 40% mark in the coming months.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $88,530, up by 1.3% in the past 24 hours. Ethereum is trading at $1,620, representing a 1.5% decline over the same period. Solana is down 0.5% at $140, and XRP is trading at $2.09 after a 1.63% decline in the past day.