The justification the exchange gives for ETH to be removed from the category of altcoins is that the present correlation between BTC and Ether is significantly greater than its relationships with all other altcoins. The article’s author also states:
“This may support the idea that Ethereum is coming into its own as a blockchain that is publicly recognized as an asset on its own terms, much like Bitcoin. If this trend continues, it may become inappropriate to categorize Ethereum as an ‘altcoin’ on a par with other cryptoassets that are not Bitcoin.”
The article also includes information that illustrates the correlation between the various assets. The author states in this chapter that the correlation between Ether and BTC in the 30 days leading up to July 22 is 0.788. On the contrary, Bitcoin’s has the following correlations with other altcoins: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) 0.638, Litecoin (LTC) 0.577, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) 0.619, Ethereum Classic (ETC) 0.602.
The article also notes out that the latest dispute surrounding Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency apparently improved the fluctuations and dominance of Bitcoin — while lowering the valuation — in the crypto industry given the fact that the cryptocurrency was not under review directly.
The post’s author further notes out that, as per CoinMarketCap information, the dominance of Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency industry rose from about 50% in March to between 65% and 75% in the past few weeks, and 64.5% at the time of writing this article.
In a twitter response, Cryptoasset expert at investment banker ARK Yassine Elmandjra also observed that Bitcoin’s dominance over its forked versions in terms of hashrate is 97%. Specifically, on its blog, the Chinese central bank published an infographic showing what Bitcoin is, how it operates, and why it is worthwhile.