Ether’s recent performance has seen the cryptocurrency outstrip bitcoin in terms of gains for two consecutive weeks — despite the latter’s halving event.
There was a 7.5% increase in the 
ETH
-1.36%
/BTC trading pair during that timeframe, as noted by Monday’s Bitfinex Alpha report. “This not only marks ether’s strongest weekly gain against bitcoin since early January but also comes at a pivotal time amid swirling negative speculation around Ethereum,” the Bitfinex report said.
Ether’s regulatory challenges
The report highlighted ether’s outperformance compared to bitcoin, despite the potential regulatory challenges the asset faces.
According to Consensys, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided that ether is a security and said the agency has “trained its sights” on the firm’s Metamask software. The news adds to growing fears of a possible rejection or, at the very least, a delay in approvals for spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Despite the regulatory headwinds, the Bitfinex report stated that ether’s outperformance of bitcoin could act as a barometer for the broader altcoin market, suggesting the possibility of rallies or retracements. “It is highlighting a significant shift in investor sentiment and market dynamics,” Bitfinex analysts added.
Bitcoin dominance declines
The report highlighted an historical pattern observed after bitcoin halvings, wherein attention typically shifts towards altcoins. “Altcoins tend to rally and gain market share after halvings,” the report noted.
The analysts further emphasized that this shift towards altcoins is evident in the recent decline in bitcoin dominance, which they mentioned historically tends to occur immediately after halving events.
“Following last week’s halving, we saw bitcoin dominance reach 57% and then sharply decrease, as altcoins continue to gain traction,” Bitfinex analysts added. According to data from Coingecko, bitcoin dominance is at 50.5% and ether dominance is at 15.9%.
Bitcoin trades at slight premium in Yen terms
In early Monday trading, the Japanese yen plummeted to its lowest level in over three decades. The sharp decline led to bitcoin trading at a slight premium against the weakening yen.
Data from TradingView charts showed that the bitcoin-Japanese yen (BTC/JPY) pair on Japanese crypto exchange bitFlyer traded around a 0.2% premium to bitcoin’s dollar-denominated price on Coinbase.
According to the TradingView charts, in early Monday trading, bitcoin’s price surpassed 10 million yen. However, as the Japanese currency rebounded during Asian trading hours amidst growing anticipation that the Bank of Japan was ready to intervene, the BTC/JPY pair slipped back to now trade at 9,797,502 JPY at the time of writing.
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