Bitcoin's share of the entire cryptocurrency market is at its highest level this year and near where it was when the digital coin hit its highest price level in history.

The dominance of bitcoin — which is the percentage its market capitalization contributes to the entire value of the cryptocurrency market — stood at 47.6 percent on Tuesday, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com, a website that tracks such data

This is the highest level since December 20, 2017, just days after bitcoin hit its record high of $19,783.21 on December 17. Bitcoin's dominance has recovered since it hit its lowest level in January but the price, which was at just over $7,000 on Tuesday, is a way off the December all-time high.

But bitcoin has recovered from June, when it fell below $6,000. Part of this recovery has been thanks to some positive news for the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Regulators have focused more closely on the cryptocurrency space, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently classed bitcoin as a commodity rather than a security, giving a hint at how the authorities could regulate it.