The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies reached a new all-time high today over $700 bln. The overall market cap was around $713 bln at press time. The previous record high for overall market cap was $654 bln on Dec. 21, 2017.

Bitcoin beware

The major growth in overall market cap has largely been spurred on by recent rises in altcoins. The demand for Bitcoin (BTC) has been waning recently, moving prices lower in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Bitcoin dropped as low as $11,833 on December 22. The leading cryptocurrency rallied back up just a day later, but was followed by a week of volatility.

Yesterday, however, the coin got a boost after news that Peter Thiel’s San Francisco-based venture capital firm had made substantial investments in the leading cryptocurrency, propelling prices back up over the $15,000 mark.

Overall dominance of Bitcoin among all cryptocurrencies has decreased to all time lows, reaching 34.97 percent on Tuesday.

This dominance shift has followed massive price increases by altcoins such as Ripple, Ether, and Stellar, as well as lesser-known Tron, all of which have posted more than 20 percent gains over the past week.

Ripple in particular has seen a huge market cap growth, with the cryptocurrency moving into second position behind the dominant Bitcoin. The increase in value was largely the result of increased demand on the South Korean market.