Bitcoin was the top performing cryptocurrency in the last three months, despite the mega-rally earlier this year in so-called alternative coins, or altcoins.

Out of the top five cryptcurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin reigned supreme in the third quarter. The digital currency was up 74 percent. Bitcoin cash, the digital currency created after bitcoin split, was not included as it was not trading for the entire quarter.

In contrast other altcoins were not as successful. Here's their third quarter performance in order of market capitalization, according to Coinmarketcap.com data:

Ethereum went from $282.32 to $302.04, rising just over 8 percent

Ripple fell from $0.26 to $0.19, declining 26.9 percent

Litecoin rose from $40.4 to $55.1, rallying 36.5 percent.

The third quarter marked a sharp contrast to the June quarter as people shifted away from altcoins back into bitcoin. For example, the second quarter saw ethereum rise over 500 percent and hit an all-time high.

Bitcoin has had an eventful quarter. Chinese regulators have cracked down on the cryptocurrency in contrast to Japan, which has been introducing supporting regulation. At the same time, bitcoin underwent a "fork" that split it in two, introducing another digital currency called bitcoin cash.