Top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap over the last 5 years

Since 2014, there have been several movements among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap, led by the unstoppable bitcoin that acting as digital gold, has always been at the top of the ranking. 

A recently published time-lapse depicts the different positions of the top 10 cryptocurrencies, indicating by date, the exact movements in the ranking over the last 5 years.

It is interesting to note that at the beginning of 2014 the scene was dominated by bitcoin (BTC), XRP, litecoin (LTC) and dogecoin (DOGE) respectively, and that after the launch of monero (XMR) on April 18th, 2014, it reached the top positions. 

In February 2016, Ethereum (ETH) entered the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap, and in a short time reached the second position, surpassing the ongoing battle between Litecoin and Ripple. 

Since then, by recording substantial increases in the market cap over the years, Ethereum has established itself in second place, swinging for short periods with Ripple, which has never stopped staying close behind. 

Ripple was always on the podium, and for a long time was in third position, with short periods of movement. While on the one hand, XRP rose to second place instead of Ethereum, on the other, it left room for new entries in their notorious moments such as Verge (XVG) in March 2017 and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in August 2018. 

Although struggling, the digital silver Litecoin saw itself having to get off the podium totally since the entrance of Ethereum, remaining in fourth position until the arrival of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) that from the end of 2018 to date has remained among the top five positions. 

Other important players over time are the cryptocurrencies such as Dash (DASH), which just today claimed to have recorded an increase in the number of transactions of 178%, Nem (XEM), Stellar (XLM), the first stablecoin Tether (USDT), Binance Coin (BNB) and EOS (EOS).

Not only that, a minor participation at the end of 2015 was also recorded by the crypto StrongHands (SHND) which today stands at the 229th position.

Finally, it seems that also the various forks have been welcomed, reaching the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap, they include Ethereum Classic (ETC) and the Bitcoin Cash fork, Bitcoin SV (BSV).