Crypto Altcoins Outperform Bitcoin in Wake of Industry Turmoil

Something unexpected is happening in crypto markets, a place where uncommon occurrences tend to be very ordinary: Bitcoin, the largest digital asset, is underperforming smaller and lesser-known alternative coins.

So-called altcoins have been besting the original token since the start of June. Coins like XRP, Solana, Avalanche and Polygon are all up more than 5% Friday versus Bitcoin’s less than 1% gain. Ether’s price also advanced 5%. And since the start of the month, Bitcoin is down around 35%, and Ether has slumped 38%. Over the same span, altcoins Solana, XRP and Polkadot have lost around ...