I have a coinbase account and I use blocktrades as my exchange conduit. I go from STEEM to Ether. Once in a while STEEM to Litecoin.
I can then sell those cryptos directly from coinbase.
So I am totally confused when you say people have to use BTC as the "middleman" so to speak.
I'm pretty sure he meant that as a significant portion. People even come from fiat to those cryptos directly, however, the point that he is bringing out is not something to be ignored. Nor should yours.
But BTC as a share of total crypto market cap is shrinking not expanding. I see no reason for this trend to reverse. BTC is now subject to going short in the futures markets, and "knowledgeable" investors are looking for pure plays.
Yes but a fair share is coming from the bitcoin conduit, the dominance chart does not show that once conversion takes place from BTC to altcoin and it will come back once the reverse happens