Bitcoin appeared in 2009, eight years, the total value of the circulation of bitcoins up and down 200 billion US dollars. Bitcoin was declared "dead" by the media countless times.
The market cap is usually determined by bitcoin and altcoins price, so when we have soaring prices then expect the cap to rise and media declaring btc dead is a total bluff by them to get cheap coins...and remember some of these articles are paid for!
So it could have been a whale trying to cause panic through FUD.