Half-year in Crypto 2024

CoinGecko’s 2024 Q1 Crypto Industry Report

CoinGecko’s comprehensive 2024 Q1 Crypto Industry Report outlines everything related to the crypto market landscape starting from analyzing Bitcoin and Ethereum, the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems, to reviewing how centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) have performed. According to CoinGecko, after a strong 2023 Q4, the total crypto market cap continued rallying by +64.5% in 2024 Q1, reaching a high of $2.9 trillion on March 13. The impressive growth of this quarter (+$1.1 trillion) was almost double that of the previous quarter (+$0.61 trillion). Such growth was impacted by the approval of US spot Bitcoin ETFs in early January, sending BTC to a new all-time high in March. Learn what are Bitcoin ETFs in our article here.

Top 7 Highlights of CoinGecko’s 2024 Q1 Crypto Industry Report

1. Bitcoin grew +68.8% in 2024 Q1, setting a new all-time high price of $73,098

Bitcoin (BTC) set an all-time high in Q1, rising +68.8% during that period. Right after the US Spot Bitcoin ETF approvals, BTC saw a -16.0% correction to a quarterly low of $39,505. Shortly after, it rallied +85.0% to hit a new all-time high of $73,098. It then pulled back -18.0%, before recovering to close the quarter at $71,247.

Throughout 2024, Q1 Bitcoin’s trading volume steadily increased, reaching a daily average of $34.1 billion. This represents an +89.8% increase from $18.0 billion in 2023 Q4.


2. Bitcoin ETFs held over $55.1B in assets under management (AUM)

US Spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs held over $55.1 billion in funds by April 2, 2024. This happened after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the trading of Spot BTC ETFs on January 10. BlackRock's IBIT ETF has accumulated over $17.0 billion in BTC and established itself as the second-largest BTC ETF. Besides, it also had the most trading volume amongst its competitors in 2024 Q1.

Grayscale’s converted GBTC ETF, ended April 2 with $21.7 billion in AUM. It experienced -$6.9 billion in net outflows, due to early investors taking profit, and its higher fees compared to its competitors. Still, it remained the largest BTC ETF in Q1.


3. Ethereum restaking on EigenLayer hit 4.3M ETH, a quarterly growth of 36%

Ethereum also showed great results - (ETH) restaking on EigenLayer took off in 2024 Q1, with the total number of restaked ETH rising +36% to 4.3 million. Most restaked ETH (52.6%) was held by Liquid Restaking Protocols (LRTs), totaling 2.28 million ETH. EtherFi was the largest LRT protocol of Q1, with a 21.0% market share. It grew +2,616% throughout the quarter and held 0.91 million ETH by the end of March.


4. Solana Meme Coins surged in 2024 Q1, with the top 10 growing by $8.32B in market cap

The top 10 Solana (SOL) Mem Coins grew by +801.5% or $8.32 billion in 2024 Q1. They ended the quarter with a total market cap of $9.36 billion.

Of the top 10 Solana Meme Coins, the only ones existed prior to 2023 Q4 are Bonk (BONK) and Samoyedcoin (SAMO). BONK is the number one Meme Coin on Solana. Since its launch in December 2022, BONK was flipped by dogwifhat (WIF) in early March. WIF was launched in November 2023. Meanwhile, Book Of Memes (BOME) launched on March 14, reaching a $1 billion market cap within two days.


5. NFT trading volume across the top 10 marketplaces stood at $4.7B in 2024 Q1, with Magic Eden now leading in market share

NFT trading volumes across the top 10 marketplaces amounted to $4.7 billion in 2024 Q1.

Blur remained the leading NFT marketplace in Q1, with over $1.5 billion in volume. Its market share stood at 27.6% for the same period, up from 24.9% in 2023 Q4. Magic Eden managed to exceed Blur in trading volume in March, because of its introduction of its Diamond reward program, and its Ethereum-based marketplace with Yuga Labs. It had over $0.76 billion in trading volume in March.

OKX market share stood at 9.5% in March 2024. OKX dominated Bitcoin NFT trading volume in 2023, but its volumes plunge by -73.3% from $0.68 billion in December 2023 to $0.18 billion in March 2024. Bitcoin NFT trading volume shifted to other platforms such as Magic Eden and UniSat.


6. Spot trading volume on centralized exchanges (CEX) hit $4.29T in 2024 Q1, the highest since 2021 Q4

In 2024 Q1, the top 10 centralized exchanges (CEX’s) recorded $4.29 trillion in spot trading volume. This is the highest recorded quarterly volume for top 10 spot CEXes since December 2021 and represents a gain of +95.3% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). Binance remained the largest CEX, ending March 2024 with a market share of 50%.


7. Ethereum’s share of decentralized exchanges (DEX) trading volume fell below 40%, as other chains gained more attention

Ethereum’s share of Decentralized Exchange (DEX) trading volume fell below 40% in 2024 Q1. It hit an all-time low of only 30% market share in February 2024. Still, it managed to record $70 billion in trades in March 2024.

On Arbitrum, DEX trading volume blossomed in January and February 2024, driven by its STIP incentive program to bolster activity. After the incentives ended in March, trading volume fell rapidly, with the chain ending the month with an 8% market share.

Other well-known chains like Solana and Base also had an active quarter, with Meme Coins contributing to significant trading volume.

Binance's 2024 Q1 Crypto Industry Report

Binance Research analysts have released a report on the performance of the crypto market in the first half of 2024.

According to analysts, the total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market continued to grow in the first half of 2024. In the period from January to June inclusive, it increased by 37.3% and reached $2.27 trillion.

According to the report, the largest increase occurred in the first quarter, when the cryptocurrency market increased by a significant 60.2%. The second quarter was relatively more difficult, because the market lost some of its revenue, falling by 14.3%.

Top Highlights of Binance’s 2024 Q1 Crypto Industry Report

Analysts at Binance Research believe that the current dynamics may persist and even strengthen in some of its individual areas.


1. Layer 1 and Layer 2 Developments

The experts noted the positive dynamics of the development of the L1 and L2 protocols. In particular, Bitcoin continued to increase its market dominance in the first six months of 2024. This process was especially noticeable after the halving of the first cryptocurrency, which took place on April 20.

Analysts at Binance Research also mentioned other significant events like:

Launch of the Runes protocol;
Approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, which have already raised more than $14 billion;
EIP-4844 Update for Ethereum;
Launch of large number of Meme Coins and "blockchain connections" on the Solana network. Solana Meme Coins are ready to compete with the leaders of this space, Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Pepe (PEPE). At present, these three tokens constitute over 70% of the total market cap of Meme Coins;
The improvement of the operation of opBNB and Greenfield networks by the BNB Chain team.

As for L2 protocols, this sector of the crypto industry is remembered for a series of airdrops for users. In particular, the rewards in tokens were distributed by ZKSync, LayerZero, Blast and other projects.

The promotion of the direction contributed to an increase in the total blocked value (TVL) of second-level projects to $43 billion. Thus, the overall growth of the sector amounted to 90% in the first six months, the report says.


2. DeFi Sector

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) received significant capital inflows in the first half of 2024. The total blocked value of assets in this area has increased by 72.8% since the beginning of the year to $94.1 billion. For comparison, at the beginning of the year, the TVL of DeFi projects amounted to $54.4 billion. The Binance Research team concluded that this growth has benefited almost all sectors of decentralized finance, including both core and niche markets.


3. Stablecoins Market

Like most other areas, the stablecoin market also has shown a significant recovery. The Binance experts noted that we are now only 14.5% from the peak in April 2022, before the collapse of TerraUSD (UST).

As of June 30, 2024, the capitalization of the stablecoin market was $161 billion. Analysts noted that this is the highest figure in the last two years. Although Tether's USDT continues to dominate, the market share of Circle's USDC and Ethena's USDe is growing, the report says.


4. NFT and game projects

The Binance Research team believes that the first six months of 2024 were "turbulent" for the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market. In this niche of the crypto market, there was a drop in sales and a significant decrease in the prices of major projects. According to experts, Blur maintained its dominance thanks to the airdrop of Blast tokens, while Pudgy Penguins succeeded with their physical toys.

The Binance Research experts also listed the main events in the SocialFi sector:

the announcement of the Lan Network;
the growth of Farcaster users;
the release of the friend.tech token.

The capitalization of game tokens has decreased significantly. Despite the drop in prices, user growth rates were at the highest level. Analysts mentioned the Pixels and Hamster Kombat projects, which could attract many players thanks to the promises of airdrop tokens.

These sectors continued to generate strong interest from investors and the wider community in the first half of 2024, the release said.

Other notable areas include Meme Coins, artificial intelligence (AI), and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN).

Top cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization growth

Capitalization in the cryptocurrency market is the total value of all issued coins. Accordingly, the list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization growth since the beginning of the year repeats the top 10 coins in terms of price growth.

As of January 1, the total capitalization of the crypto market was $1.77 trillion, now it is $2.56 trillion. Since the beginning of the year, the indicator has increased by 50.5%.

Below, we will provide a list of cryptocurrency leaders in capitalization. This will help you understand which cryptocurrencies have the best "piece" of the cryptocurrency market in the middle of a turbulent 2024.


Top 10 cryptocurrencies by capitalization:

Bitcoin (BTC) – $1.32 trillion
Ethereum (ETH) – $424 billion
Tether (USDT) – $114 billion
BNB (BNB) – $90 billion
Solana (SOL) – $82 billion
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) – $34.5 billion
USDC (USDC) – $34 billion
XRP (XRP) – $33 billion
Dogecoin (DOGE) – $19 billion
Toncoin (TON) – $17 billion

See 5 Trading Strategies and Tips You Need to Know for 2024 in our article.

Top 5 cryptocurrencies that have increased in price the most since the beginning of 2024

The cryptocurrency industry has seen a significant revival since the first six months of 2024. Here are the Top 5 cryptocurrencies that have increased in price the most since the beginning of 2024:

1. Book of Meme (BOME). The average price on cryptocurrency exchanges is $0.008652. Since the beginning of the year, this Meme Coin has added 14,612.43% in value. So far, this is the fastest growing cryptocurrency of the year.

2. Mog Coin (MOG). The price of the coin on the exchanges is $0.000001937. The increase in value since the beginning of the year is 4,912.39%.

3. Ponke (PONKE). The average value on the exchanges is $0.569464. This year, the price has increased by 4,497.94%.

4. MAGA (TRUMP). The price is $6.37. The increase in value is 2,628.21%.

5. Mantra DAO (OM). The current price of MANTRA DAO (OM) is $1.07. The cost increased by 2,168.75%.

Conclusion

Cryptocurrencies are a volatile asset whose prices change constantly, sometimes dramatically. Each cryptocurrency can experience a prolonged series of growth or decline. In 2024, the cryptocurrency market is on the rise.

According to industry experts, changes in macroeconomics are indicated as additional triggers for the growth of markets. For example, a reduction in the Fed rate and the November presidential elections in the United States. Despite expectations of volatility after the election, a change in the Fed's monetary policy will lead to a strengthening of positive trends, analysts say.

Despite the variety of crypto projects, Bitcoin still is the main cryptocurrency and one of the main trends until the end of the year. Bitcoin is commonly considered as "digital gold" - it is held in the hope that it will become more expensive in the long term. However, last year, venture investors and developers began to invest more actively in the development of the Bitcoin-based decentralized financial applications (DeFi) sector.

For example, at the end of May 2024, the Babylon Bitcoin stacking protocol received $70 million in investments from Paradigm. Prior to that, the project raised $26 million from Binance Labs, Polygon Lab, Polychain Capital, Hack VC and OCX Ventures. And Arch startup, which is developing an application for transferring smart contracts from the Solana blockchain to Bitcoin, raised $7 million in a round involving Multicoin Capital.

Although the size of the DeFi sector on Bitcoin is less than 1% of the Ethereum market, experts have estimated the market's growth potential at trillions of US dollars. Bitcoin miners have also shown interest in this trend, whose incomes depend, among other things, on network commissions. A number of experts believe that the expansion of the use of bitcoin in Delphi applications will allow the manners to make up for the revenues that decreased after the April halving.

Experts paid special attention to user data, and the increased need for secure storage and transmission of personal information. According to Binance's research unit, blockchain technology will allow private users to regain control over information that traditionally belongs to large organizations, such as Meta and Google. We are talking about personal data and content. For example, large companies may require users to relinquish control over their data, which is fraught with a violation of privacy.

"Various projects are exploring alternative solutions that give users more control over their data. Two important areas are decentralized physical network infrastructure (DePIN) and decentralized social networks (DeSoc)," Binance writes.

DePIN is an abbreviation of the phrase "decentralized physical infrastructure network". A term that includes projects that create a direct connection to the real world by building distributed infrastructures from physical devices.

DeSoc is a decentralized blockchain-based social network that allows you to publish and distribute content without censorship, increasing monetization opportunities for users.

Analysts also noted the huge role of web3 games such as "clickers", which became a trend in 2024 along with the debut of the Notcoin game in the Telegram messenger - it had 6 million daily users at the peak of popularity with 35 million registrations. Read more about what are Telegram clicker games are here.

"Such projects have successfully created strong and significant communities around their products. However, we have yet to witness the emergence of reliable in—game mechanics and an open economy," the report says.

Thus, analysts expect that the creation of incentives to retain the community in such games will allow to maintain activity in this sector in the second half of 2024.