Binance Research Reports 37.3% Growth in Crypto Market for H1 2024

According
to
Binance
Research,
the
total
crypto
market
capitalization
surged
by
37.3%
in
the
first
half
of
2024,
ending
the
period
at
approximately
$2.27
trillion.
The
growth
was
primarily
concentrated
in
the
first
quarter,
which
saw
a
notable
60.2%
increase.
However,
the
second
quarter
experienced
a
more
challenging
environment,
resulting
in
a
14.3%
decline.

Layer-1s
Leading
the
Charge

Layer-1
blockchains
(L1s)
had
a
robust
start
to
the
year.
Bitcoin
(BTC)
continued
to
gain
market
dominance
following
its
fourth
halving,
the
launch
of
the
Runes
Protocol,
and
the
approval
of
U.S.
spot
ETFs,
which
have
attracted
over
$14
billion
in
inflows.
Ethereum
(ETH)
also
experienced
significant
developments,
including
a
restaking
explosion
and
the
EIP-4844
update.
BNB
Chain
focused
on
opBNB
and
Greenfield
projects,
while
Solana
(SOL)
excelled
in
the
memecoin
space
and
launched
blockchain
links
(blinks).

Airdrops
Boost
Layer-2
Ecosystem

The
first
half
of
2024
saw
a
surge
in
airdrops
within
the
Layer-2
(L2)
ecosystem,
particularly
for
zero-knowledge
(zk)
projects.
The
promise
of
incentives
led
to
substantial
capital
inflows,
raising
the
total
value
locked
(TVL)
in
L2s
to
$43
billion,
a
90%
increase
within
six
months.

DeFi
and
Stablecoins
See
Significant
Growth

Decentralized
Finance
(DeFi)
also
experienced
a
substantial
influx
of
capital,
driving
TVL
up
by
72.8%
year-to-date
to
$94.1
billion,
from
$54.4
billion
at
the
start
of
the
year.
This
growth
benefited
various
DeFi
sectors,
bringing
previously
inaccessible
financial
primitives
on-chain.

The
stablecoins
market
turned
around
significantly,
nearing
its
April
2022
peak.
As
of
June
30,
2024,
the
market
capitalization
of
stablecoins
stood
at
$161
billion,
marking
a
two-year
high.
While
Tether’s
USDT
remains
dominant,
Circle’s
USDC
and
Ethena’s
USDe
have
seen
increased
market
shares.

NFTs
and
SocialFi
Developments

The
NFT
market
faced
turbulence,
with
sales
volumes
declining
and
major
projects
experiencing
over
50%
declines
in
floor
price.
However,
platforms
like
Blur
and
projects
like
Pudgy
Penguins
and
Bitcoin
NFTs
continued
to
attract
attention.

SocialFi
also
saw
notable
developments.
Lens
Protocol
announced
their
upcoming
zk
chain,
Lens
Network,
while
Farcaster
experienced
user
growth
following
the
launch
of
Frames.
Friend.tech
released
their
token
and
v2,
and
Fantasy.top’s
trading
card
game
gained
traction.

Web3
Gaming
and
Other
Sectors

Web3
gaming
had
a
strong
Q1
but
faced
challenges
in
Q2,
with
project
tokens
dropping
in
market
capitalization.
Despite
this,
user
growth
remained
strong,
with
projects
like
Pixels
and
Hamster
Kombat
attracting
large
numbers
of
players.

Other
areas
of
interest
included
memecoins,
artificial
intelligence
(AI),
and
decentralized
physical
infrastructure
networks
(DePIN),
which
continued
to
draw
significant
interest
from
investors
and
the
broader
community.

Looking
ahead
to
the
second
half
of
2024,
Binance
Research
highlights
six
key
themes
that
are
expected
to
drive
progress
across
various
sectors,
including
the
macro
environment,
the
Bitcoin
ecosystem,
ownership
economy
applications,
and
real-world
assets
(RWAs).

For
the
complete
report,
visit

Binance
Research.

Image
source:
Shutterstock