Crypto Market Quarter 1, 2024 Report: Insights into Bitcoin, Altcoins, Meme Coins, NFTS, and Gaming
The cryptocurrency market saw a strong performance this quarter, marked by market recovery since early 2023 and numerous positive developments in the space. Momentum surged in January 2024 with Spot Bitcoin ETF approvals. As Q1 2024 neared its end, heightened activity in the crypto market was observed, culminating in Bitcoin hitting a new all-time high of $73,750, reclaiming a 51% market share signaling a strong bull run.
Here is Coinpediamarket’s exclusive report on Bitcoin, Altcoins, Meme coins, NFTs, and gaming industry performance, on-chain growth, top projects, and more.
The Global Crypto Market Overview from Jan 1st to Mar 31st, 2024
The global crypto market surged 61.21% to $2.66 trillion in Q1 2024. The trading volume soared 36.01% from $47.76 billion on Jan 1st, 2024 to to $64.96 billion on March 31st, 2024. The total value locked (TVL) surged 75.08% from $56.2 billion in January 2024 to $98.4 billion in March 31, 2024.
The open interest in the Derivatives futures market has increased 153.33% from $1.65 billion to $4.18 billion. Whereas the open interest in the Derivatives Perpetuals market has increased 10.95% from $150.66 billion to $167.21 billion.
1. Bitcoin Market
Bitcoin, the largest crypto by market cap continued to show its upward trajectory in performance, on-chain growth, and adoption. On March 11, 2024, bitcoin became the 8th most valuable asset in the world by market capitalization of $1.414 trillion, surpassing silver.
On Mar 14, 2024, Bitcoin achieved its new all-time high, closing at $73,097 before the bitcoin laving. The bitcoin market cap surged 65.43% from $828.14 billion to $1.37 trillion on March 31. The bitcoin dominance surged from 51.88% on Jan 1st to 53.65% on March 31st.
We also saw adoption in Bitcoin as the number of holders rose 1.1% from 52.61 million to 53.21 million and the active addresses rose from 16.57 million to 16.87 million.
Chart Source: Coinpedia
2. Altcoin Market
The Altcoins market cap surged 58.64% from $217.02 billion to $344.29 billion. The trading volume rallied to $18.61, a 13.335 increase in the past 3 months. The total value locked (TVL) in the altcoins market surged to $179.35 billion, an 82.17% increase from January TVL of $98.45 billion.
Top 5 Altcoins By Market Cap with Price Performance in last 3 months:
Ethereum (ETH): 0.47% up
Solana (SOL): 74.42% up
BNB (BNB): 89.23% up
XRP (XRP): 1.89% up
Dogecoin (DOGE): 126.12% up
Ethereum, the second largest crypto saw a steady increase in its price, starting at $2200 at the onset of 2024, and surging past $4000 two days prior to the Dencun upgrade. This marked a new high above $4000 for the first time since December 2021. The total amount of Ethereum locked in the Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSD) market surpasses 13.7 million ETH, representing approximately 44% of the total Ethereum staking market share.
3. Memecoins Market
This quarter, Meme Coins became the most fascinating phenomena of the cryptocurrency world, as they constantly evolved. MeMe projects weren’t only limited to Solana but spread to other public chains including Base chains, Avalanche, and Binance chains. This quarter, the global meme coins market cap surged over $65.93 billion, and trading volume crossed $9 billion.
Top meme coin development projects with price performance in the last 3 months
- Dogecoin: 126.12% up
- Shiba Inu: 165.96% up
- Dogwifhat: 3018.07% up
- Pepe: 491.31% up
- Floki:582.00% up
Notable Developments within the Meme Coins Market
Dogwifhat’s fundraiser raised $670,000 for advertising Hat Dog at MSG Sphere, while Binance added three meme projects to its listings: WIF, MYRO, and BOME.
Book of Meme (BOME), a meme coin built on Solana started making news in March 2024 shortly after its release. Within a week of being launched, BOME’s market cap soared above $1 billion. People who purchased BOME reported massive gains, such as one user who turned 50 SOL into 767 SOL worth of BOME during the presale.
Some of the other meme coins that have quickly gained attention are Catcoin, Byte, Degen, Coq Inu, Slerf, and Wen.
4. NFTS Market
In January 2024, the global market cap of NFTs surpassed $193.84 billion, signaling the growing prominence of these digital assets. In January 2024, Solana outpaced Ethereum and Polygon in NFT activity, with over 106,000 unique wallets and exceeding 2.8 million transactions.
Top 5 NFT sales in March 2024
- Cryptopunk #7804: $16.49M
- Cryptopunk #3100: $15.93M
- Unknown #1: $4.34M
- Unknown #22011139425101085928835778218126: $2.17M
- Fidenza #49: $1.8M
5. Web3 Gaming Market
Web3 gaming adoption has increased 54.67% from the 2023 average. The Dapps unique active wallets in games surged 16.73 million, a 52.22% increase over the last 3 months. Whereas, the Dapps transactions in games reduced by 7.95% from 88.49 million on Jan 1st to 81.45 million on March 31st.
Top 5 Gaming Coins By Market Cap with price-performance in the last 3 months:
1. Immutable (IMX): 27.65% up
2. Gala (GALA): 113.23% up
3. Beam (BEAM): 82.01%
4. Multiversx (EGLD): 19.98% down
5. The Sandbox (SAND): 9.23% up
Top Significant developments happened in Q1 2024
1. Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the long-awaited first 11 bitcoin spot ETFs in the United States on Jan. 10, 2024.
2. Ethereum Dencun Upgrade
On March 13th saw Ethereum’s successful Dencun upgrade, which incorporated the EIP-4844 proposal. This introduced Proto-Danksharding technology and data “blobs,” aiming to reduce transaction costs and improve transaction speeds.
3. Crypto Regulations
SEC Commissioner Hester urges balanced crypto regulation to foster innovation and safeguard U.S. industry interests.
Conclusion
The first quarter of 2024 has been remarkable for the crypto market, witnessing significant growth, innovation, and regulatory developments. Bitcoin and altcoins have demonstrated impressive performance, while meme coins have emerged as a captivating trend. With landmark events like the Spot Bitcoin ETF approval and Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, coupled with Commissioner Hester’s call for balanced regulation, the future of crypto appears promising yet dynamic.
