Binance Research: Key Trends in Crypto – August 2024
Main Takeaways
This blog recaps the recent Binance Research report discussing key developments in crypto markets over the past month. The crypto market experienced a 6.1% increase in market capitalization in July, driven by positive developments like the U.S. SEC's approval of nine spot ETH ETFs and Germany offloading 50,000 BTC. However, concerns remain about Mt. Gox's repayments and the U.S. government's BTC transfer.
The launch of spot ether ETFs saw strong trading volumes (~US$5.8B) but net outflows (~US$484M) in the first week, primarily due to Grayscale's ETHE outflows. Excluding ETHE, the ETFs received US$1.5B in net inflows.
July saw significant growth in decentralized exchanges (DEX). This trend is driven by improved user experience, liquidity, and the popularity of meme coin trading. Prediction platform Polymarket also reached record trading volumes and active traders, influenced by election cycle developments.
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Today’s blog explores key Web3 developments in July 2024 to provide an overview of the ecosystem’s current state. We analyze the performance of crypto, DeFi, and NFT markets before previewing major events to look out for in August 2024.
Crypto Market Performance in July 2024
The crypto market saw a 6.1% increase in total market capitalization in July, fueled by several positive developments. The German government reportedly completed offloading 50,000 BTC to centralized exchanges, easing market fears. Additionally, the U.S. SEC approved the S-1 filing for nine spot ether ETFs, which started trading on July 23. Donald Trump announced at the Bitcoin Conference 2024 his intention to establish a strategic BTC reserve if elected, aiming to make the U.S. the world’s crypto capital.
Monthly crypto market capitalization increased by 6.1% in July
Source: CoinMarketCap (as of July 30, 2024)
Alongside these developments, concerns remained over Mt. Gox beginning repayments of over $9 billion to 2014 hack victims and the U.S. government's transfer of 29,800 BTC, raising fears of a potential sell-off.
Monthly price performance of the top 10 coins by market capitalization
Source: CoinMarketCap (as of July 30, 2024)
In July, Solana (SOL) was a standout performer, achieving a remarkable 30.5% price increase. This surge was driven by a 42.2% month-on-month growth in decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volumes, reaching $54.6 billion, primarily fueled by memecoin trading. The average number of daily active addresses on Solana hit a record 1.7 million, and daily transactions grew by 18.2% to 1.3 million. Positive sentiment around the ecosystem was bolstered by several developments in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market, including the introduction of Jito restaking and the announcement of Drift prediction markets. Solana's ecosystem continued to expand, attracting significant attention from both individuals and institutions.
XRP also outperformed other major cryptocurrencies, with a 27.6% gain in July. The rally began after CME and CF Benchmarks announced the debut of indices and reference rates for XRP. Further boosting market confidence, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse indicated a potential resolution in the ongoing legal dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). TRON (TRX) maintained its positive momentum, climbing 9.8% in July and entering the top 10 of digital assets by market capitalization. TRON's founder, Justin Sun, announced plans to develop a gasless stablecoin, adding to the positive outlook for the coin.After a negative performance in June, BTC rebounded with a 9.7% gain in July as selling pressure from the German government eased and Donald Trump's appearance at the Bitcoin Conference 2024 fueled positive sentiment. The Trump campaign raised US$21M during the conference, gaining sizable support from BTC and crypto enthusiasts.
However, not all cryptocurrencies had a positive month. AVAX saw a slight decline of 1.2% despite significant developments, including the launch of the Interchain Token Transfer (ICTT) system and updates to its validator start times and block-building processes. Similarly, ether (ETH) experienced a 1.6% decline following the SEC's approval of nine spot ETH ETFs, which initially saw a net outflow of $484 million. Additionally, TON faced a 12.2% drawdown after a strong performance since March, although its ecosystem continued to grow with the success of the Telegram game Hamster Kombat and other initiatives.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
In July, total DeFi TVL experienced a 3.5% increase, aligning with the overall market uptrend. Notable gainers for the month included CORE, Scroll, and Mantle, with gains of 121.2%, 66.0%, and 30.9%, respectively. Among protocols, Polymarket saw substantial growth, with its July volume surging past US$387M, over 614% higher than January volumes.
Symbiotic's Total Value Locked (TVL) surged by 283% in July after removing pool caps, driven by market interest in restaking and partnerships with notable protocols like Mellow Protocol, Lido, Ether.fi, Ethena, and Pendle. By the end of July, all pool caps were fully filled, accumulating $1.21 billion in under two months. Mellow Protocol's TVL also increased by 69.6%, benefiting from its role as a Modular Liquid Restaking Primitive, allowing users to double-farm points for future token airdrops from both Mellow and Symbiotic.
TVL share of top blockchains
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
Monthly NFT trading volume
Source: CryptoSlam (as of July 30, 2024)
In July, the NFT market saw a 7.14% decline in sales volume, reaching $430 million. DMarket led with $16.2 million in sales, followed by DogeZuki on Solana with $13.9 million. Solana collections like Solana Monkey Business and Retardio Cousins saw significant volume increases, while major Ethereum collections and top Ordinals collections experienced notable declines.
Overall, Bitcoin and Ethereum NFT sales dropped significantly, but Immutable saw a 75.68% increase due to ongoing game development, including the launch of Illuvium.
Upcoming Events and Token Unlocks
To help users stay updated on the latest Web3 news, the Binance Research team has summarized notable events and token unlocks for the month to come. Keep an eye on these upcoming developments in the blockchain space.
Notable Events in August 2024
Source: Binance Research, CoinMarketCap
Largest token unlocks in US$ terms
Source: Token Unlocks, Binance Research
Binance Research
The Binance Research team is committed to delivering objective, independent, and comprehensive analyses of the crypto space. We publish insightful takes on Web3 topics, including but not limited to the crypto ecosystem, blockchain applications, and the latest market developments. This article is only a snapshot of the full report, which contains further analyses of the most important charts from the past month. The full report also looks into the trend of bitcoin miners now consistently making up BTC net sellers, especially after the Bitcoin halving last April, TON’s record-breaking performance, BNB’s continued strength, and the emergence of competition in the staking landscape with new entrants such as Karak and Symbiotic challenging EigenLayer’s dominance. Read the full version of this Binance Research report here.
Further Reading
Disclaimer: This material is prepared by Binance Research and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast or investment advice and is not a recommendation, offer, or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or cryptocurrencies or to adopt any investment strategy. The use of terminology and the views expressed are intended to promote understanding and the responsible development of the sector and should not be interpreted as definitive legal views or those of Binance. The opinions expressed are as of the date shown above and are the opinions of the writer; they may change as subsequent conditions vary. The information and opinions contained in this material are derived from proprietary and non-proprietary sources deemed by Binance Research to be reliable, are not necessarily all-inclusive, and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. As such, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given, and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by Binance. This material may contain ‘forward-looking’ information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader. This material is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell in any securities, cryptocurrencies, or any investment strategy, nor shall any securities or cryptocurrency be offered or sold to any person in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase, or sale would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction. Investment involves risks.