Author: stella@footprint.network
Data source: Footprint Analytics public chain research page
Crypto markets had a strong month in March, with Bitcoin hitting another all-time high. Ethereum prices have steadily climbed, while the Cancun upgrade has significantly reduced transaction costs. The Meme craze has swept across the Solana chain, and its powerful wealth creation effect has ignited market enthusiasm, and its influence has also spread to other public chains, such as Base.
AI, Meme, and TON are the main forces driving the mass adoption of blockchain in the near future. At the same time, public chains are making every effort to expand the Web3 gaming ecosystem, which, as a key driving force for the mass adoption of blockchain, is gaining increasing attention from the market.
The data in this report comes from Footprint Analytics' public chain research page. This page provides an easy-to-use dashboard that contains the most critical statistics and indicators for understanding the public chain field and is updated in real time.
Crypto Market Overview
Cryptocurrency markets had a strong month in March, helped by expectations of lower interest rates despite a strong overall economy. That outlook has heightened inflation concerns, making assets like bitcoin and gold more attractive.
The AI industry has become the focus of the market. Nvidia released the Blackwell GPU and GB200 super chip at the AI event GTC 2024, which not only ignited the enthusiasm of the US and global stock markets, but also attracted widespread attention in the cryptocurrency market, driving the rise of the crypto AI sector.
At the end of March, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for fraud in the collapse of FTX exchange and Alameda Research in November 2022. Although the story of SBF and FTX may have come to an end, the crypto space still faces severe regulatory challenges. It is worth mentioning that at the end of the month, news came out that KuCoin was facing legal action from the US Department of Justice and other departments. As a result, KuCoin faced a large-scale capital outflow.
Public Chain Overview
As March came to an end, the total market value of public chain cryptocurrencies climbed to $2.2 trillion, an increase of 15.8% compared to February. In this wave of growth, Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana performed particularly well, with market shares of 63.2%, 19.7%, 4.2% and 4.1% respectively.
Data source: Market capitalization of public chain tokens - Footprint Analytics
Bitcoin has experienced significant ups and downs between “breakouts” and “fluctuations.” Starting the month at $61,213, it quickly surpassed the previous high of $69,000 and hit an all-time high of $73,068 on March 14. Although it fell back as much as 15.1% to $62,047 mid-month, it regained ground at the end of the month to close at $69,656.
Bitcoin price movements are closely tied to the performance of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs. The mid-month price pullback was mainly driven by the slowdown in Bitcoin spot ETF inflows and the reduction of leverage by traditional traders. However, market expectations for the Bitcoin halving event in April have maintained its upward momentum.
Data source: Bitcoin and Ethereum prices - Footprint Analytics
In contrast, Ether’s gains were relatively solid, starting at $3,344 and closing at $3,648. Ethereum’s gains, while slightly less than Bitcoin’s, have remained steady, in part because the prospect of U.S. spot ETF approval appears uncertain. The March 13 Ethereum Cancun upgrade, designed to reduce Ethereum transaction costs, has boosted activity within its ecosystem.
BNB and Solana both experienced significant token price growth, with increases of 48.8% and 56.0% respectively, pushing their token market capitalization shares to increase by approximately 1% during the month.
Data source: Public chain token prices and market capitalization - Footprint Analytics
In March, AI-related tokens achieved significant growth. The news that Sam Altman has returned to the OpenAI board of directors after a firing and rehiring incident has had a positive impact on AI-related tokens. In addition, market expectations for the Nvidia GTC conference have further boosted the hype atmosphere, bringing benefits to projects announced to participate in the conference. Notably, the NEAR chain’s token price and market capitalization both surged by 84%.
The widespread popularity of AI applications has not only deepened the public's understanding of AI, but also made the concept of "AI + encryption" more popular, easier to understand and accept. AI concept tokens are gaining more and more attention, further promoting the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Meme has also played an important role in driving mass adoption in the crypto world. Recently, Solana has attracted much attention due to the surge in Meme-related activities, with tokens such as $BOME and $SLERF climbing rapidly in price, attracting a large number of community members to participate actively. This phenomenon fully demonstrates the potential of Meme in creating wealth quickly and has caused a general FOMO sentiment in the market. As an easy-to-access and understandable entry point, Meme helps lower the threshold and attract more people to explore the Web3 field.
Memes
TON (The Open Network) and its closely connected social app Telegram have had a significant impact in driving mass adoption. Notably, in March, Telegram announced the expansion of its advertising platform to nearly a hundred new countries. The move, a key component of Telegram’s monetization strategy, allows public channel owners to earn up to 50% of advertising revenue, with all transactions conducted through TON. This move has greatly promoted TON’s on-chain activities. In March, Toncoin doubled in price and market cap, reaching all-time highs. Leveraging Telegram’s massive user base and seamless integration of dApps, TON simplifies access to Web3. Combined with Telegram’s powerful marketing capabilities, the TON ecosystem is expected to be a key force in driving mass adoption of blockchain.
TON Blockchain
At the end of March, the TVL of public chains reached US$8.13 billion, with Ethereum, Tron and BNB chains ranking in the top three.
Data source: Public chain TVL ranking-Footprint Analytics
Solana's TVL grew significantly, reaching $3.59 billion, a figure that doubled from February. This growth has been driven largely by the meme craze, which has dramatically boosted online activity and attracted significant capital inflows. DeFi dApps on Solana, such as DEX aggregator Jupiter, have received extremely high levels of attention and user engagement.
Layer 2
With the booming crypto market and the help of the Cancun upgrade, Ethereum Layer 2's on-chain activity and TVL have reached new heights. Among them, Arbitrum One and Optimism performed particularly well, with TVL increasing by 26.4% and 7.2% respectively, together accounting for about 70% of the market share.
Base's TVL grew by 87.3%, while active users (wallets) grew by 29.6%, mainly due to the appeal of meme coins like $DEGEN. In addition, the launch of Coinbase's Smart Wallet further boosted the activity of its ecosystem. This Smart Wallet uses account abstraction (AA) technology to simplify the user registration process through touch ID or Google account integration, greatly improving Base's user acquisition capabilities.
Data source: Ethereum Layer 2 Overview - Footprint Analytics
After Ethereum completed its Cancun upgrade, its Layer 2 network saw a significant drop in average transaction fees. Among them, Arbitrum and Starknet on-chain transaction costs have been reduced by more than 95%. This significantly reduced fee marks the official entry of the Ethereum ecosystem into the “penny era.”
Data source: Arbitrum Daily average number of transactions and daily average transaction fee - Footprint Analytics
The discussion about Layer 3 is getting more intense, and people from all walks of life have expressed their opinions. Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, recently questioned the necessity of Layer 3 and explained why Polygon decided not to develop Layer 3. Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also expressed his views, pointing out that Layer 3 networks are not primarily used for expansion; instead, their main purpose is to provide "customized functions" for Layer 2 to improve its performance.
Blockchain Games
In March, the game player rankings showed that Ronin, Polygon and BNB Chain were the platforms with the largest number of active players, accounting for 35.4%, 20.9% and 10.8% of the market share respectively. It is worth mentioning that Ronin and Polygon further consolidated their leading positions, with their market shares increasing by 6.3% and 7.8% respectively compared to February.
Data source: Percentage of active game players on public chains - Footprint Analytics
In terms of transaction volume ranking, Ethereum, Ronin, and BNB Chain dominate. In March, Ronin's transaction volume reached $81.7 million, a month-on-month increase of 35.1%, while BNB Chain saw a 13% decline. With less than 10 games, Ronin has a strong momentum in market share expansion. As Ronin continues to add new games, its growth potential is expected to increase further.
Competition in the public chain field is becoming increasingly fierce, and major public chains have increased their investment and are committed to promoting the prosperity of the Web3 game ecosystem.
The Arbitrum Foundation announced a proposal to distribute 200 million $ARB tokens over two years to support gaming projects on its blockchain. Of these, $ARB 160 million will be allocated to game publishers and developers, while the remaining funds are planned to be used to improve infrastructure. This proposal requires approval from the Arbitrum DAO.
At the same time, the Starknet Foundation is also taking active action and has established a dedicated gaming committee to promote the development of the Starknet gaming ecosystem. The committee plans to distribute 50 million $STRK tokens to support gaming projects recognized by the committee, especially those that can incentivize game development and player participation.
You can read the blockchain game monthly report from Footprint Analytics to learn more about the dynamics of the game industry: "Web3 Game Report March 2024: Market Trends and Investment Dynamics".
Public chain investment and financing situation
In March, the public chain field ushered in significant growth momentum, with a total of 23 financing events taking place, with a total investment amount of US$380 million, an increase of 160.2% compared with February. In this round of investment boom, Optimism, Berachain and Eclipse performed particularly well, receiving huge funding support of US$89 million, US$69 million and US$50 million respectively.
Public chain financing events in March 2024 (data source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Among these 23 financing events, the distribution of funds showed a "three-legged" trend: 8 of them involved Layer 1, 7 focused on Bitcoin Layer 2, and the other 8 focused on Ethereum Layer 2. Although the highest disclosed investment in Bitcoin Layer 2 was only US$10 million, the Bitcoin ecosystem has received more and more attention.
Token sales are becoming an increasingly popular way to obtain investment and financing.
Berachain, which recently successfully raised funds through a token sale, has reached a valuation of $1.5 billion, successfully joining the ranks of unicorns. The Cosmos-based and EVM-compatible platform focuses on DeFi transactions and plans to launch its mainnet in the second quarter of 2024.
The Optimism Foundation also announced a private token sale of approximately 19.5 million OP tokens. The sale was from an unallocated pool of OP tokens, totaling nearly $89 million at current market value. The tokens were purchased by an undisclosed buyer and will be subject to a two-year lockup period.
Key News
As the meme coin craze grew, Solana’s search volume on Google surged, reaching a peak of 100.
The Blast mainnet was officially launched on March 1st.
Bitcoin Layer 2 project BEVM announced its mainnet launch plan.
CyberConnect announced the launch of Ethereum Layer 2 network Cyber.
Mysten Labs uses the technical prototype "Pilotfish" on Sui to demonstrate the feasibility of linear expansion of blockchain.
Google already supports searching for Bitcoin, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, Polygon, and Fantom on-chain wallet addresses.
BNB Chain launched a “Rollup as a Service” (RaaS) solution.
