Western Europe is a very vital market for the cryptocurrency industry, as it has become one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency acceptance markets in the world. The daily number of trading participants in the region ranges from 1.2 to 1.5 million. Lately, the research division of the cryptocurrency exchange Bitget has published a report analyzing the structure and current landscape of the Western European cryptocurrency markets. In addition, analysts have identified key user preferences and made predictions about future trends in the cryptocurrency market. So what is the current state of the Western European crypto market?
The Dominance of Centralized Exchanges And Spot Trading
The report notes that Germany and France have become the leaders in terms of cryptocurrency trading in Western Europe. Austria, however, has shown extraordinary growth, recording a 70% increase in the number of cryptocurrency traders between December 2022 and December 2023. Analysts attribute this surge to the country’s progressive approach to investing in cryptocurrencies.
After analyzing local market trends and trading instrument preferences, analysts found that users in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands prefer futures trading, while other countries lean toward spot trading.
When it comes to cryptocurrency trading, most Western European users prefer centralized exchanges, with CEX traffic exceeding DEX by a factor of 10. Among crypto users who prefer decentralized platforms, the most popular platforms were PancakeSwap and Uniswap. The most used wallets are Coinbase, Metamask, Bitget Wallet, and TrustWallet.
As for the former, it is also popular among other parts of Europe, including Ukraine, as it supports the UAHg-pegged stablecoin. The digital asset provides users with access to major exchanges, DeFi platforms, staking services, and many other applications. Specifically, UAHg has announced the introduction of a loyalty program for users, as well as several other activities with partners such as WhiteBIT, Bitcoin Global, GEO Pay, and others.
DeFi accounts for most cryptocurrency activity in Western Europe, while P2P trading volumes remain significantly low. Analysts note that one of the reasons for the limited spread of P2P cryptocurrencies in the region is the widespread practice of acquiring digital assets using fiat deposits or linked cards.
What Assets and Trend Topics in Western Europe Are Chosen by Investors
One of the trends in the Western European crypto sphere is participation in decentralized projects and familiarization with tools and trading on DEX, NFT, and Web3 platforms.
Regarding assets, new cryptocurrencies such as Ordinals, NFT, RWA, DePin, the Solana ecosystem, and meme coins attracted the most attention from traders. Trending topics and coins include the significant growth of the Solana ecosystem due to the launch of tokens and airdrops, as well as increased interest in Manta Network and Ondo Finance.
In addition, significant attention is being paid to second and third-tier networks such as CRO, $FTM , and $SUI . This indicates that even without particularly positive news or important announcements, users in the Western European region maintain a constant interest in these networks.
Trends in the Behavior of Western European Crypto Traders
The Bitget research emphasizes the high level of education among Western European users. In addition, they note that cryptocurrency users are cautious and prefer long-term investments. Participation in online and offline forums, including the Ask Me Anything (AMA) community, where they exchange information about the market and discuss industry trends, is also popular among local enthusiasts.
It is also important that users prefer legality and demonstrate a genuine interest in complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) rules aimed at protecting the interests of investors and ensuring the stability of the financial system without hindering technological innovation.
Forecasts of Future Trends in the Crypto Market
Summarizing, based on a comprehensive study of the European market, Bitget analysts predict the following developments in the Western European market in 2024:
Germany and France will retain their status as centers of cryptocurrency activity in Western Europe.Due to the development of the cryptocurrency market and the growing adoption rate among Western European users, the number of DAUs involved in cryptocurrency trading in the Western European market is expected to grow from 700,000 in 2023 to approximately 1.2–1.5 million by 2024.Western European users will continue their engagement in on-chain interactions, with undiminished interaction with NFTs, DEXes, and blockchain games. Similarly,1 or 2 blockchain application projects incubated by Western European teams will emerge as leaders in their respective sectors.Decentralized exchanges will accommodate an increasing demand for on-chain transactions. Some emerging centralized exchanges, with their superior customer service and platform perks, will gain greater favor among Western European users, thereby capturing a larger market share.With rising engagement in Solana ecosystem projects, wallets like Phantom and Bitget Wallet that integrate various blockchain ecosystems will see significant gains, increasing their market share in the Western European market.
Summary
Western Europe plays a key role in the cryptocurrency market due to its rapid development and large number of users. Forecasts emphasize the further growth of the crypto market in the region. In addition, the study emphasizes the importance of a regulated approach and active user participation in shaping the future of the cryptocurrency industry in Western Europe.
$SOL

Mikołaj Zakrzowski – a former CryptoQuant analyst – on the industry’s evolution, Bitcoin, and memecoins.
The crypto market stands on the verge of a radical transformation. This becomes more salient seeing that the industry is set for significant changes – with new technological trends coming up, and with strengthened role of crypto in the global economy. 
What alterations are brought up to the industry, and how do they impact the market? To solve this puzzle, I spoke to Mikołaj Zakrzowski – a Global Traders on-chain analyst with experience at CryptoQuant, who shared his insights on the new age of crypto industry.  

Introduction: about the finer points of the on-chain analyst profession 
– Mikołaj, you’re an on-chain analyst. For the newbies, could you explain what the on-chain analysts do? Do they monitor technical data, interpret it, or all together?
– What all on-chain analysts have in common is using publicly available data from various blockchains, though goals of different analysis may differ. On-chain data may be used to: 
- explain what is currently happening under the hood based on concrete data points, as at the end of the day an opinion is worth as much as data that backs it up;
- perform wallet investigations (sometimes with the aim of tracing illicit funds);
- gain market advantage, in various ways. For instance, on-chain analysts may look at cyclical transaction patterns to identify suitable buying and selling opportunities.
It is a very broad and diverse field.

– Apart from investment and security purposes, why on-chain analysts are vital for the industry? 
Aside from using on-chain analysis for trading, on-chain analysts such as @zachxbt are vital for the crypto industry as they make the industry more transparent and safe. For instance zach is known for publicly revealing many complex scams that took place in the crypto space. Such investigations are useful as crypto space is getting rid of bad actors + bad actors are properly punished.

About market, utility, and memecoins
– Do new technological advancements really influence the market from the technical point of view, or do they mainly impact the investment behaviour?
– I'd say the market is mainly driven by different narratives and crypto space hasn't matured to the point of proving its killer use cases. (aside from BTC which has its killer use case).

– We see that the smaller Web3 ecosystems surpass large networks in developer quantity. While Ethereum and Solana remain leaders in TVL, many investors cast their eyes on Celestia, Whitechain, and other networks. What do you think, why is such a tendency taking place?
– Apparently Solana and Ethereum are shipping products that are deemed as more valuable by a broad range of investors. Developers count doesn't matter as the price increase or growth is TVL is dependent on the perceived utility of the project.

– Seeing that Web3-solutions’ tokens become even more popular, would you say that investors turned to prioritising asset’s utility within tokenomics/market analysis as a sort of fundamental factor?
– Crypto space definitely has not matured enough to really care about tokenomics and other fundamental factors. Most price action is heavily narrative based.

– Which market would you personally like to see: the one with diverse token’s leadership, or monopolistic/oligopolistic market with dominance of a few large assets? Why?
– I'd like to see a more diverse market as it makes the whole crypto space less volatile. On the other hand, when we have coins such as USDT dominating the stablecoin market, if something goes wrong then the whole crypto market will face severe consequences.

– Amidst ecosystem rally, memecoins have also been receiving a great deal of attention to them, which can be indicated by their market capitalization. What is your attitude to memecoins – can they be perceived as safe, full-fledged assets?
– Major meme coins are safe in the sense that there are no smart contract risks involved and so on. On the other hand, they are risky in the sense of their volatility.  

– Do memecoins actually provide liquidity for the blockchains they are developed on?
– Yes, a good example is meme coin mania on Solana which drove a lot of traction and liquidity to Solana blockchain.   

– The reason behind memecoins’ solid market positions is often explained to be the community-driven nature of the tokens. Why do you think memecoins are heavily invested in? 
– Crypto people love gambling and socializing through gambling makes the case for meme coins even more compelling.

About Bitcoin and Web3-technologies’ impact on it
– Let’s go back to the Web3-ecosystems’-based cryptocurrencies. Seeing that technological utility seems to play a crucial role as an investment criteria, is there any chance Bitcoin will be overtaken by Ethereum in terms of value and market capitalization?
– I don't see it coming, the value propositions of ETH and BTC vastly differ. 

– Has Bitcoin become to rely more on the fundamentals, but not the technical factors?
– Bitcoin is mainly driven by liquidity cycles within macroeconomy.

– Amidst upcoming halving, can scarcity be reviewed as an important factor of Bitcoin price?
– I wouldn't say so, halvings only coincide with increases in Bitcoin price, they do not create price surges. As I mentioned earlier, Bitcoin is mainly driven by global liquidity cycles

Closing remarks
– What is the future of Web3 and crypto intersection?
– The future of web3 is probably Bitcoin constantly increasing its market cap while other projects are facing dynamic battles for the best value proposition and product market fit.

#BTC
$BTC $ETH $SOL

Meme tokens’ scores drive SOL to the milestone – contrary to the correction sentiment in the market. Solving the puzzle of Solana and its surge.
The native cryptocurrency of the Solana layer one (L1) blockchain network, SOL, crossed $200 for the first time since November 2021. 
Solana is now 22% away from its all-time-high of $260, but its market capitalization has already broke the record, totalling over $81 billion, CoinMarketCap data shows.
As of reporting time, Solana (SOL) followed the downturn by 10% in the recent 24 hours.  
SOL/USDT 1-day chart. Source: WhiteBIT Trading View
On March 19, 2024, Solana also commands the sixth-largest trading volume among all cryptocurrencies, indicating $11.8 billion over the past day. By overcoming Binance Smart Chain (BNB) coin, SOL is now the fourth largest cryptocurrency in the market, facing only Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether US (USDT) ahead. 
On-chain data indicates that various metrics, such as total value locked (TVL), active wallets, and network volumes crossed life-time peaks over the weekend amidst the surge in a pre-sale activity. 
Solana TVL and volume metrics. Source: DefiLlama
The network racked over $3.2 million in fees over a 24-hour period, while on-chain volumes topped over $3.2 billion, flipping a November 2022 record of $300 million. 
Significantly, on-chain activity showed negative inflows over the past week, proving the lack of fund influx into the ecosystem. 
Solana ecosystem net inflows. Source: DefiLlama
Solana-based Memecoins Rally
Potentially, Solana's latest surge was fuelled by market participant’s interest in memecoins, which were launched upon the network. For at least three months, different meme-inspired currencies took the centre stage, bursting out with gains amid the Bitcoin price upsoar. 
Namely, Solana-based memecoin Bonk (BONK) has seen the market capitalization of $2.25 billion at its peak on March 5, while Dogwifhat (WIF) climbed up to 48th position in the market for its three-month existence. 
This tendency has been proven by Santiment data, claiming that Solana and SOL-based memecoins took a leadership position in the market. 
The story went further with SLERF – a new Solana-based meme asset that amassed more than $1.8 billion in trading volume over the past days, surpassing all Ethereum-based exchanges in trading volume within its first day of existence. However, its smooth sailing did not appear to keep on. 
SLERF Bungled Launch and Scam Accusations
On March 18, Ki Young Zhu, CEO at CryptoQuant on-chain analytics service, expressed a critical attitude towards memecoins. 
“Meme coins harm the crypto industry. It's frustrating to see billion-dollar-cap memecoins overshadow hardworking teams building legit products to advance this industry. Easy money can't drive industry-wide progress, as shown by the 2018 ICO burst,” – wrote Ki Young Zhu in his post for X. 
Referring to the popular Web3 ecosystem projects with lower volume compared to memecoins (i.e. Whitechain, NEAR Protocol, Celestia etc.), the statement came as a reaction to the SLERF incident. 
Specifically, the project’s developer lost all the funds received after accidentally sending the $10 million-worth tokens to a burn address, which is an address not under anyone’s control.
“I initially tried to burn the LP using solana tools vercel and it wouldn't go through. So I went to sol incen and was clearing out the shitcoins people sent to the wallet and accidently burned them with the pile of other coins,” – says the official statement by SLERF anonymous developer. 
Responding swiftly to the market surge following the burn, an undisclosed Solana trader exchanged 9,894 SOL tokens, valued at around $1.98 million, according to data by Lookonchain. Promptly taking advantage of the intensified market activity, the investor sold SLERF holdings for an impressive 25,001 SOL. 
The incident has sparked speculation about the potential involvement of the Ponzi scheme amidst ZachXBT’s investigation, claiming that crypto enthusiasts have lost 655K SOL tokens valued at over $122.5 million to fraudulent presales.
A reputable analyst believes that malicious actors have capitalised on the Solana-based memecoins trend to defraud unsuspecting market participants seeking to profit from the frenzy. ZachXBT identified at least 27 presale scams related to Solana memecoins. 
It is possible that the scammers are able to amass the stolen crypto by implementing a wallet drain function. Before the memecoin scheme disclosure, ZachXBT unveiled the case of a fraudster who raised over $2.6 million within a day, following the aforementioned strategy. 
The latest Solana-involved scam accusations heated the concerns in the crypto community, which extrapolated on the DeFi space overall. 
“Not to have a bear take here, but I don't see how this won't end up having severe consequences on the DeFi space as a whole. All of these raises were in relatively short time too, there's no way SEC just sits back and allows it to continue,” – commented Pennski, a crypto analyst, on his X page. 
#sol #HotTrends
$SOL