The first half of 2024 began a new cycle of cryptocurrency adoption. The deciding factor was the approval of the Bitcoin ETF, as well as the strong price movement that led to a new all-time high for Bitcoin.

New projects such as Bittensor, ZKSync, Bonk and Dogwifhat, as well as strong price increases for many digital assets, marked these cycles.

Altcoins are increasingly adopting Layer2 scaling solutions such as Optimistic Rollups, zkRollups and side-chains to improve transaction speeds and reduce fees. Projects in this category include Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP), Polygon (MATIC), Starknet (STRK) and many others.

With the rise of Layer 2 solutions and interoperability, modular blockchains represent the next phase in the evolution of digital assets. Blockchains such as Celestia (TIA) and Dymension (DYM) leverage this modularity to improve scalability, interoperability, and security.

Current cryptocurrency prices indicate that the former market is at its peak, megacaps may still have room to grow before smaller coins outperform the rest of the market.