There is no question that the cryptocurrency industry witnessed explosive growth in 2024, with the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin continuing to lead the market. Data shows that the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has more than doubled over the past year.
While it has been challenging to find a common theme for how the market has improved in 2024, it is easy to point out the different aspects of growth in the digital asset industry this year. A prominent blockchain firm has identified five trends that reflect the shift experienced in the crypto market in the past 12 months.
5 Trends In The Crypto Space In 2024
In its latest weekly report, market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock explained the five major on-chain trends that reflect the growth of the cryptocurrency industry in the past year. It’s been all (or mostly) fireworks for the digital asset market, specifically Bitcoin, in 2024.
Firstly, IntoTheBlock pointed to the growth and the rising dominance of Bitcoin in the crypto market, especially after the approval of spot exchange-traded funds in the United States. As a result, the premier cryptocurrency’s market share hit its highest level in over three and a half years.
The crypto analytics firm highlighted that Trump’s success in the presidential elections also played a role in driving higher the value of Bitcoin. All in all, Bitcoin’s dominance has now moved from under 50% to 59% year-to-date.
Like Bitcoin, the meme coin market also witnessed unprecedented growth in 2024, with its aggregate market capitalization surging by over 400%. IntoTheBlock specifically mentioned the introduction of Solana-based launchpad Pump.fun, which catalyzed a meme coin explosion in the Solana ecosystem.
Source: IntoTheBlock
However, this meme coin trend on the Solana network left a negative impact on the Ethereum ecosystem and ETH’s price performance in 2024. With meme coins shifting to Solana and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) not making a strong return this bull cycle, there was a decline in Ethereum network fees, leading to less ETH being burnt.
Furthermore, decentralized finance (DeFi) saw a resurgence in 2024, as fresh capital flowed into various protocols and projects. As less value was lost to hacks and exploits and regulatory pressure was reduced in 2024, the aggregate market cap of the DeFi sector hit its highest since early 2022.
Finally, IntoTheBlock noted that new projects that were pioneered during the last bear market saw remarkable growth in 2024. For instance, restaking projects and basis trading protocols were some of the highlights in the crypto space in the past year.
Total Crypto Market Cap
As of this writing, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at around $3.49 trillion. According to data from TradingView, the crypto market cap has increased by more than 105% year-to-date.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization at $3.3 trillion | Source: daily TOTAL chart on TradingView