Bitwise analysts have released a global report on the crypto market for Q3 2024, examining the performance of the largest blockchains, key trends, and major events.
“[During the reporting period], cryptocurrency prices were flat. The Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index ended the quarter down 3.5%, one of the smallest price movements in the history of cryptocurrencies. But the apparent calm masked enormous progress,” the document says.
Main and upcoming events
Top 10 narratives for July-September, according to analysts:
support for cryptocurrencies from politicians. Republican candidate Donald Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris endorsed digital assets;
Banks are coming. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved BNY Mellon's decision to start storing crypto assets;
approval of spot Ethereum ETF. The launch of the instrument occurred contrary to market expectations;
Institutional dominance. About 60% of the world's largest hedge funds own crypto assets;
Morgan Stanley has opened the door to Bitcoin. The firm will allow its brokers to recommend cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded funds to clients;
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Tether Prints Money (In a Good Way) USDT Issuer Made More Profit Than BlackRock — $6.2 Billion vs. $5.5 Billion;
Mt.Gox distributed the bulk of the funds. After nearly a decade of litigation and paperwork, the story has come to an end.
Bitcoin ETF Options: SEC Gives Green Light to Exchange Traded Fund Instruments;
Blockchain vehicle registration. The California Department of Motor Vehicles has added 42 million vehicle titles to the Avalanche blockchain to speed up transfers when ownership changes.
Bitwise also named several future catalysts for the market:
US elections and regulatory progress. Uncertainty about the outcome is weighing on investor sentiment, but analysts expect cryptocurrency to “get to the White House,” regardless of the outcome of the presidential race;
Lower interest rates and economic stimulus. The world has entered a global cycle of monetary easing. Low rates, easy money and government support create an attractive environment for cryptocurrencies;
Resumption of inflows into ETFs. Since their launch, Bitcoin funds have attracted $18.9 billion, making them the most successful launch in the segment of all time. The launch of products on the largest trading platforms will resume the wave of inflows, which will lift the underlying asset to new highs;
Killer apps and project launches. Cryptocurrency is thriving thanks to the emergence of trending applications and new blockchains. In the coming months, many solutions will begin to scale simultaneously, from stablecoins to DePIN and prediction markets.
The quarter in numbers
Since the beginning of the year, the Bitwise index of the top 10 cryptocurrencies has gained 35%, outperforming gold (27.7%) and US Treasuries (22%).
Data: Bitwise.
At the same time, in quarterly terms, the index underperformed almost all other asset classes.
XRP has shown the largest increase over the past three months, up 31.5%. Polkadot (DOT) has gained 27%, and Ethereum has increased by 24.2%.
As of the end of September, 56.8% of the bitcoin supply is concentrated in personal wallets, 17.6% are inactive, 5.2% are at the disposal of funds, 4.8% are at the addresses of Satoshi Nakamoto, 3.3% belong to businesses, 2.4% to governments. The remaining 6.2% has not yet been mined.
Trading volume on centralized exchanges continued to decline, falling to approximately $240 billion.
Ethereum remains the leading blockchain in terms of revenue with $1.92 billion since the beginning of the year, followed by the Bitcoin network ($797 million) and Solana ($358 million).
At the same time, the number of developers in all ecosystems continues to decline since Q2 2022.
The average number of active addresses per day in the network of the first cryptocurrency has slightly decreased since the previous reporting period, to approximately 700,000.
The similar figure for Ethereum and L2 solutions exceeded 2 million.
In terms of average transaction value, Ethereum also leads, outpacing digital gold by more than two times.
The volume of venture financing in the crypto industry remained at the level of the previous quarter - about $3 billion.
Earlier, Bitwise named the conditions for Bitcoin to grow above $80,000 by the end of the year. Among them, analysts highlighted Trump's victory in the elections, a 50 bp Fed rate cut with new Chinese incentives, and the absence of serious surprises in the industry.
