Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, shared a detailed report on the current outlook of the market. Experts examined what happened in the crypto market in the second quarter of the year under five headings, DeFi, NFT sectors and the altcoin market. In this article, we will share the important data that caught our eye from the Binance report with our readers.
General Market Assessment
Cryptocurrency researchers first made an assessment of the overall market. Examining the performance of the top 10 cryptocurrencies, experts identified the most rising altcoin projects. According to the report, the top 10 altcoins gained an average of 32% in the second quarter of the year. Experts explained that Solana has risen the most among the compared cryptocurrencies since the beginning of the year.
While SOL is the altcoin that has risen 89% since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin appreciated by 83%. Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple also bring similar gains, while the poor performance of Dogecoin, BNB and Polygon is noteworthy.
Experts also shared other important statistics in the general market section of the report:
- The cryptocurrency market grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of the year.
- Although the Fear/Confidence index has dropped a bit, it still remains above the 50 level.
- The number of altcoin projects with a market cap of less than $1 billion fell by 25% in the second quarter of the year. The pressure exerted by governments in the crypto space is getting in the way of startups.
- Bitcoin increased its market share in the crypto market by 5.4%. Lower projects took a loss from the pie, while major altcoins held their share.
Tier-1 Altcoin Projects: AVAX Becomes Biggest Winner!
In the report it shared, Binance examined the tier-1 crypto ecosystems as the second. While Ethereum, the largest smart contract platform, suffered some losses in the last quarter, Solana and BNB almost flopped. However, transfers in the Avalanche network increased by 176% in the second quarter of the year.
When the researchers did an overall analysis, they found that the number of transfers in layer-1 networks dropped by an average of 44%. The stagnant market may be the biggest reason for this situation.
Binance’s quarterly report also included the following findings for tier-1 networks:
- The number of active wallets in the BNB and AVAX ecosystems increased by 50% and 109%, respectively. During the same period, active wallets on the Ethereum network fell by 18%, while those on Solana fell by 69%.
- Ethereum and Avalanche were the ecosystems that gained the most Twitter followers.
- Grayscale Bitcoin Fund GBTC continues to trade cheaper than the spot market. GBTC has a 30% discount to the spot price.
- ETH gas fees peaked at over $27 in May. However, the Q2 average was $8.8. This metric was hovering near the $5 level in the first three months of the year.
- The proportion of staked ETH tokens has reached 20% compared to the total circulation.
DeFi TVL Value Dropped!
The cryptocurrency market has shown some degree of recovery since the beginning of the year. However, this positive market movement did not reflect on the DeFi ecosystem in the second quarter of the year.
The DeFi TVL metric, which reached $50 billion in February 2023, fell to $44.2 billion in June. In the chain-based review, Ethereum dominated the sector, while Tron and Arbitrum increased their market share.
- The ratio of trading on decentralized crypto exchanges to centralized ones peaked at 22% in May. However, this metric was regressed to 16.8% in the June period. The mentioned parity had fallen to 9.6% in January 2022.
- USDT, the leader of the stablecoin market, increased its dominance by 1.2 points. Tether dominates 60% in the stable cryptocurrency space.
- DeFi platforms that were hacked in the second quarter of the year lost $144 million.
NFT Market Stagnant
The NFT craze that started in the previous bull market is looking for the old days with candles. Monthly NFT sales fell 23% in the second quarter of the year. Experts underlined the stable figures despite the decline.
NFT sales, which were $1 billion per month in January and February, have been hovering around $700 million for the last 4 months. In the second quarter of the year, the number of different investors who purchased digital artwork decreased by 61%.
- The NFT-500 index, which measures the average value of NFT works, fell 19% in the last quarter.
- Metaverse-themed NFTs suffered more losses than others. The value of Metaverse artifacts has dropped by 50%.
- The number of NFT transfers increased by 27% in the second quarter of the year.
- The market share of Ethereum, the market leader on a blockchain basis, fell 17% in the last quarter.
- The three largest marketplaces were OpenSea, Uniswap and Manifold, respectively.
You can find the detailed version of the quarterly report prepared by the Binance exchange here.