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1. An expanding market
The total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market is up by around 44% year-to-date (between January 1 and July 30), representing an increase of over $720 billion. Year-on-year, the total capitalization of this market has increased by over 104%, or more than $1.2 billion since last July. Overall, the market is worth just over $2,000 billion.
2. Bitcoin weighs ever more heavily in the cryptosphere
The leader in terms of valuation, bitcoin, accounts for 55% of the value of the entire cryptocurrency market. Several factors explain this growth: trading volume, transactions, the hash rate and the capacity of the Lightning network, which have continued to improve. The development of decentralized finance (DeFi) on Bitcoin, with some projects focusing on staking and restaking on Bitcoin, and those on the borrowing and lending markets linked to Ordinals / Runes, have also helped Bitcoin attract crypto-investors. Unsurprisingly, the launch of Bitcoin Spot ETFs on January 11 in the United States also naturally contributed to the cryptocurrency's appeal.
3. Bitcoin Spot ETFs: billions poured in
More than $17 billion in net flows and an average daily trading volume of $2.5 billion. That's how much Bitcoin Spot ETFs generated in the first seven months of 2024.
These exchange products have undoubtedly helped to add a new source of institutional demand for BTC. Now, all kinds of US-based institutional investors, from hedge funds to pension funds, have a very direct and simple way of gaining exposure to the cryptocurrency markets. It's therefore an excellent way of introducing some of the more conservative investor base to the crypto markets.
In the 1st half of the year, ETFs recorded cumulative inflows of over $17.6 billion, with total holdings of over 900,000 BTC (or around $62 billion). As for the main ETF providers, BlackRock clearly dominated the battle, with over $20 billion in inflows. Fidelity also performed well, with an inflow of around $10 billion in the 1st half of the year.
Farside, Binance
4. BTC and ETH VS The rest of the world
Between January 1 and the end of July, the performances of the two main cryptocurrencies on the market - bitcoin and ether - were relatively impressive. With the exception of chipmaker Nvidia's outstanding performance, bitcoin and ETH have clearly outperformed other popular investment vehicles. On the other hand, it's important to bear in mind that the cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile and sensitive to macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions. The 2nd half of the year could, depending on the mood of the traditional financial markets, wipe out the gains of the 1st half. We'll take stock at the end of the year.
5. Stablecoins on the rise
The supply of stablecoins can be seen as a measure of the amount of capital ready and available to invest in crypto-assets at any given time. The supply of stablecoins has increased this year, rising from $130 billion in January to around $165 billion at the end of July 2024. In fact, stablecoin supply hasn't been this high since May 2022, and is approaching its all-time high of around $188 billion in market capitalization reached at that time.
DefiLlama, Binance
Although USDT' s market share fell slightly from 70.5% at the end of 2023 to 69.7% at July 28, 2024, it continued to maintain its dominant position in the stablecoin market by a significant margin. The second largest stablecoin (USDC) has a market capitalization of around $34 billion, compared with $115 billion for USDT. Tether, which issues the stablecoin USDT, reported a record net profit of US$4.52 billion in the first quarter of 2024, including around $1 billion from its holdings of US Treasury securities. To put these figures in perspective, Tether's first-quarter profit puts it on a par with some of the biggest US banks.
Financial reports of the companies concerned, Binance
