Crypto closed Q3 flat at $2.3 trillion, but volatility persisted. Geopolitical and economic issues affected crypto prices. Markets changed this quarter when the US Federal Reserve held rates stable in July and dropped them by 50 basis points in September. In July, the Bank of Japan unexpectedly raised rates, while China's fresh stimulus measures may increase structural liquidity.
Our 2024 Q3 Crypto Industry Report analyzes the crypto market landscape, Bitcoin and Ethereum, decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems, and CEX and DEX performance.
Final 2024 Q3 crypto market cap was $2.33 trillion, down 1.0% ($95.8 billion). The market reached $2.61 trillion on July 22, but fell drastically on August 6 owing to global economic instability. The Bank of Japan hiked rates while the Federal Reserve maintained them steady.
An aggressive 50bps US rate drop and Chinese stimulus measures boosted the global crypto market valuation to $2.33 trillion from $2.00 trillion to $2.20 trillion.
In 2024 Q3, average trade volume was $88.0 billion, down 3.6% from the previous quarter.
The worldwide crypto market valuation fell marginally in 2024 Q3, although Bitcoin (BTC) rose 2.7% to 53.6%. It gained 0.8%, although Ethereum (ETH) and BNB fell more this quarter, reducing their dominance. The last time BTC dominated was April 2021.
Ethereum lost the most ground among the top 7 cryptos in Q3, falling -3.6% to 13.4% market share. This occurred despite the July debut of Ethereum ETFs, and diminished Ethereum ecosystem interest may have caused it.
BTC's 0.8% price spike in 2024 Q3 was comfortably exceeded by other major asset groups. Gold rose 13.8% in the quarter, leading. This was amid US economic slowdown worries and Middle East unrest.
After the BOJ's August surprise rate increase and Federal Reserve rate decreases, the Japanese Yen rose 12.0% in the quarter. BTC beat only crude oil and the US Dollar Index (DXY) owing to decreased demand and rate decreases. All major fiat currencies rose against the dollar.
Pundits wagering on the US elections boosted prediction markets 565.4% in 2024 Q3. This increased top 3 prediction market volume to $3.1 billion in Q3 from $466.3 million in Q2.
In September, Polymarket had 99% market share and most volume. Bets and transactions increased 713.2% and 848.5%, respectively. Around $1.7 billion in bets have been put on the “US Presidential Election Winner” since 2024, representing 46% of Polymarket’s annual volume.
In 2024 Q3, daily transactions among the Top 10 Ethereum Layer 2s (L2) almost reached 10 million by September. In contrast, Ethereum mainnet handles ~1 million daily transactions.
Base, the most active L2, contributed 42.5% of Q3 transactions and has experienced a considerable increase in network activity since January. Arbitrum followed with 18.9% of transactions, followed by Blast with 8.1%. Taman, a completely on-chain Telegram mini-app, drove August transactions for Manta Pacific. After the debut campaign, network traffic dropped.
Spot trading volume on the top 10 CEXs was $3.05 trillion in 2024 Q3. The quarter-on-quarter reduction was -14.8%.
With 38% market share in September 2024, Binance was the biggest CEX. Binance's market share below 40% is its lowest since January 2022. Crypto.com finished September as the second biggest CEX, up from ninth in Q2. This CEX grew 160.8% QoQ, the quickest in the top 10. It had 14.4% market share in September.
OKX and Gate.io lost almost 30% trading volume in Q3. In Q3, Coinbase's trading volumes fell 23.8% from sixth to tenth.
Ethereum dominated DEX trade in 2024 Q3, but its market share is presently below 40%. Ethereum trading volume fell 19.6% QoQ to $130.5 billion between July and September 2024.
Meme coins boosted Solana DEX trading. It closed September with 22% market share and $21.5 billion volume. Base increased their market share in Q3, despite a weak crypto market. Base overtook Arbitrum in September with 13% domination and $12.3 billion in volume after trading volume climbed 31.4%.
Tron into the top 10 following Blast's post-TGE volume drop. Trading volumes increased when Tron released memecoin generator SunPump. The network gained 2% market share with $1.7 billion in September volume.
