Binance Research, the research branch of Binance, has released its highly anticipated end-of-year report titled “Full-Year 2023 & Themes for 2024”, providing a comprehensive overview of the crypto industry dynamics throughout 2023 and projecting the key trends that will drive the sector in 2024.
Explosive Market Growth and Trends to Follow: Binance’s Report
One of the most significant elements highlighted in the report is the extraordinary growth of the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, which has recorded a 109% increase. This remarkable increase reflects a growing interest and participation within the industry, driven by substantial gains in the first and last quarters.
Approvals of Bitcoin ETFs and the Bitcoin Halving have been driving factors, as the Halving creates scarcity, strengthening the narrative of Bitcoin as digital gold.
Web3 and Investments
The report also highlights the strong interest in Web3 projects, which attracted 1173 investments in 2023, totaling a capital of 9 billion dollars. Investments in infrastructure projects represent 36.5%, followed by CeFi (Centralized Finance) projects at 13.3% and DeFi (Decentralized Finance) projects at 8.6%.
Despite a decrease in overall ratings, the report indicates market recovery signals and a considerable capital allocated to infrastructure construction.
Gaming on Blockchain
Gaming on the blockchain experienced a resurgence towards the end of 2023, with 12.6 million unique active wallets in the last week of the year, more than double compared to the beginning of 2023. This signal indicates a renewed interest and participation in the blockchain-based gaming sphere.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
The fourth quarter has seen a significant rebound for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), with December volumes reaching $1.7 billion, the highest of 2023. Bitcoin NFTs have shown the most significant growth. Competition in the NFT markets has been a key theme, with the launch of Blast, an Ethereum Layer-2 (L2) platform developed by the Blur team, a well-known NFT marketplace protocol.
DeFi, Stablecoin and Global Trends
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has experienced strong growth in 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 38.9% in Total Value Locked (TVL). The growth of Liquid Staking Tokens (LST) and LSTfi, along with the increasing adoption of real-world assets, has contributed to the success of the sector.
Despite a positive rebound in October 2023, the global market capitalization of stablecoins has recorded a 5.2% decline since the beginning of the year. Centralized stablecoins continue to dominate 92% of the market, with Tether’s USDT increasing its share to 70.6%.
The commissions for the main cryptocurrency projects have significantly increased at the end of 2023, with Ethereum generating more than twice as much as any other protocol.
The report concludes with an analysis of global trends, highlighting a possible reduction in interest rates that could affect investments in high-potential sectors such as technology and cryptocurrencies.
Investors will have to look beyond public debt to make profits, with a particular focus on the impacts on growing sectors such as cryptocurrencies.
Conclusions
The CEO of Binance Italy, Gianluigi Guida, comments: “Despite the challenges of 2023, the report from the Binance Research team reflects the industry’s resilience in growing and innovating, projecting a solid foundation for the future of the sector.”
The full report is available here. For more information about Binance, visit https://www.binance.com.
