CoinGecko 2024 Q1 Crypto Industry Report, Polkadot Spotlighted

CoinGecko recently hosted a comprehensive virtual meeting in which key speakers shared their insights on the trends in the digital currency ecosystem in the first quarter. The meeting also beamed its spotlight on the Polkadot ecosystem as it pursues its major evolutionary trend.

Crypto Market Q1 Spotlight

Recanting the biggest events in the market in Q1, CoinGecko’s Head of Research Zhong Yang Chan highlighted the emergence of spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) as the major boost for the industry in January.

With the massive Assets Under Management (AUM) from likes of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK), the ETF market has dragged massive institutional capital into the market. This has in turn helped drive the price of Bitcoin to a new All-Time High (ATH) above $73,000 in March.

Chan also focused on the Ethereum restaking trends that has taken the centerstage. In this sector, Ether.Fi remains the dominant player with EigenLayer also gaining traction as seen in recent times. Per the data shared, the total restaked Ethereum soared by 36% in he first quarter with the majority of this (52.6%) being achieved with Liquid Restaking Protocols (LRTs).

The CoinGecko Researcher highlighted the trends in the broader Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem. While Ethereum has remained the dominant DeFi chain with a 70% market share, Solana has stepped up, overtaking BNB Chain with its $8.7 billion Total Value Locked (TVL). 

In the first quarter, Layer-2 scaling solutions changed the entire dynamics of the broader liquidity market. Base, the L2 outfit spun by Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) and Blast proved their worth as they tried to catch up with the bigger established chains. The market highlight also teased the bullish trends around NFT as showcased by trading volumes on marketplaces dedicated to these digital collectibles.

CoinGecko Meeting Spotlights Polkadot

The CoinGecko meeting also hosted Bill Laboon of the Web3 Foundation, Polkadot’s parent entity, John Linden, the CEO of Mythical Games and Ingo Ruebe, the Founder of Kilt Protocol.

The three major Polkadot stakeholders highlighted that the Polkadot chain is one of the biggest enablers of crucial innovations and it can drive a massive adoption of blockchain solutions. Highlighting the reasons for embracing blockchain and Polkadot specifically to build engaging titles that are already attracting players, Linden noted that the underpinning technology helps bring trust to the gaming ecosystem.

Linden said his team is using blockchain to specifically usher in digital identity utilities and to boost performance uptimes. 

With Polkadot 2.0 in view of the introduction of the JAM Protocol in the past week set to replace the Relay Chain, more innovative protocols are expected to be built on the blockchain. When asked what the Web3 Foundation considers before backing a project, Laboon answered saying the demands from the community on what to build and what developers themselves are keen on are important drivers that determine direction of grant support.

The meeting ended with the top innovators highlighting some of the important projects in view on Polkadot with the Agile Coretime taking the spotlight.

Meanwhile, after the event, Polkadot (DOT) was trading at around $6.86, which indicated a 2.6% drop over the last 24 hours.

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