Binance Research: Key Trends in Crypto – October 2024

Main Takeaways:

• This blog recaps the recent Binance Research report discussing key developments in crypto markets over the past month.

• In September 2024, the cryptocurrency market grew by 8%, driven by positive global economic developments. The Federal Reserve’s rate cut to 4.75%-5% improved investor sentiment.

• Additionally, the People’s Bank of China injected 1 trillion yuan into the banking system to address deflationary pressures and boost consumer confidence. These moves supported rallies in U.S. and Chinese equity markets, which in turn bolstered the crypto market’s gains into October.

Thanks to Binance Research, you can take advantage of industry-grade analyses of the processes shaping Web3. By sharing these insights, we hope to empower our community with the latest knowledge from the field of crypto research.

This blog explores key Web3 developments in September 2024 to provide an overview of the ecosystem’s current state. We analyze the performance of crypto, DeFi, and NFT markets before previewing major events to look out for in October 2024.

Crypto Market Performance in September 2024

In September 2024, the cryptocurrency market experienced an 8% increase in total market capitalization, influenced by positive global economic developments. The Federal Reserve’s decision to cut the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to a range of 4.75%-5% boosted investor sentiment, supported by easing labor market concerns and inflation nearing the Fed’s 2% target. However, investor reactions were mixed, weighing hopes for an economic “soft landing” against fears of a potential slowdown.

On September 27, the People’s Bank of China responded to deflationary pressures and a struggling property market by lowering the interest rate on seven-day reverse repurchase agreements by 20 basis points and reducing the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points. This move injected 1 trillion yuan (about $142.5 billion) into the banking system to boost consumer confidence. The favorable macroeconomic environment spurred rallies in major equity markets like the U.S. and China, which further supported the crypto market’s gains into October. However, close monitoring of future economic reports and central bank actions remains essential.

Monthly crypto market capitalization increased by 8.0% in September

Monthly price performance of the top 10 coins by market capitalization

Source: CoinMarketCap
As of September 30, 2024

Avalanche (AVAX) was up 20.1%, driven by the Avalanche9000 upgrade and a $40 million developer grant. Dogecoin (DOGE) rose 14.9%, boosted by Elon Musk’s social media mention. Solana (SOL) gained 12.0% following ecosystem developments and partnerships with Franklin Templeton and Citibank. Cardano (ADA) was up 9.3% with the Chang Hard Fork launch, adding decentralized governance. XRP increased 9.1% as the SEC case concluded, and progress on the RLUSD stablecoin sparked optimism.

TON was up 7.7% with a network upgrade and a new stable swap project in partnership with Curve Finance. Bitcoin (BTC) rose 7.5% amid positive macroeconomic signals from the Federal Reserve. BNB saw a 6.9% rise post-Bohr Hard Fork, which included four BEPs for network enhancement. Last but not least, Tron (TRX) declined by 2.3% but launched a financial crime unit to combat USDT-related scams. Ethereum (ETH) price only rose by 2.8%, amid concerns over inflationary risks and the Ethereum Foundation’s ETH sales.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

In September, DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL) grew by 9.6%, with significant gains across various chains as market activity surged. Sui’s TVL increased by 60.7%, driven by interest in its Move-based Layer 1 and the phased rollout of its new Mysticeti consensus engine, which boosts transaction speeds and lowers CPU requirements for validators. Sui’s DeFi ecosystem was further strengthened by the launch of AUSD stablecoin, Circle’s USDC integration, and the release of the SuiPlay0X1 gaming device that supports both Sui games and traditional gaming platforms like Steam.

Base’s TVL rose by 44.6%, surpassing $2.2 billion, as it attracted substantial inflows in lending, derivatives, and decentralized exchanges. Aerodrome, a native DEX on Base, saw impressive growth, and Base’s daily active addresses reached 1.2 million, thanks to Coinbase’s smart wallet offering seamless dApp interaction.

Sei, a parallelized EVM Layer 1, saw a 102% TVL increase, with significant contributions from Yei Finance, a lending protocol, and Silo Stake, a liquid staking protocol. Capital flowed predominantly into liquid staking and DEXes, with DragonSwap and JellyVerse also showing strong gains.

TVL share of top blockchains

Source: DeFiLlama
As of September 30, 2024

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Monthly NFT trading volume

Source: CryptoSlam
As of September 30, 2024

In September, the NFT market continued its six-month decline, with total sales volume dropping by 21.2% to $302 million, reflecting a challenging environment for NFTs as major collections suffered substantial decreases in trading activity. Ethereum collections like CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Pudgy Penguins saw trading volumes fall by 13.9%, 38.2%, and 55.3%, respectively, while Ordinals collections Bitcoin Puppets and NodeMonkes briefly bucked the trend with slight volume increases.

Overall, NFT sales volumes fell across key blockchains, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana down by 33.5%, 47.7%, and 41.8%, respectively. However, Blast experienced a 30% surge, likely driven by activity on Fantasy.top, a social trading card game. Despite this, overall market interest in NFTs showed signs of waning.

Upcoming Events and Token Unlocks

To help users stay updated on the latest Web3 news, the Binance Research team has summarized notable events and token unlocks for the month to come. Keep an eye on these upcoming developments in the blockchain space.

Notable Events in October 2024

Source: Binance Research, Coinmarketcap

Largest token unlocks in US$ terms

Source: Token Unlocks, Binance Research

Binance Research

The Binance Research team is committed to delivering objective, independent, and comprehensive analyses of the crypto space. We publish insightful takes on Web3 topics, including but not limited to the crypto ecosystem, blockchain applications, and the latest market developments.

This article is only a snapshot of the full report, which contains further analyses of the most important charts from the past month. The full report also discusses wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) continued dominance in the market, ETH issuance rate, the growth of on-chain Real World Assets (RWAs), and the slowing down of cryptocurrency hacks since 2021.

Read the full version of this Binance Research report here.

Further Reading

• Binance Research: Key Trends in Crypto – September 2024

• Binance Research : Key Trends in Crypto – August 2024

• Industry Observation: Valuation, Centralization, Transparency, and Rebranding

Disclaimer: This material is prepared by Binance Research and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast or investment advice and is not a recommendation, offer, or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or cryptocurrencies or to adopt any investment strategy. The use of terminology and the views expressed are intended to promote understanding and the responsible development of the sector and should not be interpreted as definitive legal views or those of Binance. The opinions expressed are as of the date shown above and are the opinions of the writer; they may change as subsequent conditions vary. The information and opinions contained in this material are derived from proprietary and non-proprietary sources deemed by Binance Research to be reliable, are not necessarily all-inclusive, and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. As such, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given, and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by Binance. This material may contain ‘forward-looking’ information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader. This material is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell in any securities, cryptocurrencies, or any investment strategy, nor shall any securities or cryptocurrency be offered or sold to any person in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase, or sale would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction. Investment involves risks.

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