The second quarter of 2024 was all about meme coins, Real World Assets (RWA), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the crypto market. Per CoinGecko’s report, these three hot topics grabbed 35.7% of the market share, just like in the first quarter of the year.
Solana and Base stood out as the most popular ecosystems, holding 22.9% of the market’s attention. After flirting with all-time highs in Q1, the crypto market cap took a 14.4% nosedive in Q2, ending June at $2.43 trillion.
Bitcoin’s much-awaited fourth halving happened without a glitch, but the market didn’t react as expected. The excitement from Q1’s US spot Bitcoin ETF approvals fizzled out, leading to a pretty volatile quarter for Bitcoin and the entire crypto market.
Bitcoin’s rocky quarter
CoinGecko points out that Bitcoin had a tough time in Q2, ending the quarter at $62,734, down 11.9%. It bounced between $58,000 and $72,000 but couldn’t hit the all-time high of over $73,000 seen in mid-March.
Adding to the drama, Bitcoin’s mining hash rate dropped by 18.8%, its first decline since Q2 2022, after reaching an all-time high of 721 million terahashes per second on April 23rd.
Despite this, companies like BitDigital, Hive, Hut 8, Terawulf, and Core Scientific kept expanding into AI. Tether even announced a $500 million investment into mining, and Block completed its 3nm mining chip development.
Bitcoin’s trading volume also took a hit, with the daily average falling to $26.6 billion, a 21.6% drop from the previous quarter. This volatility was reflected in the overall market, with Bitcoin’s annualized volatility at 46.7% and the total crypto market at 48.2%.
Meme coins and AI steal the spotlight
In Q2, meme coins, RWAs, and AI took the spotlight, grabbing a massive chunk of market share. Meme coins were the clear winners, making up 14.3% of the market on their own.
Four of the top 15 crypto narratives were meme coin-related, showing just how popular they’ve become. Solana and Base led the way in blockchain ecosystems, with a 22.9% market share.
The crypto community was buzzing about Ethereum too. In Q2, Ethereum turned inflationary, adding 120,818 ETH to the circulating supply. Despite burning 107,725 ETH, it emitted 228,543 ETH, making the network inflationary.
The burn rate plummeted by 66.7% quarter-on-quarter due to lower network activity and falling gas fees. Only seven days in Q2 saw burns outpacing emissions, compared to 66 days in Q1.
Exchange volume swings
Centralized exchanges saw a rough quarter, with spot trading volume hitting $3.40 trillion, a 12.2% drop from Q1. Binance remained the top CEX, ending June with a 45% market share despite the slump.
Bybit, however, rose to become the second-largest spot CEX, overtaking Upbit and capturing a 12.6% market share. Gate had the most gain among the top 10 CEXs, with a 51.1% increase in trading volume to $85.2 billion.
Bitget and HTX also saw increases of 15.4% and 13.7%, respectively. This period also saw a surge in new listings and project launches on these exchanges.
On the decentralized exchange front, things were looking up. DEXs recorded $370.7 billion in spot trading volume, a 15.7% increase from the previous quarter. Uniswap dominated the DEX market with a 48% share.
Thruster, native to Blast, saw volumes skyrocket by 464.4%, ending June with a 3% market share. Aerodrome wasn’t far behind, growing 297.4% and capturing a 3% market share as well. Meme coins and airdrops were a big reason behind the surge in DEX volumes.