The crypto data firm CoinGecko published its 2024 annual crypto industry report on January 15. The report reflected on major events experienced in the crypto markets last year and pointed out metrics, including the industry’s entry into the fourth crypto market bull cycle, the total crypto market capitalization, spot trading volumes, DEX volumes, and BTC dominance.
The report highlighted the beginning of the fourth crypto bull cycle, which began around March 2024. CoinGecko mentioned the approval of the U.S.-based Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January and May, respectively. The report also highlighted the April BTC halving, which reduced mining rewards to 3.125 BTC.
The report also pointed out other policy changes that fueled the market’s momentum, especially during the last quarter of 2024. CoinGecko explained that President Donald Trump’s presidency was a major trigger for crypto’s new highs at the end of the year, including BTC’s new all-time high of over $108,000.
The report further noted the multiple rate cuts initiated by the Federal Reserve since September 18. The Fed initiated 3 interest rate cuts in 2024, with the September 18 rate cut at 50 basis points and the November and December rate cuts at 25 basis points each.
Coingecko report outlines market cap and BTC dominance
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
CRYPTO MARKET HAVE ADDED
$1.58 TRILLION IN 2024.THE LARGEST INFLOW SO FAR 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lTkF1GMDnX
— Ash Crypto (@Ashcryptoreal) January 1, 2025
The CoinGecko 2024 annual report revealed that the total crypto market capitalization doubled in 2024, reaching $3.9 trillion at the end of the year. The report highlighted that the rise was over 97% higher than 2023’s $1.09 trillion. The amount was also about 45% more in Q4 compared to Q3. The total crypto market has since corrected, standing at $3.46 trillion at the time of publication.
The report further mentioned that Bitcoin dominance grew in 2024, reaching 54% by the end of 2024, accounting for more than half of the crypto market cap. The coin’s dominance has increased this year, reaching over 56% at the time of publication. Altcoins, including ETH, BNB, SOL, USDT, and XRP, accounted for 11.92%, 3.02%, 2.69%, 4.07%, and 3.48%, respectively.
CoinGecko confirmed that while BTC dominated the crypto market in 2024, it had a slow rise in Q4, only attaining a 0.9% rise in dominance. XRP was still the biggest gainer in dominance, increasing by 3.5% in Q4. The report also pointed out Dogecoin’s gains in Q4, overtaking USDC to take the 7th place among all crypto.
The analytics website also revealed that Bitcoin outperformed most of the other assets in traditional finance. In contrast, BTC managed over 101% QoQ rise in Q4 compared to Q3, and fiat currencies, including the Euro and the Japanese Yen, recorded losses. BTC outperformed long-standing assets in traditional markets, including gold, crude oil, and equities.
Ethereum Layer 2 activity increased by over 48% in Q4 2024
CoinGecko noted that Ethereum Layer 2s recorded over 48% growth in the last quarter of 2024, with Coinbase’s Base accounting for 48.3% of all the transactions. The report further revealed that the average daily transactions on the top 10 Layer 2s hit over 15 million, with Base attaining an average of 7.2 million transactions and an over 78% rise from Q3. Taiko was the 2nd most active Layer 2 chain, accounting for over 20% of the tidal transactions.
While Ethereum dominated the Layer 2 space, Solana outperformed the blockchain in DEX transactions. Solana DEX activity increased over 152% in Q4, accounting for over 30% of the total DEX market share. The blockchain accounted for over $219 billion in trading volumes in Q4, while Ethereum accounted for about $184 billion. Ethereum still outperformed Solana on a year-on-year basis, accounting for over 35% of all DEX volumes in 2024.