The cryptocurrency market recorded massive growth in several areas, erasing bear market losses and its market capitalization increased by 108% to approximately $869 billion.
a new published market report from CoinGecko shows the industry performance in different quarters and highlights key metrics that led to a surge in various cryptocurrencies and the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
CoinGecko 2023 Annual Crypto Industry Report is Now LIVE ๐
The cryptocurrency market saw substantial growth in 2023, doubling its total market capitalization by $832 billion, driven by #BitcoinThe impressive resurgence.
Here are 6 key things you shouldn't miss! ๐งต pic.twitter.com/Ve7tLMCigD
- CoinGecko (@coingecko) January 17, 2024
According to the report, the institutional influx in anticipation of a spot Bitcoin (btc) The approval of the ETF by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent assets into a frenzy and bulls eyed an uphill climb.
In the fourth quarter, the market capitalization increased to $1.6 trillion, increasing 55% from $1.1 trillion and its price also saw a sharp increase, while the entire crypto market capitalization increased by 108% in the last 12 months.
On the other hand, trading volumes remained in the red zone compared to the previous year as they increased by 31.6% to $58.9 billion due to previous months of stagnation and regulatory issues.
Last year, global authorities stepped up scrutiny of centralized exchanges to prevent a repeat of the FTX case, leading to several regulations and lawsuits in several jurisdictions.
In the United States, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed charges against Binance and other exchanges that cite offering services to unregistered securities and inadequate registrations.
These events in their entirety weakened investor confidence and spot trading volume plummeted, with Binance posting a consecutive decline for many months before a rebound.
However, Q4 saw a 91% quarter-on-quarter increase, with trading volume of $75.1 billion resulting in rising DeFi numbers as assets under management (AUM) and total value locked ( TVL) were triggered.
Bitcoin shapes the annual narrative
Although the overall market ended in the green zone, Bitcoin's performance led to institutional investors entering the market with a renewed appetite for cryptocurrency products.
According to the report, Bitcoin grew by 155% to reach a annual high of $44,004 in the fourth quartera price that has not been recorded since April 2022. The asset soared 72% in the first quarter, setting the tone for the rest of the year, while its hashrate increased 103% in 2023.
โThe market then cooled in the third quarter, before recovering strongly in the fourth quarter due to anticipation of Bitcoin ETF spot approvals and expected interest rate cuts by the feds.
Bitcoin's dominance can be seen in an increase in market share from 9.2% to 47.8%, while Ethereum and USDT lost 1.5% and 2.7% to own 15.9% and 5.3% of the market respectively.
Positives aside, bad actors stole $2 billion in approximately 463 exploits, raising broader concerns and regulatory scrutiny over the security of investors' assets.
The biggest incident was the $231 million Multichain bridge hack in July, while others that attracted attention were the $142 million Mixin hack. Poloniex $123 millionand Atomic Wallet, $115 million.
