Binance Research unveils Top Crypto Trends for 2024

These strides present a compelling vision, indicating a positive outlook for the crypto ecosystem in 2024. Binance Research, offering expert insights and analysis to all participants in the digital asset industry, has released a report spotlighting the key trends set to shape the crypto landscape in 2024.

JieXuan Chua, an expert from the Binance Research team, commented: “Having observed sustained development and innovations in crypto throughout 2023, we look forward eagerly to what the next year brings. The highly anticipated Bitcoin halving, notable shifts in stablecoin supply, and resurgence in on-chain metrics represent just a few of the exciting developments expected to shape the forthcoming year. As we navigate through the inherently changing crypto landscape in 2024, institutions, investors, and users need to stay abreast of the latest trends to seize potential growth opportunities.”

Top crypto trends for 2024

Bitcoin Resurgence

Bitcoin's 2023 resurgence, led by the Ordinals protocol and visionary founder Casey Rodarmor, has captivated a diverse audience, uniting crypto enthusiasts and traditional finance players. Noteworthy innovations like "Bitcoin NFTs" and the anticipation of US Bitcoin ETF approvals have been driving the market capitalization of Bitcoin and solidifying its role in the financial ecosystem.

The SEC's ongoing review of 13 spots BTC ETF applications is scheduled to span the months of 2024, signalling a potential paradigm shift in the regulatory landscape in the next year. In August 2023, U.S. courts decisively ruled in favour of Grayscale in its dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot BTC ETF. This landmark decision became a catalyst, inspiring major industry players such as BlackRock, Fidelity, and Invesco to file their spot BTC ETF applications in the subsequent months.

Bitcoin halving, which occurs every four years, has become a cornerstone event that solidifies Bitcoin's position as "digital gold" and a secure-haven asset. Given BTC’s fixed maximum supply of 21,000,000 units, the halving introduces further scarcity designed to increase its price over time. The upcoming halving in April 2024 is poised to reduce the block reward from 6.25 BTC per block to 3.125 BTC per block, further enhancing the value of this digital asset.

The Ordinals protocol, launched earlier in 2023, employs "Ordinal theory" to uniquely identify individual satoshis—100,000,000 sats in each BTC. This innovation enables the creation of "Bitcoin NFTs," marking a significant period in Bitcoin's history. Additionally, the Ordinals protocol sparked the emergence of BRC-20 tokens in March 2023, facilitating fungible tokens on Bitcoin for the first time. The advent of ordinals injects excitement and innovation into the Bitcoin ecosystem as it steps into 2024.

Stablecoin Supply

The stablecoin supply serves as a gauge of the readily available capital for crypto asset investments, reflecting potential buying pressure at any given time. Notably, the quarterly net change in the supply of the top five stablecoins by market capitalization has shifted positively in Q4 2023, marking the first occurrence since Q1 2022. Monitoring this metric in the upcoming months will be crucial to determine if this shift is a temporary fluctuation or indicative of a more sustained uptrend.

NFT Volumes

Throughout 2023, NFT trading volumes hit new yearly lows monthly from February to September. However, the trend was reversed in October before surging in November. Bitcoin NFTs were the most popular type of NFTs in November, with over $375,000,000 in trading volume, surpassing even Ethereum. This was a remarkable achievement for Bitcoin, as it has long been considered unsuitable for NFTs and other applications beyond peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. November's surge signals a market sentiment shift and a revival of the NFT scene after months of subdued prices. Monitoring these trends in 2024 can be the key to assessing market sustainability.

Protocol Fees

As the industry matures and protocols move toward revenue generation, the fees generated by top crypto projects will be an important metric to follow. In 2023, the top 20 projects saw an 88% surge in fees from January to November, with Ethereum taking the lead and generating double the fees of any other protocol. Lido and Uniswap secured the second-largest fee generator status in DeFi. OpenSea dominates NFT fees, nearly doubling those of Manifold and more than doubling those of Blur. This sustained fee growth underscores viable business models, urging vigilance in monitoring for optimal fee performance in the coming year.

Layer 1s

Ethereum continues to dominate smart contract platforms, but alternative Layer 1 solutions have been challenging its position in 2023, like Solana with a 56% market cap increase. Toncoin has also achieved major milestones this year, its partnership with Telegram being a major highlight. Significant developments have occurred across all major Layer 1 platforms, such as Ethereum's staked ETH withdrawals and BNB Chain's opBNB launch. We can continue to expect new developments in 2024 that will shape the evolving landscape.

SocialFi Emergence

The social potential of blockchain applications has long been anticipated, leading to the emergence of SocialFi – short for “social finance,” denoting the convergence of DeFi and social media. In 2023, a friend.tech collected over $25,000,000 in protocol fees by November, garnering attention from influencers outside the crypto space, which highlights the potential of Web3 social apps. Other notable projects included Farcaster, Lens Protocol, and Binance Square. In 2024, SocialFi’s ability to gain further traction will define the shape of social interactions on Web3 for years to come.

What to Expect in 2024

As we step into the dawn of 2024, a renewed sense of optimism permeates the crypto industry. With the burgeoning excitement and a surge in new market participants, it is beneficial for industry players to stay attuned to key indicators and major narratives. This article serves as your guide, shedding light on essential talking points and critical metrics to navigate the promising landscape that lies ahead in 2024.