The cryptocurrency market experienced several events in April, including the sentencing of the former CEO of Binance and the Bitcoin halving. This article will introduce the research report on public chains in April.
Table of Contents:
Overview of the Cryptocurrency Market
Overview of Public Chains
Layer 2
Blockchain Games
Public Chain Investment and Financing Situation
In April, the cryptocurrency market made significant progress amidst changing economic conditions. The completion of the Bitcoin halving on April 20th resulted in a overall market downturn, causing the prices of Bitcoin and the top 25 public chain cryptocurrencies to decline. Meanwhile, TON achieved significant growth and surpassed Cardano and Avalanche in terms of market capitalization. Additionally, despite the challenges faced by Ethereum and its Layer 2 ecosystem, Base continued its rapid development.
The data for this report is sourced from Footprint Analytics’ Public Chain Research page, which provides an easy-to-use dashboard with key statistical data and indicators in the public chain field, updated in real-time.
Overall, the industry saw more positive events in April. Bitcoin successfully completed its halving on April 20th. US senators proposed regulations for stablecoins, indicating a potentially clearer regulatory environment. Furthermore, the sentencing of former Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng to four months in prison for anti-money laundering violations marked the end of the “Binance incident” and signifies a clearer regulatory direction for the centralized exchange industry.
Despite months of consecutive growth, the price of Bitcoin experienced a decline in April, reflecting the overall market sentiment. Public statements by officials from the US Federal Reserve indicated a decreasing possibility of interest rate cuts, aligning with the rise in economic indicators such as employment and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Additionally, Uniswap Labs and Consensys received Wells Notices from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating regulatory challenges for decentralized finance projects.
At the end of April, the total market capitalization of public chain cryptocurrencies reached $1.9 trillion, a 13.6% decrease from March. Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana dominate this market, with market shares of 64.0%, 19.7%, 4.8%, and 3.1% respectively.
Bitcoin reached a historical high of $73,068 in March but experienced a decline in April, with prices falling from $71,229 at the beginning of the month to $63,839 at the end, a 10.4% decrease. This value drop can be partly attributed to the outflow of funds from the US-listed Bitcoin spot ETF.
Ethereum followed a similar pattern, with Ether closing at $3,215 at the end of the month, an 11.7% decrease from $3,643 at the beginning of the month. This decline may be influenced by investor uncertainty regarding the prospects of Ether obtaining ETF approval in the US market.
Affected by market trends, the top 25 public chains ranked by market capitalization experienced price and market value declines. BNB’s market value decreased by 4.6%, while SOL’s price dropped by 30.6%, resulting in a 36.6% decrease in market value from its peak in March.
Meanwhile, TON continued its rapid growth and its token market value rose to fifth place, surpassing Cardano and Avalanche. This growth can be attributed to Telegram’s large user base, the successful hosting of TOKEN2049-related events, and a series of supportive ecosystem policies, leading to increased on-chain activities for TON.
By the end of April, the TVL (Total Value Locked) in the public chain field reached $76 billion, a 6.5% decrease from March, with Ethereum, Tron, and BNB Chain taking the lead.
Near maintained its leading position in the “AI + Infrastructure” sector with a 6.4% TVL growth. Meanwhile, TON’s TVL increased by 69.4%.
Despite facing various challenges, the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to show strong vitality and has become the core focus of major events such as the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival and TOKEN2049. In this ecosystem, several projects have successfully secured new rounds of financing, details of which will be revealed in the following sections of this report. It is worth mentioning that Core Chain introduced non-custodial staking, which greatly promotes on-chain activities.
In April, Ethereum Layer 2 solutions were affected by the market downturn and the uncertainty surrounding the approval of Ether ETFs in the US, resulting in an overall downward trend. Arbitrum One’s TVL decreased by 19.0%, while Blast and Starknet’s TVL decreased by 10.3% and 43.6% respectively.
On the other hand, Linea showed strong performance during its “Linea Park” Web3 game event, achieving a 43.0% growth in April. Additionally, Base TVL increased by 14.1%.
Base continues to maintain its rapid development. The introduction of the “Dencun Upgrade” effectively reduces its gas fees, and support from Coinbase has helped expand its user base. In April, Base and Optimism jointly launched a governance and revenue sharing framework, which received positive feedback. The rise of meme and social dApps has also injected new vitality into Base, setting a paradigm for other cryptocurrency platforms.
Recently, HashKey Group announced the Ethereum Layer 2 solution HashKey Chain, and OKX launched X Layer, a ZK Layer 2 based on Polygon CDK.
Furthermore, over 40 Ethereum Layer 2 projects are currently in preparation, including World Chain launched by Sam Altman’s Worldcoin, indicating active participation within the industry.
The average daily active users (wallets/players) in April reached 3 million, a 16.9% increase from March, setting a new historical high.
Among these 3 million daily active users, Ronin, Polygon, and Near took the lead. Ronin continued to lead with a market share increase from 25.9% at the beginning of the month to 29.2% at the end. Near also experienced significant market share growth, rising from 6.4% to 11.3%, while Klaytn’s market share increased from 2.9% to 6.2%.
In contrast, BNB Chain’s market share declined from 9.1% to 7.4%. Additionally, due to the conclusion of its Web3 game event “Linea Park” in April, Linea’s market share plummeted from 7.8% to 0.15%.
Performance, security, and cross-chain capabilities have prompted more blockchain platforms to join the Web3 game ecosystem. Immutable announced the launch of a $50 million Web3 game reward program and revealed that its ecosystem is currently developing over 270 games, including notable projects like Illuvium and MetalCore.
In April, there were a total of 9 financing events in the public chain field, with a cumulative financing amount of $105 million. Compared to March, the number of financing events decreased by 60.9%, and the financing amount decreased by 72.5%.
Investor sentiment cooled significantly this month, with no projects securing financing exceeding $38 million, whereas in March, three projects each received financing exceeding $50 million.
Movement Labs stood out in this month’s financing activities, successfully securing a Series A financing of $38 million from Polychain Capital. The company plans to launch a new Ethereum Layer 2 solution, Movement L2, to enhance the security of blockchain by formalizing Move programming. Other Ethereum Layer 2 solutions such as Saakuru and LightLink also received corresponding investments.
Bitcoin Layer 2 projects continued to attract market attention, with Mezo, Alpen Labs, Zulu Network, and Merlin Chain successfully attracting new investments. It is worth mentioning that after financing in February, Merlin Chain quickly launched its mainnet, and this round of financing was jointly led by Spartan Group and Hailstone Labs.
In addition, Zeko, which focuses on providing zero-knowledge application services for Mina, raised $3 million. In comparison, activities in the Layer 1 field were relatively limited, with only Xion successfully securing a new round of financing of $25 million.
In April, the follow-up developments regarding the largest financing event in March gradually emerged. Berachain announced that its latest financing has increased to $100 million, approximately 45% higher than the initially announced amount. Meanwhile, the Optimism Foundation completed a private sale of approximately 19.5 million OP tokens, and the recent report indicated that the buyers were well-known venture capital firm a16z.
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