A brand new 12 months brings new beginnings, because the crypto market woke from its end-2022 hibernation to shake off the bears, rising 48.9% from a complete market cap of $831.8B on Jan 1, 2023 to $1.238T on Mar 31, 2023. Whereas it was not clean crusing all the best way, this run reversed losses stemming from FTX’s collapse, returning the market to heights earlier than the Ethereum Merge. Costs of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are actually hovering round $28,000 and $1,800 respectively, with BTC performing notably effectively, gaining near 72% this quarter.

Our complete 2023 Q1 Crypto Trade Report covers all the things from the crypto market panorama to analyzing Bitcoin and Ethereum, deep diving into the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems, and reviewing how centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) have carried out.

We’ve summarized the important thing highlights, however make sure to dig into the complete 44 slides beneath.

1. The crypto market is off to a robust begin, rallying 48.9% to $1.2 trillion

The crypto market is off to a robust begin in 2023, having ended Q1 with a complete crypto market cap of $1.2 trillion. In comparison with its efficiency in 2022 the place it rounded the 12 months at $829 billion, this displays a acquire of 48.9% or $406 billion in absolute phrases.

In the meantime, common day by day buying and selling quantity additionally picked up, having elevated 30% QoQ from -33% in 2022 This autumn to a complete of $77 billion in 2023 Q1. Trading quantity noticed an upswing in January 2023, when the market began rallying. It then spiked momentarily in early March as a consequence of elevated volatility from the banking disaster, earlier than truly fizzling out in late March, when Binance eliminated a part of their zero-fee buying and selling incentives for BTC. 

2. Bitcoin outperformed conventional asset lessons, posting a 72.4% acquire

Bitcoin was the best-performing asset in 2023 Q1, marking features of 72.4% QoQ, adopted by NASDAQ index (15.7%) and gold (8.4%). 

All main asset lessons ended the quarter within the inexperienced, apart from crude oil that fell -6.1%. This consequence was unsurprising as crude oil was one in every of solely two property that ended 2022 on the upside. Crude oil initially dipped to as little as -17.2% as a consequence of a US inflation report citing a discount in oil demand, on prime of the US banking disaster—however managed to pare these losses in the direction of the top of March. 

The US Greenback Index (DXY), together with different fiat currencies, remained comparatively flat all through the identical interval, the results of cooler-than-expected inflation knowledge.

3. Stablecoins shed $6.2 billion or 4.5%, with USDC and BUSD being the largest losers

The highest 15 stablecoins noticed its market cap fall by 4.5% ($6.2 billion) as a consequence of Paxos’ shutdown of Binance USD (BUSD) and the temporary USD Coin (USDC) depegging occasion throughout SVB’s collapse. 

Already the most important stablecoin, Tether (USDT) additional strengthened its foothold, including 20.5% ($13.6 billion) to its market cap. USDC and BUSD noticed losses of 26.9% and 54.5%, respectively, erasing 2022 features.

In the meantime, True USD (TUSD) entered the highest 5 stablecoins, overtaking FRAX. Binance minted $130 million TUSD, whereas Tron minted an extra $750 million, propelling its market cap to develop by 169.3%. When it comes to stablecoins exterior the highest 5, GUSD and USDP fell 32.0% and 12.3% respectively. 

4. DeFi ecosystem rose 65.2% by $29.6 billion, buoyed by the liquid staking sector rising 210.9%

The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector market cap jumped 65.2% in 2023 Q1, translating to $29.6 billion in features, primarily pushed by liquid staking governance token efficiency.

With the affirmation of Ethereum’s Shapella improve, liquid staking governance tokens noticed a 210.9% improve in market cap in Q1. It has now surpassed lending protocols to turn into the third largest class in DeFi. 

Regardless of rising 44.3% in market cap within the first quarter of 2023, decentralized trade (DEX) governance tokens continued to lose market share, and has dropped by -5% since January.

5. NFT buying and selling quantity noticed a resurgence to $4.5B, with Blur flipping OpenSea as the highest NFT market

NFT buying and selling quantity picked up considerably, rising 68% from $2.1 billion in 2022 This autumn, to $4.5 billion in 2023 Q1.

The vast majority of NFT buying and selling quantity got here from Blur, a brand new NFT platform launched in October 2022. Inside six months, it has dethroned former market chief OpenSea, rising its market share from 52.8% in December 2022 to 71.8% in March 2023, and at the moment dominates the highest 6 NFT marketplaces. In the meantime, OpenSea’s market share shrunk from 29.3% to 21.7% over the identical interval. 

Whereas most chains noticed a rise in buying and selling quantity in Q1, Solana’s ecosystem waned. Magic Eden, the most important market on the community, noticed its buying and selling quantity drop from $73.9 million in December 2022 to $23.6 million in March 2023, a 67.9% decline. Outstanding collections y00ts and DeGods additionally migrated to different chains, dealing an extra blow to Solana.

6. Crypto spot buying and selling quantity up 18.1% reaching $2.8T in Q1, with DEXs outpacing CEXs’ quarterly progress

Spot buying and selling quantity throughout the highest 10 crypto exchanges totaled $2.8 trillion for 2023 Q1, representing an 18.1% improve from 2022 This autumn. Month-to-month buying and selling quantity has been on an upward pattern since $0.5 trillion lows in December 2022. Nevertheless, month-to-month volumes have but to hit a median of $1 trillion, a determine final seen within the first half of 2022.

Amid the crackdown on CEXs by regulators worldwide, DEXs noticed its progress outpace that of CEXs by almost two occasions. DEXs grew 33.4% , versus 16.9% for CEXs in 2023 Q1. Regardless of this, the ratio of CEX : DEX buying and selling quantity remained above 90% all through the identical interval.

Learn the Report: CoinGecko’s 2023 Q1 Crypto Trade Report

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