Coingecko Crypto Makret Quarterly Report 2022Q1

Wayne

What a quarter it has been! Crypto markets got off to a rocky start in 2022 but managed to weather high inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a Fed rate hike within a single quarter. In the last few weeks, it rallied to close pretty much back where it started the year, at $2.2 trillion total market capitalization. These movements mirrored those in TradFi markets, as growth and tech stocks recovered after suffering significant losses. All major cryptocurrencies moved in lockstep with the overall crypto market, with only a few exceptions - LUNA, ETC, FTT and WAVES bucking the trend this quarter to close in the green. More insights in the full report!

As a partner of CoinGecko, TokenInsight here brings you last quarter's crypto report in both English and Chinese. Switch language if you want to check the other language's report.

Compared to the exuberance of Q1 2021, volumes on crypto markets have visibly shrunk as traders took on a wait-and-see approach. There has been a ~23% decline in trading volumes Q-o-Q. On the other hand, NFT platforms actually witnessed growth in trading volume compared to last quarter as traders rotated out from tokens into NFTs as the market dipped. 

Global uncertainties also drove a shift into stablecoins, with significant marketcap gains (+$23B) this quarter. The biggest winner though was UST growing by>60%, fueled by the fever dreams of LUNAtics, and continued 20% yield on Anchor Protocol. We take a quick dive into UST in this report to help you better understand the forces at play.

For Ethereum, we move closer to Eth2.0, as the successful merge of the Kiln testnet marked an important milestone towards this goal. Positive momentum for Ethereum, particularly as the price of ETH recovers, drove significant growth in Ethereum staking, with9% of total supply now staked. 

Similar to the rest of the market, DeFi endured a rocky first quarter in 2022. The year started with the collapse of Wonderland, and many Ohm-forks either didn’t survive the quarter or are down bad. This was followed by the departure of prominent DeFi contributor Andre Cronje, sending shockwaves across the industry and his associated projects into a tailspin. However, there were also several bright spots as DeFi continues to move across all chains, and prominent existing protocols receiving upgrades, bringing expanded features to users.

The segment which received the most attention this quarter was arguably cross-chain bridges. Much hyped launches of Stargate (LayerZero) and Thorchain contrasted against large exploits on Wormhole and Ronin Bridge. We provide a quick overview in this report and examine the challenges that lie ahead.

For NFTs, the acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits by Yuga Labs was probably the largest blockbuster news this quarter. BAYC rounded out the quarter with an epic airdrop of APE tokens, possibly kicking off a new trend of blue-chip NFT collections issuing fungible tokens as they expand their utility. Finally, Move-to-Earn games rose to the spotlight late in Q1 as well, quickly climbing the charts and into wider consciousness.

With continued geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, expect more choppy waters ahead. At the same time, it’s never been a better time to ignore the noise and BUIDL before the next bull run hits. We continue to work hard and look forward to seeing what’s in store for crypto for the rest of 2022.

Download the PDF report freely to check!

DeFi

NFT

DEX

Derivatives

Bitcoin

Ethereum

Exchanges

Stablecoins

Download
Wayne

I write about crypto and Web3, while trying to catch the wave of it shaping the future.

In This Article

delate
Use TokenInsight App All Crypto Insights Are In Your Hands
Open