July 2024 Public Chain Report: Navigating Market Fluctuations and Ethereum ETPs Impact

July 2024 Public Chain Report

July 2024, Stella L ([e-mail])  
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Public Chain Research Page

July was a month of significant activity and volatility in the crypto markets, reflecting broader financial trends. While large-cap tech stocks and AI-related equities struggled, the crypto industry made notable strides. The launch of spot Ethereum ETPs and a span endorsement of Bitcoin from former President Trump highlighted the sector’s resilience and growth potential. Market dynamics were mixed, with Bitcoin stabilizing and Solana outperforming, while Ethereum faced downward pressure post-ETP launch. Amid these fluctuations, the total market cap of public chain cryptocurrencies rose slightly, driven by key players like Bitcoin and Solana. As the Layer 2 industry grew more competitive, innovations and new launches continued to shape the landscape.

Data for this report was obtained from Footprint Analytics’ public chain research page - an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most vital stats and metrics to understand the public chain industry\, updated in real-time.

Crypto Macro Overview

In July, volatility increased across broader financial markets. Large-cap tech stocks and AI-related equities, which had led the market in the first half of 2024, significantly underperformed. The crypto industry made notable strides with the launch of spot Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs) and a span endorsement of Bitcoin from the Republican presidential candidate, former President Trump.

Price performance was mixed in July. Bitcoin’s price stabilized in the second half of the month after the German government concluded its selling on July 13, and distributions from the Mt Gox bankruptcy estate had a limited impact. Solana was a standout performer, gaining 25% during the month.

In contrast, Ethereum’s price declined after the launch of spot Ethereum ETPs in the US market. While the anticipation of these ETPs had initially supported Ether’s price, the subsequent selling pressure led to a decrease.

Public Chain Overview

By the end of July, the total market cap of public chain cryptocurrencies rose by 1.2% from June, reaching $1.98 trillion. Leading the market were Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana, with market shares of 64.8%, 19.7%, 4.3%, and 4.1%, respectively. Bitcoin’s share increased by 1.5%, Solana’s by 0.6%, while Ethereum’s decreased by 1.5%.
Source: Public Chain Token Market Cap Share

In July, the crypto markets experienced significant fluctuations. Bitcoin started the month at $62,923 and ended at $64,938, marking a 3.2% increase. Ether began at $3,438 and ended at $3,243, resulting in a 5.7% decrease. 
Source: BTC Price & ETH Price

Solana saw an 18.2% increase in token price and an 18.9% rise in market cap. The meme coin hype continued with active on-chain activities. For example, several Neiro tokens surged following an announcement by the owner of the Doge meme’s inspiration, who revealed she had adopted a 10-year-old rescue Shiba Inu named Neiro.

Kaspa continued its span performance, gaining 14.5% in token price and 15.7% in market cap. KAS set a new all-time high at over $0.2 in July. The blockDAG (Block Directed Acyclic Graph) technology received increasing attention as Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital (MARA) diversified its mining operations to include Kaspa.
Source: Public Chain Token Market Cap and Price

When it comes to Total Value Locked (TVL), the TVL in public chains stood at $76.5 billion at the end of July, similar to June. Ethereum, TRON, and BNB Chain continued to lead in TVL.

TON has become the fifth largest chain by token market cap but has significant room for growth in its DeFi sector, with its TVL ranked 9th among chain platforms at $766.1 million. Two DEXes, STON.fi and DeDust, account for more than 60% of its TVL.

Core’s TVL increased by 122.5% throughout the month, supported by the introduction of the Dual Staking model. This model rewards long-term Bitcoin stakers in Core, boosting their BTC staking rewards when they also stake CORE.
Source: Public Chain TVL Ranking

In a month marked by fluctuations and mixed price performance, Polymarket, a decentralized prediction market on the Polygon blockchain, stood out. Polymarket allows users to build portfolios based on their forecasts, earning returns if their predictions are correct. Leveraging blockchain technology, Polymarket ensures transparent, secure, and tamper-proof transactions on a wide range of topics, including current events, politics, and public health issues. The U.S. presidential election brought additional attention to Polymarket, which saw significant growth, with its TVL doubling in July.

Developments within Major Layer 1s in July 2024

BNB Chain

• BNB Chain announces its 2024 Q3 Hackathon: Become A Champion Builder.
• BNB Beacon Chain Second Sunset Fork was completed on July 14. 

Solana

• The Solana Foundation announces an open call for grants for Solana Actions and Blinks tooling, with up to $400K in total funding available for builders.

NEAR

• Grayscale launches a new fund for decentralized artificial intelligence. Near is the top-weighted asset in the fund. 

Sui

• Sui launches the Sui Indexing Framework enabling customizable on-chain data ingestion. 

Polygon

• Polygon's new ZK Proving system, “Plonky3,” comes as an open-source toolkit.
• Move Language developer Movement Labs joins AggLayer. Polygon Labs is a core developer of AggLayer.

Ronin

• Sky Mavis released the H1 2024 Recap and stated that daily active addresses of RON surged to an all-time high of 1.5 million.  

Ton

• TON Blockchain plans to get a new Layer 2 Network based on Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK).
• TON Foundation and Animoca Brands’ Mocaverse partner in a $20M initiative to support TON.

Core

• Core announces Animoca Brands has launched a validator on Core blockchain.
• Core Foundation announces Dual Staking Model to boost Bitcoin yields.

Layer 2

In July, Ethereum Layer 2s experienced modest changes amid Ethereum’s price pullback following the launch of spot Ethereum ETPs in the US market. Arbitrum One, Optimism, and Base led in TVL market share, holding 59.8%, 20.2%, and 8.27% respectively, with less than a 5% increase.

Blast’s TVL dropped by 14.3%, and zkSync Era saw an 11.5% decrease as their airdrops concluded and on-chain activities declined.

Scroll gained 13.2% in TVL, supported by Scroll Canvas, a platform for collecting and displaying achievements, status, and on-chain credentials within the Scroll ecosystem. Users can interact with various projects in the ecosystem to earn achievements in the form of “badges.”
Source:  Ethereum Layer 2 Overview- Rollups (Canonically Bridged)

On the other hand, Bitcoin scaling solutions, including Layer 2s and sidechains, continued to grow in July, although the total TVL was lower than June’s high. Merlin Chain, Bitlayer, and Rootstock held the largest TVL market shares, with 44.0%, 19.6%, and 10.3%, respectively.

Solv Protocol emerged as the largest DeFi protocol in the Bitcoin ecosystem by the end of July, with a TVL of $569.1 million, accounting for 32.3% of the total Bitcoin scaling solutions TVL.
Source:  Bitcoin Scaling Chain TVL

The Layer 2 industry is becoming increasingly competitive. A new project called TON Applications Chain (TAC) is developing a Layer 2 solution for the TON Blockchain ecosystem. Backed by The Open Platform, an investor focused on the TON blockchain, TAC will leverage Polygon’s Chain Development Kit (CDK).

Meanwhile, Movement, the first Move EVM Layer 2, launched its public testnet, Parthenon, on July 30. Movement’s MOVEDROP program engages the community in the journey to mainnet, including initiatives like Building the Parthenon and Battle of Olympus.

Developments within Major Layer 2s in July 2024

Arbitrum

• Arbitrum plans to expand Orbit Chains beyond the Ethereum ecosystem after its community passes a governance proposal. 

Optimism

• Optimism announced the results of Retro Funding 4, rewarding over 200 projects according to their on-chain impact. 

Starknet

• Starknet-based ZKX protocol shutters, blaming lack of users.

Base

• A new on-chain donations platform allows U.S. politicians to accept crypto donations on the Base network.

Merlin Chain

• Merlin Chain launched the "Fourth Major Ordinal" whitelist event with Ordzaar and OrdinSwap.

Rootstock

• The first Rootstock Ecosystem Summit is coming on August 1st.

Web3 Gaming

In July, a total of 1,588 games were active across various blockchain networks. BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum dominated the market, holding shares of 21.7%, 19.0%, and 15.1%, respectively.

Ronin, opBNB, and Saakuru Verse led the market in DAUs among chains in July, with average DAUs of 1.1 million, 479.6K, and 354.5K, respectively. By the end of the month, their shares of DAUs were 32.6%, 18.7%, and 3.4%.
Source: Daily Active Users by Chain

Ronin saw a DAU market share increase from 18.6% to 32.6%, driven by the recovery of Pixels data and new games Lumiterra and Fight League. Ronin’s games excelled in user retention, frequently ranking in the weekly top 10 for new user retention.

opBNB’s DAU share rose from 13.1% to 18.7%, thanks to the popularity of MEET48 and the mid-July launch of SERAPH: In The Darkness, a dark-fantasy ARPG.

Saakuru Verse experienced a DAU surge at the end of June, but growth slowed in July, with its DAU share dropping from 14.1% to 3.4%. Despite this, it maintained the third highest average DAU. Saakuru’s delegate model, where the chain operator (AAG) covers transaction costs, reduces onboarding friction.
Base saw a dramatic increase in DAUs from 8.2K to 222.5K, averaging 101.6K, primarily driven by BLOCKLORDS Dynasty.

For more data insights, see the July Web3 gaming report: Market Fluctuations and Mixed Performance.

Investment & Funding

In July, the public chain sector recorded 9 funding events totaling $57.1 million, a 20.1% decrease from June. Two events had undisclosed amounts, and no new funding rounds were announced for Layer 1s.
Public Chain Funding Events in July 2024 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info）

Igloo, the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, raised $11 million in a funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Igloo launched Cube Labs to develop Abstract, a consumer-focused Layer 2 blockchain built using Matter Labs’ ZK Stack and EigenLayer’s EigenDA. This new blockchain aims to make decentralized app development easier, cheaper, and safer.

As the number of Layer 2 solutions continues to grow, the infrastructure supporting these Layer 2s is becoming a lucrative business. In July, Caldera, an Ethereum rollup deployment platform, and Network3, a Web3 AI infrastructure developer, secured new funding rounds.

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About Footprint Analytics 

Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.
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