This article is a press release, written and provided by CoinGecko, and does not represent the position of Dongzhong
After being close to an all-time high in Q1 this year, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrency gave up some of its gains in Q2, falling by -14.4% and closing in June at $2.43 trillion.
Bitcoin successfully completed its fourth halving in Q2 this year as expected. Every halving will usher in a new era that people in the crypto think of, and this time the market reacted calmly to the halving event. After the approval of the US spot Bitcoin ETF in Q1, the cryptocurrency market rose sharply, while the market in Q2 showed a consolidation and shock trend.
Although the performance of the crypto market in Q2 is average, it does not mean that it is a boring quarter.
The 2024 Q2 crypto industry report covers everything from the crypto market landscape to analysis of Bitcoin and Ethereum, in-depth study of decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT ecosystem, and review of centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges ( DEX) performance, we summarize the main highlights below.
Seven Highlights of CoinGecko’s 2024 Q2 Cryptocurrency Industry Report
1. The total market value of cryptocurrency fell by -14.4%, underperforming the S&P 500 Index (+3.9%)
At the end of the second quarter of 2024, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell by -14.4% ($408.8 billion) to $2.43 trillion. The market fluctuated between US$2.3 trillion and US$2.90 trillion, failing to reach a new all-time high.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index continues to rise, rising 3.9% through Q2 2024. This caused the correlation between total cryptocurrency market capitalization and the S&P 500 index to plummet from 0.84 in Q1 to 0.16 in Q2.
Cryptocurrency volatility remains high in Q2, with the annualized volatility of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies at 48.2%, compared with 46.7% for Bitcoin. The volatility of the S&P 500 index is almost four times lower, at 12.7%.
2. The price of Bitcoin is US$62,734, down -11.9%, slightly lower than the historical high of US$73,000 
Bitcoin has fluctuated between $58,000 and $72,000 after hitting an all-time high of $73,098 in mid-March. Q2 ended with a loss of –11.9%, showing that the Bitcoin halving event has not yet been significantly reflected in the price.
In Q2 2024, the average daily trading volume of Bitcoin dropped to US$26.6 billion, a decrease of -21.6% from Q1.
On the eve of the end of Q2, investors learned of two major bad news, that is, Mt Gox began to transfer 140,000 Bitcoins to repay debts, and the German government also began to sell Bitcoins.
3. After reaching a historical high, mining computing power dropped by – 18.8% 
After reaching a record high of 7.21M TH/s on April 23, the total Bitcoin mining power dropped by 18.8% in Q2 2024.
Even if mining computing power declines, mining companies still have a series of developments. Mining companies such as BitDigital, Hive, Hut 8, Terawulf and Core Scientific have or are looking to enter the artificial intelligence field. At the same time, Tether announced an investment of US$500 million in the mining field, and Block completed the development of 3nm mining chips.
4. Meme coins are the most popular this season, with a market share of 14.3% 
Meme coins, real world assets (RWA), and artificial intelligence (AI) were the most popular narratives in Q2 2024, accounting for 35.7% of the market. This is similar to Season 1 in 2024.
Memecoins dominate the charts, with 4 of the top 15 most popular cryptocurrency narratives related to memecoins. Meanwhile, 4 out of 49 blockchain ecosystems: Solana, Ethereum, Base, and TON entered the top 15 cryptocurrency narratives. Solana and Base are the most popular ecosystems, accounting for 22.9% of market attention.
5. Ethereum fell into inflation, and the circulating supply increased by 120,000 ETH 
A total of 120,818 ETH was added to the supply in Q2 2024, putting Ethereum in an inflationary state for the quarter. Due to slowing network activity and falling gas fees, ETH's burn rate dropped -66.7% from the previous quarter.
Among the 66 days in this season, there were only 7 days when the amount of ETH destroyed exceeded the amount unlocked. The main reason for the destruction of ETH is the transfer GAS fee, with 6,838 ETH destroyed in the second quarter.
6. The spot trading volume of the Centralized Exchange (CEX) this quarter reached 3.40 trillion magnesium, a decrease of -12.2% compared to Q1. 
In the second quarter of 2024, the spot trading volume of the top ten centralized exchanges (CEX) reached US$3.4 trillion. The decrease from the previous quarter was – 12.2%, in line with the overall performance of the cryptocurrency market.
Despite the decline in trading volume, Binance remains the largest CEX with a market share of 45% as of June 2024. Meanwhile, Bybit surged in Q2, surpassing Upbit to become the second largest spot CEX. In June, the company's market share increased to 12.6%.
Among the top 10 spot CEXs, only 4 have increased trading volume, with Gate having the largest increase of 51.1% ($85.2B), Bitget having an increase of 15.4% ($24.7B), and HTX having an increase of 13.7% ($25.5B). During the same period, the exchange saw a significant increase in new listings and project launches.
7. The trading volume of decentralized exchanges reached $370.7B, a quarterly increase of +15.7% 
In Q2 2024, the spot trading volume of the top 10 decentralized exchanges (DEX) reached US$370.7 billion. A 15.7% increase from the previous quarter, the DEX benefited from the surge in meme coins and a large number of airdrops throughout the second quarter.
As of June 2024, Uniswap is still the dominant player in DEX, with a market share of 48%. However, the DEX at the bottom of the top 10 is being challenged by the likes of Thruster and Aerodrome. Sales of Thruster, which is native to Blast, increased by 464.4% ($6 billion) from the previous month. As of June, the market share was 3%. It was the top gainer in the second quarter. Aerodrome grew by 297.4% ($5.9 billion), the second largest increase, and entered the top ten with a market share of 3%. Thruster benefited from Blasts airdrop points, while Aerodrome saw a surge in meme coin trading on Base.
