November 2024 Public Chain Research Report
Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Public Chain Research Page
In November 2024, the blockchain industry finally welcomed a "bull market" period, with Bitcoin continuously setting new price highs, about to break through the important $100,000 mark, and its market capitalization surpassing major traditional assets like silver. Meanwhile, Ethereum also achieved a strong recovery, and Altcoins saw significant rebounds. While Bitcoin Layer 2 maintained strong growth, facing increasingly fierce competition, Ethereum Layer 2 growth was relatively moderate.
The data in this report comes from the Public Chain Research page of Footprint Analytics, which provides an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most critical statistics and metrics in the public chain field, and is updated in real-time.
Market Overview
In November, the cryptocurrency market made history, with Bitcoin surging remarkably, from $69,386 to $96,427, a 39.0% increase. Ethereum closely followed, rising 47.8% from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin's outstanding performance pushed its market capitalization to surpass silver and Saudi Aramco, ranking 7th among global assets as it approached the $100,000 mark on November 23.
Data Source: Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Trends
The US election results became a catalyst for the growth of the cryptocurrency market, which may have an impact on comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market reacted positively, particularly in the performance of memecoins, decentralized artificial intelligence (deAI) projects, and decentralized science (DeSci).
The broader financial market also performed strongly. The financial sector led the stock market rally under the expectation of US tax reform and deregulation. However, there was some volatility in international markets, with the Chinese yuan under pressure due to concerns about potential US tariff increases, while gold prices fell as election-related uncertainties subsided.
Layer 1
In November 2024, the total blockchain market capitalization surged 41.1% to $2.8 trillion. While Bitcoin maintained a dominant 68.1% share, down from 70.1% in October as Altcoins also performed strongly this month. Ethereum reversed its downward trend, with its market share reaching 15.9% (up 0.6% in absolute value), while Solana surpassed BNB Chain, reaching a 4.0% share.
Against the backdrop of Bitcoin continuously setting new price records, Altcoins exhibited outstanding performance. Stellar (XLM) led the pack with a 466.8% surge, followed by Hedera (HBAR) up 269.7%, Cardano (ADA) up 201.5%, and Polkadot (DOT) up 130.7%. Stellar's sharp rise significantly reflects the market's growing attention to its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities, which may be influenced by the expected clarification of the regulatory framework after the US election.
Data Source: Public Chain Token Prices and Market Capitalization
The DeFi sector's TVL grew 43.0% in November to $90.8 billion. Ethereum led the growth with a 61.6% increase, while TRON and Solana ranked second and third, respectively. While the majority of the top 15 chains by TVL saw growth, Polygon declined by 5.9% due to capital outflows from Polymarket after the US presidential election. The downward trend of TON since October continued, due to the weakening momentum of Telegram games and meme activities.
Data Source: Public Chain TVL
Blockchains built on the Move technology stack maintained strong growth momentum. Sui reached new highs in token price and market capitalization, while also forming a strategic partnership with the renowned financial institution Franklin Templeton. Aptos drove on-chain activity growth through its meme launch platform Emojicoin. Meanwhile, Movement is about to launch its mainnet, with impressive testnet data: according to Movement Explorer, there are over 6.6 million accounts and 153 million transactions.
Stablecoins remain one of the center stage sectors. USDS, as the first major DeFi-native stablecoin, launched on Solana, while Ripple is reportedly about to receive NYDFS approval for RLUSD. As stablecoins' influence continues to grow, the industry is watching whether some companies will issue their own blockchains. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino tweeted that the company will remain neutral and not launch its own blockchain, responding to industry concerns.
Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechains
In November 2024, Bitcoin Layer 2 and Sidechains achieved significant growth, with a total TVL of $2.4 billion, up 34.6% from October. The competition for Bitcoin liquidity among major platforms has intensified.
Core strengthened its market leadership, with TVL growing 55.7% to $890 million, expanding its market share to 37.4%. This growth was driven by the November Fusion upgrade, which introduced dual staking and liquid BTC staking (LstBTC), allowing users to earn higher yields while maintaining liquidity on the Core BTCfi platform.
Bitlayer maintained the second position with a TVL of $580 million, but its market share declined to 24.4%. BSquared continued to grow, increasing by 53.1% month-over-month to a TVL of $260 million, rising to the third position, while Rootstock held the fourth position with a TVL of $240 million.
Data source: Bitcoin Ecosystem Sidechain TVL
At the BTCfi project level, Pell Network with a TVL of $400 million became the leader, followed by the strong performance of Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer) across multiple chains, each with over $200 million in TVL.
Ethereum Layer 2
In November 2024, the total TVL (canonical bridge portion) of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions reached $27.5 billion, an increase of 2.0% from October, continuing to lag behind the growth rate of Bitcoin scaling solutions.
Data source: Ethereum Layer 2 Overview - November 2024 (Rollups (Bridge-related metrics))
Arbitrum One maintained its leading position, with a TVL of $11.3 billion and a market share of 41.0%, while Base surpassed Optimism to claim the second spot, with a TVL of $5.1 billion and a 18.6% share, driven by the surge in activity from the Clanker social meme deployment platform and the Virtuals Protocol for AI agent creation and deployment. Meanwhile, Optimism's market share declined to 17.3%.
Starknet saw a 5.1% TVL growth, surpassing Blast to take the fourth position, while Blast continued to decline, dropping 14.5%. Starknet's growth was driven by the STRK staking launch on November 26th and CEO Eli Ben Sasson's promise of significant performance improvements in the next quarter. Additionally, World Chain performed exceptionally well, with a 131.4% TVL growth to $570 million.
In November, the Ethereum Foundation, under public scrutiny, strengthened its financial transparency by releasing the 2024 report, outlining its core values and funding strategy. Vitalik Buterin highlighted Ethereum's future development, including the implementation of DAS to enhance Layer 2 scalability, as well as infrastructure improvements to support a diverse range of applications from ENS to consumer payments.
Blockchain Gaming Mainchains
In November, the number of active blockchain games grew by 4.6% to 1,696, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum maintaining their market leadership in game distribution, with shares of 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4%, respectively.
The user engagement landscape saw new changes, with opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) leading with average daily active users (DAU) of 1.8 million, 900,000, and 400,000, respectively. OpBNB's DAU grew by 46.1%, driven by the success of SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, as well as the migration of some games from the BNB Chain to opBNB. Ronin also exhibited a strong recovery, boosted by the launch of the new game Fableborne and the resurgence of Lumiterra.
Data source: Active Blockchain Games Distribution by Mainchain
Telegram-based games presented a mixed picture. While the TON ecosystem faced challenges, with DAU declining 41.9% to 116,400, Sui bucked the trend, with DAU growing 23.1% to 233,300, primarily due to the success of BIRDS and its impressive user retention metrics.
Data source: BIRDS Game New User Weekly Retention Rate
For more data insights, please refer to the report "Blockchain Gaming Research Report, November 2024: The Breakthrough Path of GameFi under the Bull Market".
Funding Situation
In November 2024, the blockchain industry recorded 12 funding events, totaling $79.8 million, a 23.3% decrease from October, the lowest monthly figure since August. Five of the events did not disclose the specific funding amounts.
Blockchain Fundraising Events in November 2024 (Data source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs) became the largest recipient of funding this month, announcing a $40 million seed round and a $250 million token purchase commitment. The company has pivoted from its initial positioning as a modular blockchain provider to become a crypto AI startup, developing a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS) for building AI applications on-chain.
Several Layer 1 blockchains received funding this month, including Cytonic, Pharos, Talus Network, EtraPay, and Datalayer. Notably, AvaCloud, a custodial blockchain service provider built by Ava Labs, acquired EtraPay, gaining a team of renowned privacy technology experts and an innovative encrypted token standard, Encrypted ERC (eERC).
The Layer 2 ecosystem continued to see active investment, with six projects receiving new rounds of funding, including Bitcoin Layer 2 projects Bitfinity and Lnfi Network, Ethereum Layer 2 projects Heurist and Corn, and other Layer 2 projects Akave and AgentLayer.
The content of this article is for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market has risks, and investments should be made with caution.
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About Footprint Analytics
Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analysis platform that simplifies complex on-chain analysis for enterprises and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It provides customized solutions, eliminating the need for extensive specialized knowledge and infrastructure maintenance. The platform offers tools aimed at helping projects gradually build and manage long-term community growth, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics tools and community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to effectively leverage blockchain data for decision-making and growth strategies, covering areas such as GameFi, Non-Fungible Tokens, and Decentralized Finance.
