April 2024 Public Chain Research Report: Bitcoin Halving, Market Correction, and Key Developments
In April 2024, key developments in the public blockchain sector include: Bitcoin halving, market decline, and the rapid development of TON and Base.
Author: stella@footprint.network
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Public Chain Research Page
In April, the crypto market made significant progress amid changes in the economic environment. Bitcoin completed its halving on April 20, but the overall market downturn led to a decline in the prices of Bitcoin and the top 25 public chain cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, TON achieved remarkable growth, with its market capitalization soaring to fifth place, surpassing Cardano and Avalanche. Additionally, despite challenges faced by Ethereum and its Layer 2 ecosystem, Base continued to maintain its rapid growth momentum.
The data for this report comes from Footprint Analytics' Public Chain Research Page. This page provides an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most critical statistics and metrics in the public chain space, updated in real-time.
Crypto Market Overview
Overall, there were many positive events in the industry in April. On April 20, Bitcoin successfully completed its halving. U.S. senators proposed regulations for stablecoins, indicating a potentially clearer regulatory environment. Additionally, this month saw the former Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng sentenced to four months in prison for anti-money laundering violations, marking the end of the "Binance incident" and signaling a clearer regulatory approach for centralized exchanges.
Despite several months of continuous growth, Bitcoin's price fell in April. This reflects the general market sentiment's downturn. Public statements from officials of the U.S. Federal Reserve indicate that the likelihood of interest rate cuts is decreasing, aligning with rising economic indicators such as employment and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Furthermore, Uniswap Labs and Consensys received Wells Notices from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), indicating that decentralized finance projects are facing regulatory challenges.
Public Chain Overview
As April came to a close, the total market capitalization of public chain cryptocurrencies reached $1.9 trillion, a decrease of 13.6% from March. In this market, Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Solana lead with market shares of 64.0%, 19.7%, 4.8%, and 3.1%, respectively.
Data Source: Public Chain Token Market Cap Share
Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $73,068 in March but subsequently experienced a decline in April, with prices sliding from $71,229 at the beginning of the month to $63,839 by the end. This 10.4% drop in value is partly attributed to outflows from Bitcoin spot ETFs listed in the U.S.
Ethereum's situation is similar, with Ether closing at $3,215 at the end of the month, down 11.7% from $3,643 at the beginning. This decline may be influenced by investor uncertainty regarding the prospects of Ether receiving ETF approval in the U.S. market.
Data Source: Bitcoin and Ether Price Trends
Affected by market trends, the top 25 public chains by market capitalization saw declines in both token prices and market values. Among them, BNB's market capitalization decreased by 4.6%, while SOL's price dropped by 30.6%, with its market cap falling by 36.6% from its March peak.
Meanwhile, TON continued to maintain its rapid growth momentum, with its token market capitalization rising to fifth place, successfully surpassing Cardano and Avalanche. This growth is attributed to Telegram's large user base, the successful hosting of TOKEN2049-related events, and a series of supportive ecosystem policies, leading to increased on-chain activity for TON.
Data Source: Public Chain Token Prices and Market Values
By the end of April, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in the public chain sector reached $76 billion, a decrease of 6.5% from March, with Ethereum, Tron, and BNB Chain leading the way.
Near's TVL grew by 6.4%, continuing to hold its leading position in the "AI + Infrastructure" sector. Meanwhile, TON's TVL increased by 69.4%.
Data Source: Public Chain TVL Comparison
Despite facing numerous challenges, the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to show strong vitality, becoming the focal point of major events such as the 2024 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival and TOKEN2049. Within this ecosystem, several projects successfully secured new rounds of funding, with specific details to be revealed in the later sections of this report. Notably, the Core chain launched a non-custodial staking feature, significantly boosting its on-chain activity.
Data Source: Core Chain Daily Transaction Count
Layer 2
In April, Ethereum Layer 2 solutions were affected by the downturn in the crypto market and uncertainty regarding the approval prospects of Ether ETFs in the U.S., showing an overall downward trend. Among them, Arbitrum One's TVL decreased by 19.0%, while Blast and Starknet's TVLs fell by 10.3% and 43.6%, respectively.
In contrast, Linea performed strongly during its "Linea Park" Web3 gaming event, achieving a 43.0% growth in April. At the same time, Base's TVL also grew by 14.1%.
Data Source: Ethereum Layer 2 Overview
Base continues to maintain its rapid growth momentum. The "Dencun upgrade" effectively reduced its gas fees, while support from Coinbase helped expand its user base. In April, Base and Optimism jointly launched a governance and revenue-sharing framework, which received positive feedback. Additionally, the rise of meme and social dApps has injected new vitality into Base's growth, setting a precedent for other crypto platforms.
Recently, HashKey Group announced the Ethereum Layer 2 solution HashKey Chain, while OKX launched a ZK Layer 2 based on Polygon CDK, named X Layer.
Moreover, over 40 Ethereum Layer 2 projects are in preparation, including World Chain launched by Sam Altman's Worldcoin, showcasing active participation within the industry.
World Chain
Blockchain Games
In April, the average daily active users (wallets/players) reached 3 million, a 16.9% increase from March, setting a new historical high.
Among these 3 million daily active users, Ronin, Polygon, and Near ranked at the top. Ronin continued to lead, with its market share growing from 25.9% at the beginning of the month to 29.2% by the end. Near's market share also saw significant growth, rising from 6.4% to 11.3%, while Klaytn increased its market share from 2.9% to 6.2%.
In contrast, the market share of BNB Chain fell from 9.1% to 7.4%. Additionally, due to the conclusion of its Web3 gaming activity "Linea Park" in April, Linea saw its share plummet from 7.8% to 0.15%.
Data Source: Public Chain Daily Active Users
Following the initiatives launched by Arbitrum and Starknet Foundation last month to support the Web3 gaming ecosystem, more blockchain platforms have joined this effort. Immutable announced a $50 million Web3 gaming incentive program and revealed that its ecosystem is currently working on developing over 270 games, including notable projects like Illuvium and MetalCore.
For more data, see the April Blockchain Gaming Report: "April 2024 Blockchain Gaming Research Report: Daily Active Users Hit New High Amid Market Slump."
Public Chain Investment and Financing Situation
In April, there were a total of 9 financing events in the public chain sector, with a cumulative financing amount of $105 million. Compared to March, the number of financing events decreased by 60.9%, and the financing amount plummeted by 72.5%.
April 2024 Public Chain Financing Events (Data Source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Investor sentiment this month clearly cooled, with no projects securing over $38 million in financing, whereas in March, three projects each raised over $50 million.
In this month's financing activities, Movement Labs stood out, successfully securing $38 million in Series A funding from Polychain Capital. The company plans to launch a new Ethereum Layer 2 solution, Movement L2, based on the Move programming paradigm to enhance blockchain security. Additionally, other Ethereum Layer 2 solutions like Saakuru and LightLink also received corresponding investments.
Bitcoin Layer 2 projects continued to attract market attention, with Mezo, Alpen Labs, Zulu Network, and Merlin Chain successfully attracting new investments. Notably, Merlin Chain quickly launched its mainnet after securing funding in February, with this round led jointly by Spartan Group and Hailstone Labs.
Merlin Chain
Additionally, Zeko, which focuses on providing zero-knowledge application services for Mina, raised $3 million. In contrast, activity in the Layer 1 space was relatively sparse, with only Xion successfully securing $25 million in new funding.
In April, follow-up developments regarding March's largest financing events gradually emerged. Berachain announced that its latest funding increased to $100 million, approximately 45% higher than the initially reported amount. Meanwhile, the Optimism Foundation completed a private sale of about 19.5 million OP tokens, with a recent report indicating that the buyer was the well-known venture capital firm a16z.
Key Developments
Google searches for "Bitcoin halving" reached an all-time high.
Tether launched USDT and XAUT on the TON blockchain.
Ankr launched an AI-focused Layer 1 blockchain, Neura, on the public testnet.
The Omni Foundation launched the Omni Network mainnet on Arbitrum and Optimism.
The DeGods and y00ts NFT series returned to Solana.
The Starknet Foundation promoted game development through pilot projects.
Core Chain launched XLink for seamless Bitcoin transactions in DeFi.
a16z Crypto released the zkVM solution Jolt.
