November 2024 Public Chain Industry Research Report: Bitcoin Hits All-Time High, Leading Market Surge

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," with Bitcoin continuously breaking price records and about to surpass the important threshold of $100,000, while its market capitalization exceeded that of major traditional assets like silver. At the same time, Ethereum also achieved a strong recovery, and altcoins experienced significant rebounds. While Bitcoin Layer 2 maintained strong growth, Ethereum Layer 2's growth was relatively moderate in the face of increasingly fierce competition.

The data for this report comes from Footprint Analytics' Public Chain Research Page, which provides an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most critical statistics and metrics in the public chain field, updated in real-time.

Market Overview

In November, the cryptocurrency market made history, with Bitcoin soaring from $69,386 to $96,427, an increase of 39.0%. Ethereum followed closely, rising 47.8% from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin's outstanding performance allowed its market capitalization to surpass that of silver and Saudi Aramco, firmly ranking seventh among global assets after approaching the $100,000 mark on November 23.

Data Source: Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Trends

The results of the U.S. elections became a catalyst for growth in the crypto market, potentially impacting comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market reacted positively, especially reflected in the performance of popular sectors such as memecoins, decentralized AI (deAI) projects, and decentralized science (DeSci).

The broader financial market also performed strongly. The financial sector led the stock market under expectations of U.S. tax reform and deregulation. However, the international market experienced some volatility, with the renminbi under pressure amid concerns over potential U.S. tariffs, while gold prices fell as election-related uncertainties diminished.

Layer 1

In November 2024, the total market capitalization of blockchain surged by 41.1% to $2.8 trillion. Although Bitcoin maintained a dominant share of 68.1%, this was a decrease from 70.1% in October, as altcoins also performed strongly this month. Ethereum reversed its downward trend, achieving a market share of 15.9% (an absolute increase of 0.6%), while Solana surpassed BNB with a share of 4.0%.

Against the backdrop of Bitcoin continuously setting price records, altcoins showed exceptional performance. Stellar (XLM) led with a 466.8% increase, followed by Hedera (HBAR) up 269.7%, Cardano (ADA) up 201.5%, and Polkadot (DOT) up 130.7%. Notably, Stellar's surge significantly reflected the market's increasing attention to its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities, likely influenced by expectations of clearer regulatory frameworks following the U.S. elections.

Data Source: Public Chain Token Prices and Market Capitalization

The TVL in the DeFi sector grew by 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. Although most of the top 15 chains by TVL saw growth, Polygon declined by 5.9%, as funds flowed out of Polymarket after the U.S. presidential election. TON continued its downward trend since October due to waning momentum in Telegram games and meme activities.

Data Source: Public Chain TVL

The Move technology stack blockchain maintained strong development momentum. Sui reached new highs in token price and market capitalization while forming a strategic partnership with the well-known financial institution Franklin Templeton. Aptos drove on-chain activity growth through its meme launch platform Emojicoin. Meanwhile, Movement is set to launch its mainnet, with impressive testnet data: according to Movement Explorer, there are already over 6.6 million accounts and 153 million transactions.

Stablecoins remain one of the focal points on the stage. USDS launched as the first major DeFi native stablecoin on Solana, while reports indicate that Ripple is about to receive approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for RLUSD. As the influence of stablecoins continues to grow, the industry is watching whether some companies will issue their own blockchains. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino tweeted that his company would remain neutral rather than launch its own blockchain, responding to industry concerns.

Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechains

In November 2024, Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechains saw significant growth, with total TVL reaching $2.4 billion, a 34.6% increase from October. Competition for Bitcoin liquidity among major platforms intensified.

Core strengthened its market leadership, with TVL growing by 55.7% to $890 million, expanding its market share to 37.4%. This growth was driven by the Fusion upgrade in November, which introduced dual staking and liquidity Bitcoin staking (LstBTC), allowing users to earn higher yields while maintaining liquidity on Core's BTCfi platform.

Bitlayer maintained its second position with a TVL of $580 million, but its market share fell to 24.4%. BSquared continued to grow, increasing by 53.1% month-over-month to a TVL of $260 million, rising to third place, while Rootstock ranked fourth with a TVL of $240 million.

Data Source: Bitcoin Ecosystem Public Chain TVL

At the BTCfi project level, Pell Network emerged as the leader with a TVL of $400 million, followed by Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer), both showing strong performance across multiple chains with over $200 million in TVL each.

Ethereum Layer 2

In November 2024, the total TVL of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions (excluding bridging) reached $27.5 billion, a 2.0% increase from October, continuing to lag behind the growth rate of Bitcoin scaling solutions.

Data Source: November 2024 Ethereum Layer 2 Overview - Rollups (Bridging Related Metrics)

Arbitrum One maintained its leadership position with a TVL of $11.3 billion and a market share of 41.0%, while Base surpassed Optimism to take second place with a TVL of $5.1 billion and a share of 18.6%, benefiting from the surge in activity brought by the social meme deployment platform Clanker and the AI agent creation and deployment platform Virtuals Protocol based on Farcaster. Meanwhile, Optimism's market share fell to 17.3%.

Starknet saw a 5.1% increase in TVL, surpassing Blast to rank fourth, while Blast continued to decline, dropping by 14.5%. Starknet's growth was driven by the launch of STRK staking on November 26 and CEO Eli Ben Sasson's commitment to significantly improve performance in the next quarter. At the same time, World Chain performed well, with TVL increasing by 131.4% to $570 million.

In November, under public pressure, the Ethereum Foundation enhanced financial transparency by releasing its 2024 report, outlining core values and funding strategies. Vitalik Buterin emphasized the future development of Ethereum, including the implementation of DAS to enhance Layer 2 scalability and infrastructure improvements to support diverse applications from ENS to consumer payments.

Blockchain Gaming Public Chain

In November, the number of active blockchain games increased by 4.6% to 1,696, with BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum maintaining market leadership in game distribution, with shares of 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4%, respectively.

User engagement patterns showed new changes, with opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) leading with an average daily active user (DAU) of 1.8 million, 900,000, and 400,000, respectively. The DAU of OpBNB 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. Meanwhile, Ronin showed a strong recovery with the launch of the new game Fableborne and the resurgence of Lumiterra.

Data Source: Active Blockchain Games by Public Chain

Telegram-based games showed mixed results. While the TON ecosystem faced challenges, with DAU declining by 41.9% to 116,400, Sui bucked the trend, with DAU increasing by 23.1% to 233,300, mainly due to the success of BIRDS and significant user retention metrics.

Data Source: BIRDS Game New User Weekly Retention Rate

For more data insights, please refer to the "November 2024 Blockchain Gaming Research Report: The Path to Breakthrough in GameFi Under the Bull Market."

Financing Situation

In November 2024, the blockchain sector recorded 12 financing events, totaling $79.8 million, a 23.3% decrease from October, marking the lowest monthly figure since August. Five of these events did not disclose specific financing amounts.

November 2024 Public Chain Financing Events (Data Source: crypto-fundraising.info)

Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs) became the largest recipient of financing this month, announcing a $40 million seed round and a $250 million token purchase commitment. The company has shifted its positioning from an initial modular blockchain provider to a crypto AI startup, developing a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS) for building AI applications on-chain.

Several Layer 1 blockchains secured financing this month, including Cytonic, Pharos, Talus Network, EtraPay, and Datalayer. Notably, AvaCloud, a managed blockchain service provider built by Ava Labs, acquired EtraPay, gaining a team of renowned privacy technology experts and the innovative encrypted token standard Encrypted ERC (eERC).

The Layer 2 ecosystem continues to maintain investment activity, with six projects securing new rounds of financing, including Bitcoin Layer 2's Bitfinity and Lnfi Network, Ethereum Layer 2's Heurist and Corn, as well as 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 cautiously.