The first quarter of 2023 saw a strong start for the crypto market, according to the latest industry report from CoinGecko, a market tracking platform. The market grew by 48.9% to reach $1.2 trillion, following a turbulent end to 2022.
Bitcoin (BTC) was the best-performing investment in the market, outperforming traditional asset classes with a quarter-over-quarter increase of 72.4%. The NASDAQ index came far behind with a gain of 15.7%, and gold came in third with only an 8.4% gain.
The report revealed that crypto spot trading volume increased by 18.1%, reaching $2.8 trillion, with decentralized exchanges (DEXs) growing faster than centralized exchanges (CEXs). Average daily trading volume increased by 30% compared to the first quarter of 2022, peaking in early March due to the banking crisis before tapering off later in the month.
The report also highlighted the events that affected popular stablecoins early this year. The top stablecoins shed $6.2 billion in market cap, with USD Coin (USDC) and Binance USD (BUSD) experiencing the most significant declines. Tether (USDT) gained 20.5% in market cap, while TrueUSD (TUSD) entered the top five ranking list after it grew by 169.3%.
Non-fungible token (NFT) trading volume surged to $4.5 billion, with Blur dethroning OpenSea as the top marketplace, holding a 71.8% market share. Solana’s ecosystem declined, with Magic Eden’s trading volume dropping by 67.9%, and notable collections migrating to other chains.
The DeFi market saw a positive growth of over 65%, primarily driven by liquid staking governance tokens. Liquid staking tokens overtook lending protocols as the third-largest category, with a 210.9% increase in market cap.
The report’s findings indicate that the crypto market is growing and evolving, with decentralized exchanges outperforming centralized exchanges and liquid staking governance tokens driving growth in the DeFi market. However, stablecoins experienced a decline in market cap, and Solana’s ecosystem saw a decline in NFT trading volume.
Overall, the first quarter of 2023 was a positive one for the crypto market, with Bitcoin leading the way as the best-performing investment. It will be interesting to see how the market continues to evolve throughout the rest of the year.
