Hey there, Geckos!
Our 2020 Yearly Cryptocurrency Report is here!
It was certainly an adventurous journey for the crypto space as we began to see more institutional investors trickling in. We also experienced the rise of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) in the summer which introduced billion-dollar protocols including Uniswap, Curve, Synthetix, and more.
Here are our 5 key crypto-highlights for 2020:
The top-30 crypto market cap saw a 308% growth
The 2020 - 2021 Bitcoin bull run appears to mimic 2016-2017 trajectory
DeFi ended the year with an all-time high market cap of $20.4 billion
Trading volume of CEXs and DEXs grew by $403 billion
Bitcoin Perpetual Swap hit $3.5 trillion in volume as Bitcoin price recorded new ATH
One of the main reasons for this 308% growth is institutional entry into the market. Renowned investors including Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller have been endorsing cryptocurrencies while large public listed companies such as Microstrategy and Square have been purchasing Bitcoin as part of their corporate treasury.
In 2020-2021, Bitcoin has risen more than double in the first year against the last cycle (303% vs 130%).
However, the difference this time is that the cryptocurrency market may be able to sustain high valuation largely in part to an influx of institutional adoption as well as a macro environment that encourages loose monetary policies. Additionally, there is higher accessibility to the market as companies such as PayPal and Revolut now allow retail investors to easily buy cryptocurrencies.
Moving on, the DeFi sector saw explosive growth as DeFi dominance rose rapidly from 0.9% to 4.6% in the summer. During the same period, the market cap multiplied 12 times to reach $19.6 billion.
Additionally, the DeFi market cap ended the year with a new all-time high at $20.4 billion.
The top-9 centralized and decentralized exchanges grew by $403 billion (+307%). While CEXs do account for 93% of the year's increase, DEXs still recorded a trading volume of $29 billion in December.
The top-9 Bitcoin Perpetual Swap trading volume saw hit $3.5 trillion (+531%) as the price of Bitcoin reached a new all-time high. Huobi has emerged as the surprising contender to Binance's dominance in the arena.
Final Thoughts
Wow!
2020 was definitely an exciting year for the crypto space and we're so happy you could join us through all the ups and downs. Now, buckle your seatbelts because we are all in for a ride this new year!
Read our full report here: https://gcko.io/l2h9rwl
