The recent series of events within the cryptocurrency sphere has been featured by Magic Eden, a Solana-based NFT marketplace, reporting an enormous increase in its trading volume, thus boosting a monthly record in March. The trading volume of the platform jolted up 194.4% to reach the $756.5 million mark, with Blur trailing a notable way behind, having a mere increase to $530.4 million, which was supported by data released by CoinGecko in their Q1 2024 report.
The unprecedented growth of Magic Eden’s volume during the last 6 months has been propelled mainly by a series of strategic movements, such as unveiling its Diamond rewards program and its recent partnership with the powerful Yuga Labs. These moves have put Magic Eden at the top of the NFT trading space market, attracting much attention from the market and investors.
On the contrary, the broader crypto market has greatly excelled from the first quarter of 2024 as the total market valuation rose by 65% and hit $2.9 trillion in March. This market growth has been fueled by significant developments, including the jump in Bitcoin prices that traded at a new record high of $73,098.
While this was propelled by the successful launch of two bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S., despite a subsequent drop in prices, bitcoin eventually bounced back strongly, with daily trading volume averaging around 34.1 billion dollars a day, which is 90% higher than the previous quarter’s trading volume.
The growth of Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) shows no sign of slowing down, with total assets under management (AUM) reaching $55.1 billion by the beginning of April. This is primarily because the GTX ETF dominates the space, while in some cases, investors profit from selling their shares and face higher fees for committing the mistake.
Moreover, Ethereum has witnessed flourishing projects, especially in the sector of restaking on EigenLayer, which increased by 36% during the quarter. ether_fi is now the biggest liquid restaking protocol, holding over 65% of Ethereum.
Cryptocurrencies have witnessed a notable increase in the fame of meme coins based on Solana. These coins have shown extraordinary growth, with the ten most listed coins growing by 802%. This, in turn, translated into a $9.36 billion market capitalization. Surprisingly, the $BOME token is one of the newcomers to this space, and it is gaining traction after conquering the market cap of $1 billion within 2 days of its launch.
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the NFT sector, the total trading volume for the first quarter was $4.7 billion. Magic Eden’s strategy of incorporating blockchain technologies and innovative rewarding programs was successful, helping it surpass Blur in March. This shift in market trends supports the broader phenomenon of diversification and innovation in crypto trading.
Moreover, the first quarter of 2024 was the best period for the spot trading volume on centralized exchanges, with over $4.29 trillion, the highest since December 2021. Binance keeps its lead as the largest exchange, with a market share of 50% by the end of March.
Ethereum still rules the roost in decentralized exchange trading, although its market share has dropped below 40%. This fluctuation of users and platforms shows that the investment appetite for cryptocurrency appears to be ever-booming.
Besides, Magic Eden’s strong performance in March especially attracts the investor community’s attention as a symbol of the platform’s ability to quickly adapt and use new methods in this rapidly developing digital ecosystem.
