Bitcoin surges to $96K amid broad market gains, while Layer 1s show strong performance and Layer 2 landscape evolves.

Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)

*Data Source: *Footprint Analytics Chains Research Page

November 2024 ushered in a transformative period for the blockchain ecosystem, highlighted by Bitcoin’s historic surge past major traditional assets and Ethereum’s strong recovery. The sector witnessed notable shifts in market dynamics, with altcoins staging impressive rallies and Layer 2 solutions continuing their evolution. While Bitcoin Layer 2s maintained robust growth, Ethereum scaling solutions showed more modest gains amid increasing competition.

Data for this report was obtained from Footprint Analytics’ Chains Research Page, an easy-to-use dashboard containing the most vital stats and metrics to understand the public chain industry, updated in real-time.

Monthly Market Overview

November marked a historic month for cryptocurrency as Bitcoin reached unprecedented heights, surging 39.0% from $69,386 to $96,427. Ethereum followed with an impressive 47.8% gain, climbing from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin’s remarkable performance pushed its market value past both silver and Saudi Aramco, securing the seventh position among global assets after briefly approaching the $100,000 milestone on November 23.

The U.S. election results emerged as a catalyst for crypto market growth, with potential implications for comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market’s optimistic response was particularly evident in the performance of memecoins, deAI (decentralized artificial intelligence) projects, and DeSci (Decentralized Science), which emerged as leading sectors.

The broader financial markets also showed strength, with the financial sector leading equity gains on expectations of tax reform and deregulation in the U.S. However, international markets saw some volatility, with the Chinese Yuan facing pressure amid concerns over potential U.S. tariff increases, while gold prices declined as election-related uncertainty diminished.

Layer 1

November 2024 saw total blockchain market capitalization surge 41.1% to $2.8 trillion. While Bitcoin maintained dominance at 68.1% share, this marked a decline from October’s 70.1% as altcoins gained momentum. Ethereum reversed its downward trend, reaching 15.9% market share (up 0.6%), while Solana overtook BNB Chain with 4.0% share.

Against Bitcoin’s continued price records, altcoins demonstrated exceptional performance. Stellar (XLM) led with a 466.8% price increase, followed by Hedera (HBAR) at 269.7%, Cardano (ADA) at 201.5%, and Polkadot (DOT) at 130.7%.

Stellar’s surge notably reflected growing interest in its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities, potentially influenced by expectations of clearer regulatory frameworks following U.S. election outcomes, though recent returns may also reflect specific fund flows.

The DeFi sector’s TVL grew 43.0% to $90.8 billion throughout November. Ethereum led this growth with a 61.6% increase, while Tron and Solana secured second and third positions respectively. While most top 15 chains by TVL showed gains, Polygon declined 5.9% as Polymarket experienced outflows following the U.S. Presidential election conclusion. TON continued its downward trend since October as momentum from Telegram gaming and meme activity diminished.

Move-stack blockchains maintained their strong trajectory, with Sui reaching new all-time highs in both token price and market cap while securing a strategic partnership with Franklin Templeton. Aptos drove increased on-chain activity through its meme-launching platform Emojicoin, while Movement approached its mainnet launch with impressive testnet metrics: over 6.6 million accounts and 153 million transactions according to Movement Explorer.

The stablecoin landscape saw significant developments with USDS launching on Solana as its first major DeFi-native stablecoin, while Ripple reportedly neared NYDFS approval for RLUSD. Amid growing stablecoin influence, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino addressed industry concerns by confirming the company would maintain chain neutrality rather than launch its own blockchain.

Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechain

November 2024 saw Bitcoin Layer 2s and sidechains achieve significant growth, with total TVL reaching $2.4 billion, a 34.6% increase from October. The ecosystem witnessed intensifying competition for Bitcoin liquidity among major platforms.

Core strengthened its market leadership, growing 55.7% to reach $894.5 million TVL and expanding its market share to 37.4%. This growth was driven by November’s Fusion Upgrade, which introduced Dual Staking and Liquid Bitcoin Staking (LstBTC), enabling users to earn enhanced yields while maintaining liquidity within Core’s BTCfi platform.

Bitlayer maintained the second position with $583.3 million TVL, though its market share decreased to 24.4%. BSquared showed impressive momentum, climbing to third place with $260.8 million TVL after a 53.1% monthly increase, while Rootstock moved to fourth position with $237.8 million TVL.

In the BTCfi protocol landscape, Pell Network emerged as the clear leader with $399.7 million TVL, followed by strong performances from Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer) across multiple chains, each maintaining over $200 million in TVL.

Ethereum Layer 2

November 2024 saw Ethereum Layer 2 solutions reach $27.5 billion in total canonically bridged TVL, marking a modest 2.0% increase from October and continuing to lag behind Bitcoin scaling solutions’ growth rate.

Arbitrum One maintained its leadership with $11.3 billion TVL and 41.0% market share, while Base surpassed Optimism to claim second position with $5.1 billion TVL and 18.6% share, driven by increased activity from Clanker, the social meme deployment platform based on Farcaster, and AI agents creation and deployment platform Virtuals Protocol’s memecoin initiatives. Optimism settled at 17.3% market share.

Starknet moved ahead of Blast to secure fourth position with a 5.1% TVL increase, while Blast continued its decline with a 14.5% decrease. Starknet’s growth coincided with its November 26th STRK staking launch announcement and CEO Eli Ben Sasson’s promise of significant performance improvements over the next quarter. Meanwhile, World Chain showed remarkable growth with a 131.4% TVL increase to $574.5 million.

The Ethereum Foundation strengthened its ecosystem commitment by releasing its 2024 Report outlining core values and funding strategies. Vitalik Buterin emphasized Ethereum’s future development, including DAS implementation for enhanced Layer 2 scalability and infrastructure improvements to support diverse applications from ENS to consumer payments.

For more details on Web3 Gaming, chains funding events, and other chain developments for November 2024, please visit www.footprint.network or click here for more information.

About Footprint Analytics

Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analytics platform that simplifies complex analysis for businesses and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It offers tailored solutions that eliminate the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform provides long-term growth tools designed to help build and manage communities step by step, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics with community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to leverage blockchain data effectively for decision-making and growth strategies across various sectors including GameFi, NFT, and DeFi.

Website | X(Twitter) | Growthly | Reports | Blog | Telegram | Discord