According to data from TokenInsights, the cryptocurrency market may be emerging from the prolonged “crypto winter” that began in late 2017. The analysis suggests that market conditions are beginning to improve, with increased trading volumes and greater interest from institutional investors. This could signal a renewed period of growth for the crypto industry.
Centralized crypto platforms have had a promising start to 2023, according to a report released by research firm TokenInsight. The report revealed that the total crypto market cap increased by nearly 50% from $831.8 billion to $1.24 trillion in the first quarter alone. Bitcoin (BTC) also saw a significant increase of almost 100%, growing from $16,000 to a high of $30,000 during the period.
TokenInsight noted that this could be a sign that the crypto winter is finally thawing, and recommended that readers use exchange metrics to help inform their decisions. The report highlighted the Q1 2023 trading volumes for the top 15 crypto exchanges, which saw a 40% increase to $10.8 billion compared to the previous quarter. The period around March 14-15 saw the most significant increase in daily volume, driven by realizations of fiat fragility and demand for harder assets following the banking crisis fallout.
While Binance maintained its dominance by taking over half the market share at 55%, TokenInsight pointed out that the platform had seen a slight decrease from its 60% market share in Q4 2022, likely due to recent regulatory enforcement actions and rumors of insolvency.
Spot volume for the top 10 crypto exchanges also increased by 16% over the prior quarter to $2.4 trillion. However, this is still down compared to Q2 and Q3 2022, which recorded $2.8 trillion and $2.6 trillion, respectively. Derivatives volume in Q1 2023 also saw a 30% increase from the prior quarter to $7.8 trillion, but still fell short compared to Q2 2022’s $10 trillion and Q3 2022’s $8.4 trillion.
Exchange tokens suffered a bad reputation following several centralized finance bankruptcies in 2022, but TokenInsight found a return in confidence in these tokens, with all but UNUS SED LEO and Huobi Token seeing price appreciation. The Bitget Token, for example, experienced a 120% growth during the period, outperforming Bitcoin. GateToken placed second at a 72% increase in value during the quarter, while other exchange tokens underperformed compared to the market leader.
In conclusion, exchange metrics could offer valuable insights for making informed decisions, and the crypto industry may indeed be on the verge of a bull market.