Binance report shows crypto industry in “good health” in H1, 2023

Key takeways

• The crypto industry experienced growth across Bitcoin and other L1s, L2s, stablecoins, DeFi, and NFTs.
• Bitcoin network growth included trading volume, transaction count, fees and hashrate.
• Solana, BNB Chain led L1s, while Liquid staking emerged as a key DeFi component.

Binance has released a report covering the first half of 2023, with details suggesting that the overall global crypto industry showed remarkable resilience following the crypto winter.

Crypto growth in H1, 2023

Published on July 20, the 120-page report highlights growth metrics across key industry verticals, including Bitcoin, stablecoins, DeFi, and NFTs. The H1, 2023 report also details developments within the gaming and metaverse, as well as institutional adoption and funding.

For instance, DeFi has seen a 43% year-to-date increase, while NFT volume – despite diminishing floor prices, rose compared to the second half of 2022.  In fundraising, the report highlights that the top 10 funds raised $3.6 billion.

USDT, the leading stablecoin by market cap increased its market share by 26% even as the global stablecoin market dipped 7%. USDD, crvUSD, GHO and LUSD all saw significant increases. The report also details key pilot cases for CBDCs and tokenization.

Also trending in H1 and today is the liquid staking and LSDfi, with the new subsector of LSDfi experiencing a 460% jump in total value locked between April and end of June.

Bitcoin’s continued network growth

According to Binance, the state of crypto in terms of adoption, usage, and innovation as observed in the first six months of the year portends an even better half of the year and into 2024.

One of the indicators of a better H1 for crypto in 2023 is Bitcoin’s network growth. Binance says this was evident through metrics such as the 185% year-to-date jump in trading volume and 58% spike in transactions count. Also significant during the period was the 143% increase in average transaction fees, 40% YTD hashrate increase and 43% jump in mining difficulty.

As CoinJournal recently reported, Bitcoin’s network growth was partially fueled by the surge in Ordinals. [Read more here and here].

In terms of market performance, Bitcoin dominance peaked to levels last seen in April 2021. Meanwhile, the flagship cryptocurrency’s correlation with TradFi fell to a three-year low.

Solana, BNB and other Layer-1s

Growth was also witnessed across leading layer-1 chains, with Solana outpacing other L1s in relation to the increase of its market capitalization. Binance’s BNB Chain topped others in terms of best network performance YTD overall, with daily transactions increasing 113% compared to 48% for Ethereum. BNB Chain active addresses increased by 118%, compared to Ethereum’s 63%.

Also notable during the first six months of 2023 was the growth of subnets on Avalanche and shared security models by Cosmos.

The last few weeks have seen a bullish flip in crypto sentiment, particularly with the filing of a spot Bitcoin ETF by $9 trillion asset manager BlackRock. Ripple’s landmark win against the SEC last week is also a key factor driving market confidence today.  

Binance notes the “Bitcoin ETF season” could continue to bolster momentum even as the second half of the year sees greater adoption and innovation