• The full-year report for 2023 by Binance Research revealed that there were over 1100 Web3 investment deals while on-chain gaming wallets more than doubled to hit 12.6 million.
• The report predicts that based on last year’s analysis, the trends to expect in 2024 are the growth of the ownership economy, AI integration in crypto, institutional adoption and more.

The cryptocurrency market staged an impressive turnaround in 2023 to end the year on a high, doubling its market capitalization and attracting over $9 billion in funding for Web3 startups. This is according to a year-in-review report by Binance Research which looked at what stood out the past year and predicts the trends that will define 2024.

Titled “Full-Year 2023 & Themes for 2024,” the report broke down the key numbers that defined one of the most important years for the crypto industry. After a tragic end to the previous year following the collapse of FTX, the crypto industry recovered in 2022, with Q1 and Q4 being the best quarters for the sector. This turnaround saw the industry’s market cap grow 109% to surge past $1.6 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for just below 50%.

According to Binance Research, the surge in the fourth quarter was mainly due to optimism around a Bitcoin spot ETF in the market. Anticipation of the BTC halving, which is due in an estimated 94 days, and macroeconomic factors such as inflation also played a role, says the report.

Launched in December 2018, Binance Research is the research arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange and provides institutional-grade analysis and insight for crypto investors.

On the funding front, Web3 projects attracted $9 billion in investment last year across 1,173 deals, revealed the report. Infrastructure projects remain an investor favourite and last year, they accounted for $3.285 billion, or 36.5% of total investment. Centralized platforms came in second at 13.3%, ahead of decentralized platforms (DeFi) which raised 8.6% of the total sum.

NFTs, GameFi, Stablecoins and 2024 Predictions

Crypto and blockchain fundamentals remained strong in 2023 despite some market hiccups. According to the Binance Research report, there were 12.6 million weekly unique active GameFi addresses in the last week of the year. This was an increase of 120% from the 5.8 million that started the year. With multiple gaming studios announcing upcoming launches of new games this year, the numbers will only keep rising.

DeFi and NFTs may have lost the spotlight last year after a record-setting two years. However, the report revealed that investors are still interested in DeFi, with the total volume locked across all chains rising 39% year-on-year. Liquid staking tokens were the major trend of 2023 according to the report.

NFTs saw a resurgence last year, with Q4 being the most impressive quarter. In December, the market recorded $1.7 billion in trading volume, the highest of the year, signalling a strong start to the new year. In the NFT sector, marketplace wars were another interesting trend, with OpenSea and Blur being the two heavyweights, and with the latter set to launch its L2, Blast, this year, the marketplace wars will only intensify.

Stablecoins were the market segment that saw a dip in 2023. Stablecoin capitalization dipped 5.2%, and the dip would have been worse were it not for a big rebound in October.

For this year, the Binance Research team predicts that the integration of AI, the rise of the ownership economy and the tokenization of real-world assets will be the main themes. It stated:

As we envisage the future of the crypto market, the lessons of 2023 underline the ability of the industry to adapt, innovate, and grow, even amidst challenges. The strong recovery of 2023 serves as the foundation for more breakthroughs, growth, and possibilities for the crypto space.