Bitcoin and Crypto Records Keep on Tumbling

We’re just getting started.

The crypto market shows no signs of slowing down, with Bitcoin continuing its price discovery mode and altcoins rapidly returning to all-time highs. 
 
Two weeks ago, I covered Bitcoin’s significant $100K milestone. Today, we’ll look at the records that have fallen in recent weeks and the next targets to hit. 

Bitcoin (BTC)

 
— Bitcoin passing ~$101,000 translated to a $2 trillion circulating market cap for the first time. For context, 12 months ago, it was priced at roughly $41,300 and had an $809 billion market cap. 
 
December 2024 also marks the first time Bitcoin has hit $100 billion in 24-hour trading volume. It has done so on three occasions this month (up to December 17), with the record at a whopping $149.2 billion on December 5. 
 
This is more than the circulating market cap of every altcoin besides ETH…traded in 24 hours.
 
— The blockchain’s hash rate has exceeded 800 million Terahashes per second (800 Exahashes/s). 
 
— Spot Bitcoin ETF assets under management (AUM) reached $100 billion for the first time on November 20 and are currently at $121 billion as of December 16.
 
— According to CryptoQuant data, BTC supplies on exchanges are at their lowest* since February 2018. 
 
* Considering that we’ve had two block reward halvings since then (which will continue), and there’s even more demand for it now than in 2018, expect the supply crunch to intensify, likely leading to higher BTC prices.

Here’s a chart to put things into perspective with the 21 million max supply. 

Ethereum (ETH)
 

 — Spot Ethereum ETF AUM reached $10 billion earlier this month. 
 
— Much higher throughput than in the 2017 and 2021 bull markets, courtesy of L2 activity and the implementation of EIP-4844: Shard Blob 
Transactions, a.k.a. Proto-Danksharding, in March. 

This has also led to a massive reduction in fees on L2s, which has benefitted those who send ETH directly on its base layer.
 
—  104 wallets, each with more than 100K ETH, account for 57.35% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. These whales control ~$333 billion. 

As a retail investor, I find this extremely disappointing as it’s further centralising the holdings. This sounds trivial to most people, but what they don’t understand is that: 
 
1) Unlike everyday crypto investors, It’s lining the pockets of those who don’t need the ROI.
 
2) The higher this percentage, the more likely it is for whales — at least individuals with massive holdings — to manipulate the price, shake out the weak hands, and reinforce their dominant position. 
 
To play devil’s advocate, I acknowledge that many of these addresses represent exchanges holding assets for their clients. Moreover, to Ethereum’s defence, this trend isn’t exclusive to the leading altcoin. Other digital assets have the same problem, or even worse.
 
Nonetheless, from a decentralisation perspective, this majority control by whales is a shame. 

Solana (SOL) 

— Last month, Solana achieved a record $7 billion daily volume (on November 18) and has consistently managed above $4 billion daily. 
 
During the bear market between June 2022 and October 2023, it struggled to hit $70m daily; it’s impressive how well it has bounced back. 

It was a significant event because it outshone Ethereum’s modest $2.96 billion volume the same day. Since then, Solana has consistently processed $3 billion daily, giving Ethereum a true run for its money. 
 
Despite this, Ethereum still dwarfs Solana regarding total value locked (TVL) and the number of protocols. Let’s evaluate the situation in another 12–15 months.

— Solana processed $129.7 billion of DEX trading volume in November, doubling the previous record of just under $60 billion in March. Its total is $79.81 billion in December, and it’s on track to beat last month’s feat. 
 
 —It also smashed Ethereum’s $70.6 billion DEX volume during the same period and will most likely take the top spot again, well ahead of the leading smart contracts platform. 
 
It’s best to exclude the related stats for L2s, such as Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism, to compare apples with apples. 

Altcoins (excluding ETH) 

— The combined circulating market cap for crypto assets, excluding BTC and ETH, has now surpassed $1 trillion. This is called the TOTAL3 market cap, and data is available on TradingView.
 
— Ripple received the all-clear to launch its first stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), and it is beginning to roll out on crypto exchanges. 
 
With increasing hype surrounding a Spot XRP ETF, watch the asset’s price in the coming weeks and months.
 
— More discussions surrounding the approval of various altcoin ETFs (or even multi-crypto spot funds). 

Other milestones and related news

— MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) has entered the NASDAQ 100 ETF, providing an additional boost to the best-performing Bitcoin stock over the past two years. Expect more crypto companies to join this fund in the coming years. 
 
— The combined market cap (BTC and altcoins) is rapidly approaching $4 trillion after smashing the $3 trillion mark a month ago, less than two weeks after the US Elections.
 
— Stablecoins’ market cap is now above $200 billion, with Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC) accounting for ~70% and 21%, respectively. 
 
CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK) issued a press release announcing the closing of the offering of $650 million zero-coupon convertible notes. 
 
MSTR has adopted this tactic on several occasions this year, allowing it to rapidly accumulate billions of dollars of BTC at relatively lower prices and become the largest corporate holder of BTC.
 
— The number of crypto wallet downloads (of the 21 largest apps) is increasing again but has yet to eclipse the two record months (April and May 2021) from the last market-wide bull run. This could be a sign of bigger things to come for this cycle. 

Additional thoughts

Some of these records are nothing to be proud of. For example, the meme coin market cap — it’s gotten so big that it’s now a standalone metric — is at $131 billion. 
 
I expect this to grow with the increasing number of liquid meme coins, i.e., with a non-zero trading volume. 
 
Yes, these are a joke. However, many people take them seriously enough to invest in them and believe they have a “community” behind them to bank on serious ROIs. 
 
Jokes aside, at least $110 billion^ should be redirected to serious projects. 

^ I’ll accept $21 billion to play with.

I would like to see more stablecoins being offered to counteract the Tether and Circle duopoly (particularly the former). Fortunately, Ethena is gaining popularity with its synthetic dollar, USDe.

The upcoming (second) DJT inauguration will most likely usher in crypto-friendly regulation and the high probability of a US strategic Bitcoin reserve, spearheaded by US Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). 
 
In tandem with friendly crypto regulations, this should comfortably propel the overall crypto market cap past $5 trillion (most likely $6 trillion) in 2025. 
 
What other major achievements in this sector and asset class are worth recognising? What crypto developments are you looking forward to the most in 2025? Leave your thoughts below. 
 
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Disclaimers

• N.B. None of this is financial advice; I am not a financial advisor. This content is for educational purposes only. You are ultimately responsible for crypto investments, let alone in any asset class.

• The opinions expressed within this piece are my own and might not reflect those behind any news outlet, person, organisation, or otherwise listed here.

• Please do sufficient research (DYOR) before investing in any crypto assets, staking, NFTs or other products affiliated with this space.

• Bitcoin (BTC) accounts for about 25% of my crypto portfolio.

• Besides my crypto holdings, I hold CLSK, Iren (IREN) and Coinbase COIN shares. I also have indirect exposure to MSTR.

Originally published at https://www.cryptowithlorenzo.com