November 2024 Public Chain Industry Analysis Report

Market Overview

In November 2024, the cryptocurrency market reached a historic high. The price of Bitcoin soared from $69,386 to $96,427, an increase of 39.0%. Ethereum followed closely, rising from $2,511 to $3,711, a gain of 47.8%. Bitcoin's outstanding performance allowed it to surpass the market cap of silver and Saudi Aramco, solidifying its position as the seventh largest asset globally after approaching the $100,000 mark on November 23.

The results of the U.S. elections have become a catalyst for growth in the crypto market, potentially influencing future cryptocurrency legislation and regulation. The market has reacted positively, especially reflected in the performance of popular sectors such as memecoins, decentralized AI (deAI) projects, and decentralized science (DeSci).

Broader financial markets also performed strongly. The financial sector led the stock market amid expectations of U.S. tax reform and regulatory easing. However, there was some volatility in international markets, with the renminbi under pressure amid concerns about potential U.S. tariffs, while gold prices fell as election-related uncertainties eased.

Layer 1

In November 2024, the total market value of blockchain surged by 41.1% to $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin maintained its dominant position with a 68.1% share, but this was a decrease from 70.1% in October, as altcoins also performed strongly. Ethereum reversed its downward trend, reaching a market share of 15.9%, while Solana surpassed BNB Chain with a share of 4.0%.

Against the backdrop of Bitcoin continuing to set price records, altcoins have shown outstanding performance. Stellar (XLM) leads with a 466.8% increase, followed by Hedera (HBAR) up 269.7%, Cardano (ADA) up 201.5%, and Polkadot (DOT) up 130.7%. Among them, Stellar's surge significantly reflects the market's growing attention to its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities.

The TVL in the DeFi sector increased by 43.0% to $90.8 billion in November. Ethereum led the growth with a rise of 61.6%, while Tron and Solana ranked second and third respectively. Although most of the top 15 chains by TVL saw growth, Polygon experienced a decline of 5.9% due to capital outflow from a prediction market platform after the U.S. presidential election. The downward trend of TON has continued since October, attributed to a weakening momentum in related gaming and meme activities.

The Move technology stack blockchain continues to show strong development momentum. Sui has set new highs in token price and market capitalization, while forming strategic partnerships with well-known financial institutions. Aptos is driving on-chain activity growth through its Meme launch platform. Meanwhile, Movement is about to launch its mainnet, with impressive testnet data: over 6.6 million accounts and 153 million transactions.

Stablecoins remain one of the central segments of the stage. USDS, as the first major DeFi native stablecoin, has launched on Solana, and it has been reported that Ripple is about to receive approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for RLUSD. As the influence of stablecoins continues to grow, the industry is paying attention to whether some companies will issue their own blockchain. The CEO of a well-known stablecoin issuer stated that their company will remain neutral rather than launch its own blockchain.

Bitcoin Layer 2 and Sidechains

In November 2024, Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechains achieved significant growth, with a total TVL reaching $2.4 billion, a 34.6% increase from October. The competition for Bitcoin liquidity among major platforms intensified.

Core has strengthened its market leadership position, with TVL growing by 55.7% to $889 million and market share expanding to 37.4%. This growth is attributed to the Fusion upgrade in November, which introduced dual staking and liquidity Bitcoin staking (LstBTC), allowing users to earn higher returns while maintaining liquidity on Core's BTCfi platform.

Bitlayer maintains the second position with a TVL of $580 million, but its market share has dropped to 24.4%. BSquared continues to grow, with a monthly increase of 53.1% to a TVL of $260 million, rising to third place, while Rootstock ranks fourth with a TVL of $240 million.

At the project level of BTCfi, Pell Network has become the leader with a TVL of $400 million, followed by Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer) with strong performances across multiple chains, each having over $200 million in TVL.

Ethereum Layer 2

In November 2024, the total TVL (in the standard bridging part) of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions reached $27.5 billion, an increase of 2.0% compared to October, continuing to lag behind the growth rate of Bitcoin scaling solutions.

A well-known Layer 2 platform maintains its leadership position with a TVL of $11.3 billion and a market share of 41.0%, while Base surpasses Optimism to claim the second position with a TVL of $5.1 billion and a share of 18.6%. This is attributed to the surge in activity brought by the social meme deployment platform Clanker based on Farcaster and the AI agent creation and deployment platform Virtuals Protocol. Meanwhile, Optimism's market share has dropped to 17.3%.

Starknet's TVL increased by 5.1%, surpassing Blast to rank fourth, while Blast continued to decline, dropping by 14.5%. Starknet's growth is attributed to the launch of STRK staking on November 26 and the CEO's commitment to significantly enhance performance in the next quarter. Meanwhile, World Chain performed excellently, with a TVL growth of 131.4% to $570 million.

In November, the Ethereum Foundation strengthened financial transparency by releasing the 2024 report, while outlining its core values and funding strategies. Vitalik Buterin emphasized the future development of Ethereum, including the implementation of DAS to enhance Layer 2 scalability, as well as infrastructure improvements to support diverse applications ranging from ENS to consumer payments.

Blockchain Game Public Chain

In November, the number of active blockchain games increased by 4.6% to 1,696, with the BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum maintaining their market leadership in game distribution, holding shares of 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4%, respectively.

User engagement patterns have undergone new changes, with opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) leading with an average daily active users (DAU) of 1.8 million, 900,000, and 400,000 respectively. OpBNB's DAU increased by 46.1%, thanks to the promotion of SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, as well as the migration of some games from the BNB chain to opBNB. Meanwhile, Ronin has shown a strong recovery, propelled by the launch of the new game Fableborne and the resurgence of Lumiterra.

Games based on Telegram have shown mixed results. While the TON ecosystem is facing challenges with a 41.9% drop in DAU to 116,400, Sui has gone against the trend with a 23.1% increase in DAU to 233,300, mainly thanks to the success of BIRDS and significant user retention metrics.

Financing Status

In November 2024, the blockchain sector recorded 12 financing events, with a total amount of $79.8 million, a decrease of 23.3% compared to October, marking the lowest monthly figure since August. Among these, five events did not disclose specific financing amounts.

Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs) has become the largest recipient of funding this month, announcing a $40 million seed round and a $250 million token purchase commitment. The company has shifted its positioning from an initial modular blockchain provider to a crypto AI startup, developing a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS) for building AI applications on the chain.

Several Layer 1 blockchains secured funding this month, including Cytonic, Pharos, Talus Network, EtraPay, and Datalayer. Notably, AvaCloud, a managed blockchain service provider built by Ava Labs, acquired EtraPay, gaining a team composed of renowned privacy technology experts and the innovative crypto token standard Encrypted ERC (eERC).

The Layer 2 ecosystem continues to maintain investment activity, with six projects receiving a new round of financing, including Bitfinity and Lnfi Network from the Bitcoin Layer 2, Heurist and Corn from the Ethereum Layer 2, as well as other Layer 2 projects Akave and AgentLayer.