Overview of the Public Chain Market in November 2024

In November 2024, the blockchain industry is迎来了 a "bull market". Bitcoin's price continues to refresh historical highs, about to break the important threshold of $100,000, with a market value surpassing major traditional assets like silver. At the same time, Ethereum has also achieved a strong recovery, and altcoins have significantly rebounded. While Bitcoin Layer 2 maintains strong growth, Ethereum Layer 2 faces increasingly fierce competition, with relatively moderate growth.

Market Overview

In November, the cryptocurrency market made history, with Bitcoin soaring from $69,386 to $96,427, an increase of 39.0%. Ethereum followed closely, rising by 47.8%, climbing from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin's outstanding performance allowed it to surpass the market capitalization of silver and Saudi Aramco, firmly positioning it as the seventh largest global asset after approaching the $100,000 mark on November 23.

The results of the US election have become a catalyst for growth in the crypto market, potentially impacting comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory oversight. The market has responded positively, particularly reflected in the performance of popular sectors such as memecoins, decentralized artificial intelligence (deAI) projects, and decentralized science (DeSci).

The broader financial markets also performed strongly. The financial sector led the stock market amid expectations of U.S. tax reform and deregulation. However, there was some volatility in international markets, with the Renminbi under pressure due to concerns over potential U.S. tariff increases, 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. Although Bitcoin maintained its dominance with a share of 68.1%, this was a decrease from 70.1% in October, as altcoins also performed strongly this month. Ethereum reversed its downward trend, reaching a market share of 15.9% (an absolute increase of 0.6%), while Solana surpassed the BNB chain with a share of 4.0%.

Against the backdrop of Bitcoin continuously setting price records, altcoins have exhibited outstanding performance. Stellar (XLM) leads with a 466.8% increase, followed by Hedera (HBAR) rising 269.7%, Cardano (ADA) increasing 201.5%, and Polkadot (DOT) rising 130.7%. Notably, Stellar's surge significantly reflects the market's growing attention to its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities, which may be influenced by the expectation of a clearer regulatory framework following the U.S. elections.

The TVL in the DeFi sector grew by 43.0% to $90.8 billion in November. Ethereum led the growth with an increase of 61.6%, while Tron and Solana ranked second and third, respectively. Although most of the top 15 chains by TVL saw growth, Polygon declined by 5.9% due to capital outflow from a prediction market platform after the U.S. presidential election. The downward trend of TON since October continues, attributed to weakening momentum from a certain instant messaging platform's gaming and meme activities.

The Move technology stack blockchain continues to maintain strong development momentum. Sui has set new highs in token price and market capitalization while achieving 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 on the stage. USDS, as the first major DeFi-native stablecoin, has launched on Solana, and reports indicate 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 blockchains. The CEO of a well-known stablecoin company tweeted that his company will remain neutral rather than launch its own blockchain, responding to industry concerns.

Bitcoin Layer 2 and Sidechains

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

Core has strengthened its market leadership position, with TVL growing by 55.7% to $890 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 decreased 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 leads with a TVL of 400 million USD, followed by Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer) with strong performances across multiple chains, each having a TVL of over 200 million USD.

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 leading position, with a TVL of $11.3 billion and a market share of 41.0%. Base has surpassed Optimism to take the second position, with a TVL of $5.1 billion and a share of 18.6%. This surge is attributed to the 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, under pressure from public opinion, the Ethereum Foundation reinforced 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 a diverse range of applications 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 BNB Chain, Polygon, and Ethereum maintaining market leadership in game distribution, holding shares of 20.9%, 15.4%, and 13.4%, respectively.

User engagement patterns are experiencing new changes, with opBNB, Ronin, and Nebula (SKALE) leading the way with an average daily active users (DAU) of 1.8 million, 900,000, and 400,000 respectively. OpBNB's DAU increased by 46.1%, driven by SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, as well as the migration of some games from the BNB chain to opBNB. At the same time, Ronin is showing a strong recovery, with the launch of the new game Fableborne and the resurgence of Lumiterra.

Games based on a certain instant messaging platform have shown mixed results. Although the TON ecosystem is facing challenges, with DAU dropping 41.9% to 116,400, Sui has gone against the trend, with DAU increasing 23.1% to 233,300, mainly due to the success of BIRDS and significant user retention metrics.

Financing Situation

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-chain.

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

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