According to CoinGecko’s first quarter cryptocurrency sector report for 2023, the cryptocurrency market had a strong start to the year, with a total market value reaching $1.2 trillion, a 48.9% increase. The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum rose to approximately $28,000 and $1,800, respectively. Bitcoin led the way with a significant gain of 72% in the first quarter.
The daily average trading volume of the crypto market reached $77 billion, a 30% increase due to increased market activity and volatility. Bitcoin outperformed traditional asset classes, including NASDAQ and gold, with a gain of 72.4% in the first quarter. Other major asset classes, except for crude oil, ended the quarter with a positive note, losing 6.1% of their value.
The spot trading volume of the crypto market increased by 18.1% in the first quarter, reaching $2.8 trillion. Regulatory reviews put pressure on centralized crypto exchanges (CEX), while decentralized exchanges (DEX) grew by 33.4%, surpassing CEX’s growth of 16.9%.
In the stablecoin market, there was a 4.5% decline ($6.2 billion) mainly due to Paxos discontinuing support for Binance USD (BUSD) and USD Coin (USDC) experiencing temporary value losses. Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin, strengthened its position while USDC and BUSD suffered market value losses.
The DeFi and NFT sectors also saw significant developments in the first quarter. The DeFi sector reached $29.6 billion, a 65.2% increase, with governance tokens of liquid staking protocols rising by 210.9% in market value, surpassing credit protocols. The NFT market volume reached $4.5 billion, a 68% increase compared to the previous quarter, and the new NFT marketplace Blur surpassed OpenSea in trading volume, becoming the largest NFT marketplace with a 71.8% market share as of March 2023.