Crypto Market Cap Fell by 64.1% to $829 Billion in 2022: Report

With bearish trends in Bitcoin (BTC), Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market slumped by 64.1% to $829 billion at the end of 2022, down from $2.3 trillion at the start of the year. In a similar fashion, spot trading volume on the top 10 crypto exchanges collapsed to $0.46 trillion in December, down by 67.3% from $1.5 trillion in January 2022. The deepest decline in this market occurred during the fourth quarter of the year in the aftermath of <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/ftx-the-rise-the-fall-and-the-reaction/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>FTX’s collapse </a> and the resulting contagion that impacted over 1 million estimated depositors, creditors and investors, the report notes.These figures are according to the CoinGecko 2022 Annual Crypto Industry Report <a href=”https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/2022-annual-crypto-report” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>released</a> on Tuesday. The report notes that BTC emerged as the worst-performing asset in the year as it sank by 64.2%. However, BTC traded above $21,000 on Tuesday, with total market cap briefly topping above the US$1 trillion mark. <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CoinGecko?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#CoinGecko</a> 2022 Annual Crypto Industry Report 📊2022 was a tumultuous year for <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/crypto?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#crypto</a> – NFTs and DeFi are among the hardest hit sectors, while stablecoins had a mixed performance.Here are 8 key highlights you shouldn’t miss 👇 <a href=”https://t.co/w4n4BoSq7x”>pic.twitter.com/w4n4BoSq7x</a>— CoinGecko (@coingecko) <a href=”https://twitter.com/coingecko/status/1615292037141794816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 17, 2023</a></blockquote>Also, the CoinGecko report highlights that the NFT industry had its <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/mutant-ape-planet-nft-creator-aurelien-michel-arrested-at-jfk-airport/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>first bearish cycle</a> in 2022 with trading volume across the top eight chains shrinking to $1.5 billion by the last quarter of the year, down from $13.3 billion during the first quarter. In addition, the DeFi market saw its tokens, minus stablecoins and wrapped tokens, collapse by 72.9% “with various governance and <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/u/utility-tokens/” target=”_blank” id=”5f74fe44-312a-4855-ad8b-6181eb376bbd_1″ class=”terms__main-term”>utility tokens</a> losing over $48.4 billion in value.” The stablecoin market, for its part, went down by 16.6% to $27.3 billion by year-end.Watch this recent FMLS22 session on the future of cryptocurrencies.Resilient Crypto Industry?However, despite these trends, <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/institutions-stick-to-crypto-despite-market-upheaval-in-2022/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>crypto adoption remained steady</a> “with a healthy growth of BTC and Ethereum addresses.” Furthermore, the report notes that Ethereum <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/s/staking/” target=”_blank” id=”ebfdd4d9-00b3-41ff-bff5-878cd2eb105f_1″ class=”terms__secondary-term”>staking</a> improved significantly quarter-on-over-year, reaching 15.8 million units at the end of the year. This represents an 80% increase compared to the 8.8 million units posted at the start of 2022. “In the first half of 2022, growth of total staked ETH in validators can be attributed to a bullish Ethereum Merge sentiment. Following <a href=”https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/post-ethereum-merge-crypto-flows-indicate-continued-caution-among-investors/” target=”_blank” rel=”follow”>a successful Merge in mid-September</a>, the crypto community began to anticipate the upcoming Shanghai upgrade – driving its notable growth last quarter,” CoinGecko explained.

This article was written by Solomon Oladipupo at www.financemagnates.com.