TokenInsights data reveals that the crypto winter may be thawing
Research firm TokenInsight released its Q1 Crypto Exchange Report – showing that centralized platforms had a great start to 2023.
The report stated that during the quarter, the total market capitalization of crypto had grown from $831.8 billion to $1.24 trillion – an increase of almost 50%. Bitcoin (BTC) jumped almost 100% from $16,000 to $30,000 during the period.
With that, TokenInsight hinted that crypto winter might be thawing — and advised readers to use exchange metrics to decide.
“With the price of Bitcoin rising from $16,000 at the beginning of the year to a peak of $30,000, it seems that winter is over for the crypto industry. But when will the bull market really come? The most intuitive answer may come from the data on the exchanges.”
Crypto trading volume
Total trading volume in the first quarter of 2023 for the top 15 crypto exchanges showed a 40% increase to $10.8 billion compared to the previous quarter.
The period around March 14-15 saw the most significant increases in daily volume – as the price of Bitcoin recovered from the banking crisis – likely driven by realizations of fiat fragility and the demand for harder assets.
Binance maintained its dominance throughout the quarter, taking more than half of the market share at 55%. However, TokenInsight pointed out that in the fourth quarter of 2022, Binance had a market share of 60% – suggesting that recent regulatory actions and rumors of insolvency have had an impact.
Other exchange targets
Spot volume for the top 10 crypto exchanges increased 16% over the previous quarter to $2.4 trillion. However, this is still down compared to Q3 and Q2 2022 – which were $2.6 trillion and $2.8 trillion respectively.
The same pattern is repeated with derivatives volume, with Q1 2023 showing a 30% increase from the previous quarter to $7.8 trillion. But still down compared to Q3 2022 at $8.4 trillion and Q2 2022 at $10 trillion.
Exchange tokens
Given the wave of centralized finance (CeFi) bankruptcies in 2022, exchange tokens had gained a bad reputation.
For example, FTX’s FTT token was used to support the exchange’s balance sheet – so that the company could borrow against the token. This worked well until the panic selling reduced the value of FTT, meaning that FTT collateral lost support and became worthless.
Nevertheless, the chart below shows a return in trust in the exchange tokens. TokenInsight found all but UNUS SED LEO, and Huobi Token saw price gains – with Bitget Token experiencing 120% growth over the period to outperform Bitcoin.
GateToken placed second, roughly matching Bitcoin’s growth, with a 72% increase in value during the quarter – the other exchange tokens underperformed the market leader.
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