Bitcoin Just Had its Best Quarter Ever, Messari Says

Bitcoin had its best quarter ever in the last three months of 2024, research firm Messari said in a March 3 report.

Bitcoin had record-breaking growth in key areas, including price, total-value locked (TVL) and institutional adoption.

Bitcoin ended 2024 at $93,400, a 48% increase quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) and 121% year-over-year (YoY). The cryptocurrency’s price rally was influenced by post-presidential election sentiment, increasing institutional adoption, and aggressive BTC acquisitions by Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy. Strategy purchased approximately 280,000 BTC in 2024 alone, bringing its total BTC holdings to 471,107 BTC.

Bitcoin ETFs also contributed to the cryptocurrency’s meteoric price increase in 2024. Bitcoin ETFs' assets under management (AUM) increased 80% QoQ from $60.20 billion to $108.43 billion, with Blackrock’s IBIT leading the pack. The fund holds nearly half of all Bitcoin ETF AUM and is the most successful ETF launch in history.

Out of metrics tracked, the most significant increase was in Bitcoin’s TVL in decentralized finance (DeFi), which increased by 638% QoQ, to $6.5 billion from $821 million. The surge sent Bitcoin flying up the ranks among the top chains by TVL, going from 10th to 3rd, according to DeFiLlama data.

Bitcoin’s DeFi growth is due to the performance of several DeFi protocols within its ecosystem, such as Babylon, a BTC restaking platform, and Lightning Network, a payments platform. Babylon is Bitcoin’s largest DeFi protocol by TVL, with $4.9 billion.

Lightning Network’s TVL increased by 36% QoQ from $344.8 million to $468.7 million, making it the fifth-largest DeFi protocol on Bitcoin.