Spot Trading Volumes Surged to Record $6.46 Trillion in Q4: CoinGecko

Bitcoin’s fourth halving may have marked the start of a bull cycle, but not in the way that many expected, according to CoinGecko.

In its 2024 Annual Crypto Industry Report, Coingecko said the “market's momentum was significantly driven by macroeconomic policy changes in Bitcoin's 15th year, including the approval of U.S. spot ETFs, central bank interest rate cuts, and Donald Trump’s re-election.”

Crypto’s total market capitalization fell just a hair short of doubling in 2024, ending the year at $3.91 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for 53.6% of the market.

Record-breaking Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter was a time of newfound highs.

The market capitalization of AI agents grew 322% in the fourth quarter alone, jumping from $4.8 billion to $15.4 billion.

Spot trading volume on centralized exchanges (CEX) hit $6.46 trillion in Q4, more than doubling quarter-over-quarter and setting a new all-time high.

The number of transactions on the top 10 Ethereum Layer 2 chains grew nearly 50% in the fourth quarter, with Base accounting for 48.3% of all transactions. Base processed an average of four million daily transactions in Q4, more than triple roughly 1.2 million on the Ethereum mainnet. Base remains ahead of Arbitrum, with a 14% market share in Q4, compared to its rival’s 10% to 11%.

Meanwhile, Solana overtook Ethereum as the No. 1 chain for decentralized exchange (DEX) trading, with its market share breaking 30% in the fourth quarter. Solana’s trading volume was $219.2 billion compared to Ethereum’s $184.3 billion.

For the whole year, however, Ethereum “still managed to edge out Solana,” the report said. It accounted for 33.5% of all DEX trading, compared to Solana’s 25.2%.

Tron was the fastest-growing blockchain in the top 10, with its trading volume jumping from $2.9 billion in Q3 to $9.6 billion in Q4.