Author: Stella L ( stella@footprint.network )
Data source: Footprint Analytics public chain research page
In November 2024, the blockchain industry finally ushered in a "big bull market". Bitcoin continued to set new highs in price and was about to break through the important mark of 100,000 US dollars. At the same time, its market value exceeded the market value of the main traditional asset silver. At the same time, Ethereum also achieved a strong recovery, and altcoins achieved a significant rebound. While Bitcoin Layer 2 maintained strong growth, Ethereum Layer 2 grew relatively moderately in the face of increasingly fierce competition.
The data for this report comes from Footprint Analytics’ public chain research page , which provides an easy-to-use dashboard that contains the most critical statistics and indicators for understanding the public chain field and is updated in real time.
Market Overview
In November, the cryptocurrency market made history, with Bitcoin rising dramatically, soaring from $69,386 to $96,427, a 39.0% increase. Ethereum followed closely behind, rising 47.8%, climbing from $2,511 to $3,711. Bitcoin's outstanding performance has enabled its market value to surpass silver and Saudi Aramco, and after approaching the $100,000 mark on November 23, it has firmly ranked seventh among global assets .
The US election results have become a catalyst for the growth of the crypto market, which may have an impact on comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation and regulatory supervision. The market has responded positively, especially in the performance of popular sectors such as memecoins, decentralized artificial intelligence (deAI) projects, and decentralized science (DeSci).
Broader financial markets also performed strongly. The financial sector led the stock market higher on expectations of US tax reform and deregulation. However, international markets were somewhat volatile, with the Chinese yuan under pressure on concerns that the US may increase tariffs, while gold prices fell as election-related uncertainty faded.
Layer 1
In November 2024, the total blockchain market capitalization surged 41.1% to $2.8 trillion. While Bitcoin maintained its dominance with a 68.1% share, it was down from 70.1% in October as altcoins also performed strongly this month. Ethereum reversed its downward trend and reached a market share of 15.9% (up 0.6% in absolute terms), while Solana surpassed the BNB chain with a share of 4.0%.
As Bitcoin continues to set price records, altcoins have shown outstanding performance. Stellar (XLM) led the way with a 466.8% increase, followed by Hedera (HBAR) with a 269.7% increase, Cardano (ADA) with a 201.5% increase, and Polkadot (DOT) with a 130.7% increase. Among them, Stellar's surge significantly reflects the market's growing attention to its cross-border remittance infrastructure and CBDC capabilities, which may be affected by expectations of a clearer regulatory framework after the US election.
TVL in the DeFi space grew 43.0% to $90.8 billion in November. Ethereum led the growth with a 61.6% increase, while Tron and Solana ranked second and third, respectively. While most of the top 15 chains by TVL saw growth, Polygon fell 5.9% as Polymarket saw outflows following the U.S. presidential election. TON continued its downward trend since October, due to a loss of momentum in Telegram games and meme activity.
Move technology stack blockchains maintain strong momentum. Sui hits new highs in token price and market capitalization, while also entering into a strategic partnership with well-known financial institution Franklin Templeton. Aptos drives growth in on-chain activity through its Meme launch platform Emojicoin. And Movement is about to launch its mainnet, and its testnet data is very impressive: according to Movement Explorer , there are more than 6.6 million accounts and 153 million transactions.
Stablecoins remain one of the sectors that are at the center of the stage. USDS is the first major DeFi native stablecoin to be launched on Solana, and Ripple is reportedly close to receiving approval from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for RLUSD. As the influence of stablecoins continues to grow, the industry is watching whether some companies will issue their own blockchains. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino tweeted that his company will remain neutral rather than launch its own blockchain, responding to industry concerns.
Bitcoin Layer 2 & Sidechains
In November 2024, Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechains achieved significant growth, with total TVL reaching $2.4 billion, up 34.6% from October. Competition for Bitcoin liquidity among major platforms intensified.
Core strengthened its market leadership, with TVL growing 55.7% to $890 million and market share expanding to 37.4%. This growth was driven by the November Fusion upgrade, which introduced dual staking and Liquid Bitcoin Staking (LstBTC), enabling users to earn higher yields while maintaining liquidity on Core’s BTCfi platform.
Bitlayer maintained its second position with a TVL of $580 million, but its market share dropped to 24.4%. BSquared continued to grow, increasing 53.1% month-over-month to $260 million TVL, jumping to third place, while Rootstock ranked fourth with a TVL of $240 million.
At the BTCfi project level, Pell Network is the leader with $400 million in TVL, followed by strong performance on multiple chains from Avalon Finance (Bitlayer and Core) and DeSyn (Bitlayer), each with over $200 million in TVL.
Ethereum Layer 2
In November 2024, the total TVL (canonical bridge portion) of Ethereum Layer 2 solutions reached US$27.5 billion, an increase of 2.0% from October, continuing to lag behind the growth rate of Bitcoin scaling solutions.
Arbitrum One maintained its leadership with $11.3 billion in TVL and 41.0% market share, while Base surpassed Optimism to take the second position with $5.1 billion in TVL and 18.6% share, thanks to a surge in activity from Farcaster-based social meme deployment platform Clanker and AI agent creation and deployment platform Virtuals Protocol. Meanwhile, Optimism's market share fell to 17.3%.
Starknet TVL increased by 5.1%, surpassing Blast to rank fourth, while Blast continued to decline, down 14.5%. Starknet's growth was due to the launch of STRK staking on November 26 and CEO Eli Ben Sasson's commitment to significantly improve performance in the next quarter. Meanwhile, World Chain performed well, with TVL increasing by 131.4% to $570 million.
In November, the Ethereum Foundation, which is under pressure from public opinion, strengthened its financial transparency by publishing a 2024 report, while outlining its core values and funding strategy. Vitalik Buterin emphasized the future development of Ethereum, including the implementation of DAS to enhance Layer 2 scalability, and infrastructure improvements to support diverse applications from ENS to consumer payments.
Blockchain Game Public Chain
In November, the number of active blockchain games increased by 4.6% to 1,696. BNB Chain, Polygon and Ethereum maintained their market leadership in game distribution, with shares of 20.9%, 15.4% and 13.4% respectively.
The user engagement landscape has seen new changes, with opBNB, Ronin , and Nebula (SKALE) leading with 1.8 million, 900,000, and 400,000 average daily active users (DAU) respectively. OpBNB's DAU grew 46.1%, driven by SERAPH: In The Darkness and MEET48, as well as the migration of some games from the BNB chain to opBNB. Meanwhile, Ronin showed a strong recovery, with the launch of the new game Fableborne and the renewed growth of Lumiterra.
Telegram-based games showed mixed results. While the TON ecosystem faced challenges, with DAUs falling 41.9% to 116,400, Sui bucked the trend with DAUs growing 23.1% to 233,300, largely due to the success of BIRDS and significant user retention metrics.
For more data insights, please refer to " November 2024 Blockchain Game Research Report: GameFi's Breakthrough under the Bull Market ".
Financing
In November 2024, 12 blockchain funding events were recorded, with a total amount of US$79.8 million, down 23.3% from October and the lowest monthly figure since August. Five of the events did not disclose the specific funding amount.
Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs) became the largest funding recipient this month, announcing a $40 million seed round and $250 million in token purchase commitments. The company has pivoted from its original position as a modular blockchain provider to a crypto AI startup developing a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS) for building AI applications on-chain.
Several Layer 1 blockchains received funding this month, including Cytonic, Pharos, Talus Network, EtraPay, and Datalayer. Notably, AvaCloud, a managed blockchain service provider built by Ava Labs, acquired EtraPay, gaining a team of well-known privacy technology experts and the innovative crypto token standard Encrypted ERC (eERC).
The Layer 2 ecosystem continues to maintain investment activity, with six projects receiving new rounds of financing, including Bitfinity and Lnfi Network on Bitcoin Layer 2, Heurist and Corn on Ethereum Layer 2, and other Layer 2 projects Akave and AgentLayer.
