Crypto Market Trade Volume Hits Lowest Point Since 2020 Amid Market Turbulence

In recent months, the crypto markets have witnessed significant turbulence leading to the lowest quarterly trade volume since 2020. Amid varying economic factors, a bearish perception of investors toward cryptocurrencies and the broader economic climate reflects a dynamic yet challenging landscape.

Kaiko, a crypto market data provider, shed light on this development alongside various key industry trends. Despite the lowered trade volumes, the crypto industry concluded the quarter positively, demonstrating resilience.

Challenges Faced By TrueUSD And Impact On Crypto Market

Prime Trust, the crypto custodian of TrueUSD (TUSD), has encountered financial difficulties, placing the stablecoin under scrutiny. The custodian’s financial shortfall, amounting to approximately $82 million, led to significant challenges, with customers unable to execute withdrawals.

The challenges also included considerable sales pressure on TrueUSD on decentralized exchanges after the disclosure that True USD’s present auditing firm is a restructured version of FTX’s auditor. However, despite the selling pressure on decentralized exchanges, the price of TUSD remained around $0.999.

Kaiko revealed that the potential liquidation of Prime Trust’s holdings could significantly impact the token’s price due to the holdings’ scale. 

Mixed Performances And Emerging Trends

In the realm of performance, the second quarter witnessed a drop in the open interest for altcoins. Layer 2 tokens, which had initially reported gains in the first quarter, experienced a reduction ranging from 20% to 40% during Q2, according to Kaiko.

On the flip side, DeFi tokens wrapped up the quarter marking a decline of 8%, yet picked up steam in June, largely fueled by the rise of tokens like MakerDAO’s MKR and Compound’s COMP. COMP experienced a boost of over 50% as large-scale investors in Binance intensified their purchasing activities.

Kaiko further revealed that the Korean won (KRW)-denominated trade volume surpassed USD in the quarter’s final week, primarily spurred by WAVES and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The spike in volume was largely attributed to WAVES’ price jump after securing support from DWF Labs, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) saw a massive rise following its listing on EDX Markets.

Meanwhile, EUR-denominated volume on centralized exchanges recorded a two-year low since the crypto bull run in late 2020. This trend indicates a shift in European market sentiment, adding to the quarter’s varied developments.

Regardless, the crypto market has shown recovery from its bloodbath last year. Over the last 7 months, the crypto market has grown compared to the bearish trend seen all through 2022.

Both small caps and Larger crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have broken multiple resistance surpassing important levels. Bitcoin has recently traded above $31,000 before retracing below $30,427 at the time of writing.

Ethereum, on the other hand, has also surged and trades above the $1,900 mark and now looking to break past the $2,000 region.

Featured image from iStock, Chart from TradingView