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Guide to Crypto Markets - Q2 2024

A joint publication of Coinbase Institutional and Glassnode, the Guide to Crypto Markets provides a comprehensive view of the metrics and trends that matter the most to institutional investors.

April 17, 2024

Market Intelligence

40 minutes

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Key takeaways

  • Crypto bull cycles hit different. The past two bull markets lasted 3.5 years. We’re 1.5 years in. The past two bull markets saw prices increase 113x and 19x. Prices have increased 4x.
  • The crypto pie has never been larger. 3 quick facts. (1) ETF inflows have brought $12B in new capital into the space. (2) ETFs now own ~$60B in bitcoin. (3) Spot bitcoin ETFs have been the fastest-growing ETF launches in history.
  • A small allocation of crypto increases risk-adjusted returns meaningfully. From April 2019 to March 2024, a traditional 60/40 resulted in 33.3% returns. But adding just 3% crypto increased returns to 52.9%. Adding 5% crypto increased returns to 67.0%.

Written by

  • Coinbase Institutional
  • Glassnode

The Guide to Crypto Markets is a new quarterly publication from Coinbase Institutional and Glassnode that provides an in-depth view of crypto markets, including deep dives into onchain analytics and advanced metrics for bitcoin and ether. Below is a snippet of the report.

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Crypto Marches Forward

It was a historic quarter for crypto markets. The long-awaited and oft-delayed spot bitcoin ETFs finally debuted in January to great excitement and record-breaking inflows that surpassed even the most optimistic projections. Bitcoin hit a new all-time high shortly after, and trading volumes have soared across both spot and derivatives exchanges as crypto enters a new stage in its maturation as an asset class.

While bitcoin and ETFs grabbed many of the headlines, they were hardly the only story. Ethereum staged an impressive rally as well, and the successful Dencun upgrade has dramatically lowered fees on the network and led to a surge in decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. Meanwhile, investor enthusiasm for assets beyond the big two of BTC and ETH sent the prices of many altcoins sharply higher as well. Stablecoin issuance also rose meaningfully as market participants continue to find use cases for these novel assets.

In this second edition of the Guide to Crypto Markets, we go beyond the headlines and dig deep into market data and onchain analytics to provide institutional investors with insights to understand the trends that are shaping markets today, and how they may impact the dynamic crypto economy going forward. We begin by providing a look at the upcoming Bitcoin Halving and a breakdown of the activity behind the meteoric rise of ETFs before diving deep into bitcoin, ether, stablecoins, and more.

We hope you find the Guide useful as you navigate crypto markets, and we welcome your feedback and questions.

David Duong, Head of Institutional Research, Coinbase

James Check, Lead Analyst, Glassnode

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