Very interesting Q1 2022 according to CoinGecko’s report

Terra (LUNA) and stablecoins are major players according to CoinGecko’s report for Q1 2022.

CoinGecko’s Quarterly Report

CoinGecko has published its Quarterly Report for the first quarter of 2022. 

The report highlights that crypto markets fell sharply in the first few weeks, but then rebounded back to levels seen before the last bull run in October/November 2021. 

In fact, the current total market capitalization of just under $2 trillion is in line with what it was at the beginning of October 2021, before the short bull run that would have taken it to over $3 trillion in mid-November. 

The lowest point reached in the first quarter in this respect was 1,640 billion on 24 February, the day the war in Ukraine began, so since October it has first risen from 2,000 to 3,000 billion, then fallen to 1,640 billion, before rising again to 2,000 billion. 

Taking the prices of the main cryptocurrencies at the beginning and end of the quarter as a reference, only Bitcoin and XRP closed in the positive. 

But the main star of the quarter was Terra (LUNA), up 24% and entering the top 10. ETC, FTT and WAVES also performed well. 

Stablecoins did particularly well, although clearly not from a price perspective. The total market capitalization of the top five stablecoins increased by 13%, with UST, the algorithmic stablecoin of the Terra ecosystem, up 61%. 

CoinGecko’s founders TM Lee and Bobby Ong point out in the report that crypto markets literally withstood particularly high inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Fed’s rate hike this quarter. 

In other words, this could have been a very difficult quarter, but instead it was just a return to pre-bull run figures. They are bucking the trend this quarter to close positive.

Of course, compared to the exuberance of the first quarter of last year, overall trading volumes were visibly reduced (-23%), but global uncertainty played a very important role during Q1 2022. 

Performance of the DeFi sector

DeFi, on the other hand, had a very difficult quarter, mainly due to various technical and financial issues, as well as some implosions due to fraud or serious management errors. 

The report suggests that if geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties continue, we can expect choppy waters in the second quarter of the year. 

It is worth noting that searches for the word “Bitcoin” on Google, for example, have now reached their lowest point in 12 months, returning to December 2020 levels, i.e. before the big bull run of 2021.

In such a scenario it is difficult to be optimistic should the problems that are plaguing financial markets in general continue. However, in the event that they do, the crypto markets have shown that they are still able to bounce back, and hold their own in spite of the less than rosy global situation. 

Macro factors certainly had a huge influence on the crypto markets in the first quarter of 2022, and they could do so again, especially if the situation remains uncertain and problematic. But if the global situation improves, the negative impact of macro factors on the cryptocurrency market could be significantly reduced.