CoinGecko recently released its 2023 Q3 Crypto Industry Report.
The report analyses the crypto industry’s performance in the third quarter of 2023 (July to September), and one of the things it highlights is Binance’s annual low in market share among centralised exchanges, which fell to 44% in September.
While it remains by far the dominant crypto exchange, some of that dominance was lost in the quarter just ended.
Summary
Crypto market volumes: CoinGecko’s report
In fact, it is the entire exchange industry that has shrunk.
For example, trading volume on centralised exchanges fell by 20% compared to the previous quarter. In total, the top 10 crypto exchanges traded USD 1,120 billion in the turbulent quarter.
Binance in particular came under increasing pressure from regulators and exited several markets. This affected its market share, which fell to an annual low of 44% from an annual high of 66% in February.
Huobi (now renamed HTX), on the other hand, regained its place in the top 10 and even rose to third place by volume, ending September with a market share of 8%. In Q3 it increased its volume by 86.9% compared to the previous quarter, with a total volume of USD 35.3 billion.
The only other exchanges to gain market share in the top ten were Upbit (second) and Bybit (fifth), which rose to 4.6% and 6.9% respectively. Coinbase ranked fourth.
Kucoin dropped out of the top 10.
It should be noted that there are only two US exchanges in the top 10, Coinbase and Kraken.
Crypto market capitalisation analysed by CoinGecko report
Over the course of Q3, the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies shrank by $119 billion, or almost 10% on a quarterly basis.
It should be noted, however, that this is data collected only up to 30 September, so it does not take into account the significant pumping of the last few days.
From the annual high of 17 April to 30 September, it had fallen by 16.3%, although it came very close yesterday.
Part of this decline can also be attributed to the fall in trading volumes on the exchanges. Specifically, the average daily volume in the third quarter of 2023 is only $39.1 billion, down 11.5% from the second quarter.
Among the cryptocurrencies with the largest movements in market cap were Solana (SOL), which moved from 10th to 7th place, and TrueUSD (TUSD), which moved from 23rd to 19th place.
In contrast, Litecoin (LTC) fell from ninth to 14th and Avalanche (AVAX) from 15th to 22nd.
Binance USD (BUSD) slipped further, from 18th to 27th, but this was because Binance announced that it would abandon the project by February 2024.
In the third quarter, Hedera (HBAR) and Filecoin (FIL) entered the top 30, while Lido (LDO) and Internet Computer (ICP) left.
Stablecoins
The market capitalisation of the top 15 stablecoins fell by -3.8% in Q3 to USD121.3 billion.
In fact, the market cap of USDT (Tether) remained unchanged, but that of almost all other major stablecoins fell. In fact, USDT increased its market share among stablecoins by 2.6% during the quarter.
USDC (USD coin) saw the biggest losses with a notable -8.3%, although BUSD’s -45.3% was a foregone conclusion given the prospect of abandonment.
The only currency to gain was TUSD (TrueUSD), up 12.8%. It is partly taking the place of BUSD on Binance.
Other notable movements were those of FDUSD (First Digital USD), whose +55.8% was also due to the partial replacement of BUSD on Binance, crvUSD (+1.8%) and, above all, PYUSD (PayPal USD), which jumped to ninth place among the stablecoins with the largest market capitalisation thanks to its +113.2%.
The Comment
CoinGecko co-founder and COO Bobby Ong commented:
“Despite the crypto market’s low momentum in an eventful Q3, we are encouraged by signs that TradFi and DeFi are moving closer. Heading into the end of 2023, we’re clearer than ever that crypto needs to chart its own path forward.”
