From cointelegraph by Gleb K

HTX Ventures recently released the 2024 annual report that discusses the key developments in five sectors: the Bitcoin ecosystem, blockchain infrastructure, memecoins, artificial intelligence and The Open Network (TON) ecosystem. The report examines the changes in these areas over the last 12 months. Its analysis is complemented by a macroeconomic overview and market projections.

Download a full version of the report for free here

Bitcoin as an epicenter of innovation

Bitcoin has been the foremost subject of discussion throughout 2024. The year started with the approval of Bitcoin ETFs and came to an end with Bitcoin breaking the psychological price level of $100K. In terms of market dominance, BTC rallied from 51.92% to 60.1% before dropping to 57.09% (Figure 1) most recently. The asset still holds most of the liquidity in the crypto market.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin scaling solutions have once again attracted interest and multiple layer-2 chains were launched in 2024. The layer-2 landscape for Bitcoin now involves technologies as diverse as spider-chains (Botanix), zk-Rollups (Nexio and Critea), EVM-compatible chains (BOB and BSquared) and Sidechains (Merlin, Element, RSK). The cumulative TVL (total value locked) of the 19 dominant Bitcoin layer-2 blockchains has surpassed $2.5 billion.

Bitcoin development has also seen increased discussion and activity on the main chain. New inscription protocols such as BRC-20, Ordinals and Runes were created in recent months. However, the true game-changer for Bitcoin-based assets is expected to happen next year if OP_CAT or some alternative covenant proposal is activated. For a deeper dive into what OP_CAT unlocks for the Bitcoin blockchain, read HTX Ventures’ detailed report. 

Download a full version of the report for free here

Memecoins drive retail crypto adoption

In 2024, the memecoin sector once again became a hotspot of the crypto market. Characterized by their accessibility and low barrier to entry, Meme projects have become attractive to new users. Solana was the epicenter of the memecoin boom this year. Pump.fun, a fair launch platform on Solana, provides simple and intuitive token creation tools and mechanisms for automated liquidity injection into decentralized exchanges. As of November 2024, over 40,000 projects have graduated from Pump.fun to Raydium. This activity generated a cumulative revenue of over 1.17 million Solana SOL$216.44, equivalent to about $200 million. Other blockchains, such as Tron and Sui, have also quickly adopted meme strategies.