The overall cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased by 10%, or a total of $119 billion, in the third quarter of the year from the previous quarter, CoinGecko said in its 2023 Q3 Crypto Industry Report.

Spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges declined 20.1% over the period, while the market cap of major stablecoins also dropped significantly.

" USDC -0.048% saw the largest absolute losses at -$2.26 billion, while BUSD +0.40% saw the largest percentage decline of -45.3%, with a drop of -$1.87 billion," CoinGecko said.

"Despite the crypto market’s low momentum in an eventful Q3, we are encouraged by signs that TradFi and DeFi are moving closer," CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong said in a note sent to The Block.

Mid-August liquidations

The report singled out August 17 as the day that "split the relatively slow Q3 into two parts." That date saw bitcoin's value plummeting from around $29,000 to approximately $26,000, with the liquidation event causing over $821 million in long positions to be wiped out in 24 hours.

The report also highlighted notable changes in market capitalization rankings. During Q3, Solana SOL -5.86% advanced from the 10th position to move up to 7th place. TrueUSD TUSD +0.047% also made progress, moving from the 23rd position to the 19th. In contrast, litecoin dropped from the 9th position to the 14th, and BUSD saw a further decline from 18th to the 27th position.

"Despite it being a pretty eventful three months, the crypto market was absent of any momentum," the report's analysts concluded.