April 2024 L1 Landscape Recap

After a momentous three months to start the year that saw the price of Bitcoin hit a new all-time high (ATH) in mid-March, crypto markets cooled off noticeably in April alongside waning optimism in Fed rate cuts for 2024. Over the course of April, BTC price fell by ~16%, marking a trend that echoed throughout the broader industry as overall valuations and user activity declined. In this piece, we recap the main trends across the layer 1 (L1) landscape in April following an especially volatile period for financial markets the prior month. 

L1 valuations dipped significantly across the board in April, with most protocols failing to break previous ATHs despite reaching year-to-date YTD highs in March. As is typical during major drawdowns, the smaller L1s by market cap saw the brunt of the impact, with 8 of the 12 smart contract platforms we track regularly experiencing month-over-month (MoM) valuation declines of 30% or more.