December ‘24 L1 Landscape Recap

December marked a turbulent end to 2024 for crypto markets. Following the U.S. Fed’s final policy meeting of the year, crypto assets joined equities in reacting negatively to the Fed’s suggestion that it would implement fewer rate cuts than expected in 2025. As we saw throughout much of 2024, Layer 1 (L1) blockchain metrics were a reliable indicator of the state of the broader crypto sector, with a handful of notable outliers reflecting specific pockets of growth and activity. In this monthly L1 landscape recap, we recount some of the major trends and developments in December 2024. 

L1 valuations fell broadly over the course of December, with Ethereum and Solana seeing month-over-month (MoM) declines of ~10% and ~19%, respectively. Tron, Sui, and BNB Chain were key exceptions, with MoM gains of ~24%, ~21%, and ~7%, respectively. Sui, which has emerged as a leading L1 competitor to Solana with its parallel execution capabilities, closed out 2024 as one of the strongest performers of the year with a year-to-date (YTD) gain of ~452%.