July ‘24 L1 Landscape Recap

The crypto industry has continued to garner attention from worldwide audiences in recent weeks, bolstered by increasing relevance in U.S. financial and political spheres. In July, the highly anticipated launch of spot Ethereum ETFs generated over $1 billion of volume on the first day of trading. As the U.S. presidential election in November inches closer, both of the leading candidates have signaled their interest in winning over crypto users, with Donald Trump promising to create a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” while speaking recently at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, and Kamala Harris’ campaign team initiating conversations with some in the crypto industry in July. 

Meanwhile, the smart contract platforms that underpin much of crypto today have continued to facilitate billions of dollars of trading and other financial transactions on-chain on a daily basis. In this report, we recap some of the most notable trends and developments in the layer 1 (L1) blockchain landscape in July.