In the dynamic and constantly evolving world of cryptocurrency, Layer-1 (L1) protocol Fantom (FTM) and its native token FTM have made an impressive splash in the first trimester of 2024. The comprehensive analysis carried out by financial intelligence company Messari reveals that amidst the nascent bull market of cryptocurrency, FTM has enjoyed significant achievements and considerable growth.
Throughout the first quarter, FTM’s circulating market capitalization exhibited a robust increase of 101% quarter-over-quarter, leaping from a modest $1.3 billion to a staggering $2.6 billion. This exponential growth catapulted FTM ten places ahead, making it the 48th ranked token among all tokens, a substantial improvement from its previous 58th ranking. The climb didn’t stop there, though – FTM continued its ascent over two successive quarters, leading to a fourfold surge since the conclusion of the third quarter in 2023.
However, every journey to success inevitably sees some setbacks. The revenue for Fantom reflected in FTM saw a decrease of 53%, totaling to approximately 1.8 million FTM. However, things weren’t so gloomy when the revenue was observed in USD metrics, where it manifested a 4% increment, touching the $1.2 million mark.
According to Messari, this decline in revenue was attributed to reduced activity across all smart contract platforms during the quarter. Despite the setback, Fantom’s resilience was shown in its upward trend in average daily transactions, discounting any activity related to inscriptions. It managed to surpass the Q3 average by reaching 247,000 daily transactions. There was also a rebound in daily active addresses, with a 24% quarter-over-quarter rise, resulting in about 40,500 active addresses each day.
Another important development was in the realm of staking. To make things more accessible, the staking requirement for Fantom validators was significantly brought down from 500,000 FTM to a mere 50,000 FTM. However, this change did not sway the number of active validators, which remained constant at 55. Interestingly, the total quantity of FTM staked saw an increase of 17% quarter-over-quarter, growing from 1.1 billion to 1.3 billion FTM. This increase led to a notable 135% quarter-over-quarter rise in the total dollar value of staked FTM, now standing at an impressive $1.2 billion.
The first quarter of the year also welcomed a significant growth in Total Value Locked (TVL), denominated in USD. From $810.8 million, it saw a 59% increase quarter-over-quarter to become $1.28 billion. However, when considering the TVL denominated in FTM, there was a decrease of 21%. This signified that FTM’s price appreciation played a key role in the escalation of USD-denominated TVL.
The role of the ‘Memecoin Mania’ also cannot be overlooked, as its influence contributed to an elevated on-chain activity across various networks, including Fantom. This was further evidenced by Fantom’s average daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume, which witnessed a leap by 64%, from $10.2 million to nearly $176.8 million. By the close of the quarter, the number of DEXs on Fantom had grown to 31, without any individual DEX commanding more than 30% of the market share.
The journey of FTM would be incomplete without recalling the exploit in the Multichain: Fantom Bridge, which had a profound impact on stablecoins on Fantom in Q3, 2023. Prompting the Fantom Foundation to take steps to enhance the liquidity of stablecoins.
The present situation sees the value of the FTM token standing at $0.7037, having gained by 8.7% over the preceding week. However, on a monthly scale, it experienced a decline of nearly 20%. Yet, in the fluctuating world of cryptocurrency, these numbers are just footnotes in Fantom’s long and exciting journey.
, a Layer-1 protocol and native token, has seen impressive growth amidst the crypto’s bull market, rising from a $1.3 billion market cap to $2.6 billion in Q1 of 2024.){kind=link}