Ethereum and Polygon Dominate Q1: New Report Reveals Growth

• Ethereum and Polygon have demonstrated their strength in Q1 as revealed by EVM user growth and trading activity according to reports.
• This stellar performance coincides with the respective positive performance of MATIC and ETH.

A new report by Flipside has revealed Ethereum and Polygon’s stellar performance in Q1 2024. The report titled “New EVM Users: Q1 Snapshot” shows that the two projects have maintained their lead in Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains. The two projects maintained a lead in attracting new users and also witnessed increased trading volume.

Among EVM platforms, Ethereum (13.4 million) and Polygon (12.3 million) had the most new users in 2024, together accounting for roughly 70% of the total. In contrast, Arbitrum has added 4.7 million users this year.

In terms of trading volume, ETH is leading with $12 billion while Arbitrum ranked second with around $9.5 billion. Decentralized finance (defi) is the lead attraction for new users. Polygon’s lead in this sector is largely owed to renewed interest in non-fungible token (NFT) activity.

NFT activity was mixed with Ethereum and Base recording a steady increase while Polygon witnessed a steep decrease from its previous peaks.

With layer-2 protocols beginning to curve out a market, Polygon is receiving competition from Coinbase’s Base protocol. Base’s new user base has grown nearly eightfold since January, reaching a record 243,000 users by March 16. This surge is attributed to Coinbase’s efforts to make cryptocurrency more user-friendly for beginners. The report notes;

While this still puts Base far behind the leading EVM chains in terms of overall new user volume, it nonetheless represents impressive growth, particularly since the chain’s activity waned during the final months of 2023,

The report further highlighted how specific applications can influence user choices across blockchains. For example, a surge in new Optimism users coincided with interest in Worldcoin (WLD), suggesting a connection between the platform and specific projects within the crypto community.

The positive network performance coincides with a market surge. Led by Bitcoin (BTC) which reached a new all-time high of $75,000 in Q1, ETH and MATIC posted positive returns. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $3,400 after a 1.5% surge in the last 24 hours. However, the world’s largest altcoin by market cap is down by nearly 7% on the weekly chart.

Polygon’s MATIC on the other hand, is up by nearly 1%. Similar to ETH, MATIC has recorded a 9% drop in the last 7 days. Exchanging for $0.9025, investors are optimistic about breaking the $1 barrier in the short term.

With both networks posting growth and signaling continued growth for the rest of the year, investors are confident that the two altcoins could revisit their all-time highs. As CNF reported, Ethereum’s Q1 report showed tripled gains hinting at bullish momentum for Q2.

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