According to on-chain data released by The Block, the cryptocurrency market experienced a wide range of corrections and adjustments in May, including a slowdown in NFT marketplace activity.
bearish may
In a recent tweet, The Block Research Director Lars H. shed some light on the performance of the cryptocurrency market over the past month. The data reveals a near consolidation phase characterized by fluctuations in on-chain transaction volume, stablecoin supply, miner earnings, NFT market activity, and transaction volume across various platforms.
According to the researchers, adjusted on-chain transaction volume fell by 5.3% to reach $196 billion. Notably, Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a hefty 13.3% drop in on-chain transaction volume, while Ethereum (ETH) saw his marginal increase of 3.2%.
Adjusted on-chain transaction volume of stablecoins also declined, down 4.2% to $464.6 billion.
Additionally, stablecoin supply was down 1.4% to $122.4 billion. Among them, Tether (USDT) climbed to 68.2% market share, reaching an all-time high of $83.5 billion in supply, while Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) lost 22.2% market share.
Miners turned a profit in May in the bitcoin mining sector, with revenue up 13.7% to $916.6 million. However, the Ethereum staker faced a drop in revenue, down 34.5% to $157.2 million.
A total of 204,576 ETH worth $380.1 million were burned in May. This ongoing deflationary trend has continued since January 2023.
On-chain data also shows that 3.36 million ETH worth about $9.76 billion have been burned since the implementation of Ethereum Improvement Proposition 1559 (EIP-1559) in August 2021.
1/13 May summary 🧵
Overall a mostly corrective month.
Total adjusted on-chain volume decreased by 5.3% to $196B (BTC: -13.3%, ETH +3.2%): pic.twitter.com/4ZdzwDr02Q
— Lars (@lars0x) June 1, 2023
The Ethereum-based NFT marketplace experienced a significant drop in May, with monthly trading volume down 48.7% to a total of $652 million. Amazingly, a relatively new player named Blur has managed to surpass OpenSea in market share for the fourth month in a row. The change in dominance can be attributed primarily to the BLUR token incentives offered by the platform.
Moving to centralized exchanges (CEX), regular spot trading volume fell by 23.2%, reaching its lowest level since November 2020. Notable players in this space included Binance with a dominant market share of 71%, followed by Brian Armstrong’s Coinbase with 8.7. %, BTSE at 5.1% and Kraken at 4.5%.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) experienced a significant drop in average daily trading volume, dropping 38.2% to $26 million, its lowest level since December 2019.
BTC Futures Open Interest Decreased
Turning to futures trading, bitcoin futures open interest registered a modest increase of 2.9%, while ethereum futures registered a more substantial increase of 5.7%. However, BTC monthly futures trading volume fell by 15.3% to $778.5 billion.
In the regulated futures market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) reported an 8.4% drop in open interest in bitcoin futures to $1.85 billion. Additionally, average daily trading volume dropped 30.1% to his $1.22 billion.
Monthly trading volume for ETH futures fell 24.3% to $408 billion, indicating a decline in trading activity for Ethereum futures contracts.
In the options market, BTC options open interest fell by 10.6%, while ETH options rose slightly by 5.6%. However, both BTC options and his ETH options trading volume decreased. Specifically, BTC monthly options volume fell 12% to $16.8 billion, while ETH options volume fell 8.5% to $10.7 billion.
The data provides valuable insight into the performance of the cryptocurrency market over the past month, revealing the market is in a correction phase characterized by fluctuations and corrections across various indicators.
One notable trend is the decline in on-chain trading volume, with BTC experiencing a massive 13.3% drop. This suggests a slowdown in transaction activity on the Bitcoin network during the period studied. Conversely, ETH registered a modest increase of 3.2%, demonstrating relatively resilient performance in terms of on-chain transactions.
Stablecoins, which play an important role in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, have also witnessed a decline in on-chain transaction volumes. The overall supply of stablecoins fell by 1.4%, indicating a decline in stablecoin circulation in the market.