The stock market was relatively quiet this week but that wasn't the case for cryptocurrencies. Another rally took place in some altcoins, driven by investors hoping to find the next cryptocurrency to pop.
According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Uniswap (UNI -2.62%) jumped as much as 28.8% to lead the charge and is up 19.9% from last Friday's close as of 11 a.m. ET. Quant (QNT -5.89%) is up 20.1% in that time, Polygon (MATIC -4.52%), is up 17.2%, and Near Protocol (NEAR -3.56%) had jumped 14.7%.
Crypto demand continues to grow
Binance, the largest global crypto exchange, said this week its user base grew 30% to 170 million accounts. CEO Richard Teng also said inflows from customers were strong, indicating there's more demand for cryptocurrencies overall.
Most cryptos have a relatively stable, and sometimes declining, supply of tokens and that can lead to sharply rising prices when there are inflows into the market. This has been a driving force of the crypto market over the last few months.
Uniswap was one of the tokens seeing higher demand as its decentralized finance platform has seen volume increase and more blockchains like Bitcoin, BNB, and Polygon become accessible on Uniswap. Like the market overall, more activity leads to a higher price for Uniswap, so this bull market is driving the valuation.
The next big token
Gains haven't been even for cryptocurrencies over the last few months. The biggest gains have been in tokens that provide some kind of blockchain utility and that's left investors searching for the next great utility token.
Polygon, Quant, and Near Protocol are trying to earn that crown and that's pushing their values higher.
Ironically, well-known investor Mark Cuban unstaked millions of dollars worth of MATIC tokens this week and deposited them to a Coinbase account, indicating he's likely to sell. He's been unloading cryptocurrencies recently, but this move was notable for Polygon itself.
How long can the jump last?
The crypto market has been on fire over the last two months and that momentum could continue. Over the last three years, cryptocurrencies have correlated with the movement of growth stocks. Interest rates falling and a strong economy have been good for both segments of the market.
What I think will be key in 2024 is moving beyond being a trading phenomenon or a meme-driven industry. A real utility like financial transactions or digital assets in games could help the blockchain prove there's more to what's being built than the flow of funds into and out of the industry.
With that said, it's not clear if the native cryptocurrencies will be the biggest beneficiaries of growth on the blockchain or if tokens like USD Coin will be the dominant medium of exchange. I think the latter makes sense, but for now, the industry is still transacting in native tokens.
The future is still uncertain, but the present is very bullish for the crypto industry. And I'm holding on for the ride.
