Podcast: Hear Truvius on CoinDesk’s Markets Daily Podcast

Check out this week’s CoinDesk Markets Daily Podcast to hear Truvius CEO & Co-Founder Connor Farley provide market commentary on last week’s price action and insights on a multi-sector approach to the crypto economy: Listen here

Transcript of commentary:

The new year is a time for reflection, and many in the digital assets industry are reflecting on the fifteenth anniversary of Bitcoin—the first and most recognized crypto asset whose price has since grown from ten cents to over forty thousand dollars and whose market cap now surpasses that of Berkshire Hathaway, Tesla, and Visa following a gain of over 160 percent in 2023. Over this period, however, many other blockchains and crypto-powered assets from multiple other sectors of the crypto economy have emerged, representing highly innovative technologies well-supported by equally compelling if not stronger investment cases alongside Bitcoin.

In fact, there are now over 70 crypto assets with market capitalizations greater than one billion dollars. These blockchain-powered assets are driving new and early business sectors like Decentralized Financial Services and Smart Contract Platforms, and together comprise a diversifying, investable asset class rooted in fundamental value. Examples of non-megacap assets driving recent performance include Injective Protocol, Osmosis, and Lido—all companies re-inventing efficient financial infrastructure built on blockchain technology and whose market capitalizations are in the high hundreds-of-millions to low billions.

Market commentators often generalize non-Bitcoin crypto assets as “Alt-Coins,” primarily owing to the nascency of the asset class in the public eye and the learning curve associated with its mosaic of use-cases, but this generalization overshadows the potentially significant early-adopter investment premia for assets other than Bitcoin and Ether.

Evaluating the entire crypto asset class as a whole will be critical in 2024. The two megacap assets Bitcoin and Ether have both seen meaningful price appreciation heading into 2024, gaining 160 percent and 95 percent, respectively, in 2023, supported by a combination of more favorable macro conditions and specific upcoming market events like potential ETF regulatory approval and the Bitcoin halving slated for April. These forces may trigger rapid and broad investment adoption of digital assets and prove highly supportive for the two assets, but investors should keep a close eye on how priced-in these events may already be, and keep a similarly close watch on how fundamentally-driven crypto assets from other sectors of the crypto economy could outperform the megacaps in 2024 and beyond.