State of Market Q4 2023

Protocol Services
March 15, 2024
Quarterly Community Report
State of the Market Q4 2023

Stephen Basile (stephen.basile@messari.io) • Research and Editorial Coordinator
Peter Horton (peter.horton@messari.io) • Research Analyst

STATE OF THE MARKET Q4 2023 • p. 2
Introduction
This report aggregates market data and key performance indicators of over 40 projects covered by
Messari through our Protocol Services’ engagements. We also included Bitcoin and Ethereum for
comparison. All projects covered in this report are ordered based on their respective market
capitalization.
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Table of Contents
Bitcoin Q4’23 6
Ethereum Q4’23 8
BNB Chain Q4’23 10
Solana Q4’23 12
XRP Ledger Q4’23 14
Cardano Q4’23 16
Avalanche Q4’23 18
Polkadot Q4’23 20
TRON Q4’23 22
Polygon Q4’23 24
Cosmos Hub Q4’23 26
NEAR Q4’23 28
Filecoin Q4’23 30
Hedera Q4’23 32
Aptos Q4’23 34
TrueUSD Q4’23 36
Stacks Q4’23 38
Algorand Q4’23 40
The Graph Q4’23 42
Fantom Q4’23 44
The Sandbox Q4’23 46
Synthetix Q4’23 48
Tezos Q4’23 50
Osmosis Q4’23 52
EOS Q4’23 54
Axelar Q4’23 56
ApeCoin Q4’23 58
1inch Q4’23 60
IoTeX Q4’23 62
Celo Q4’23 64
Sia Q4’23 66
Moonbeam Q4’23 68
SKALE Q4’23 70
0x Q4’23 72
Pocket Network Q4’23 74
Livepeer Q4’23 76
WAX Q4’23 78
Archway Q4’23 80
Venus Q4’23 82
Hashflow Q4’23 84
Boba Network Q4’23 86
Metronome Q4’23 88
Matcha Q4’23 90
SynFutures Q3’23 92
tanX Q4’23 94
Bitcoin Q4’23
Red Sheehan • Research Analyst (bradley.sheehan@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● NFT sales volume was up 1,294% QoQ. Bitcoin’s volume of $881 million in December
exceeded the volumes of both Ethereum and Solana, combined.
● Fees increased 699% QoQ to $502 million. Inscriptions and other Bitcoin programmability
could lead to a long-term security budget solution.
● Inscriptions activity exploded in 2023, contributing to the 85% YoY increase in daily
transactions. Inscriptions (primarily BRC-20s) accounted for over 40% of total transactions
in Q4.
● Several teams are building Bitcoin L2s. Stacks is leading current “layers,” with more
sovereign rollups on the way.
● Spot BTC ETFs are on the horizon. The final deadline for the first ETF application is
January 10, 2024.
Primer on Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) is the first distributed consensus-based, peer-to-peer payment settlement network.
Bitcoin (BTC), the native asset of the Bitcoin blockchain, was the world's first digital currency
without a central bank or administrator. Often referred to as digital gold, bitcoin has a predictable,
stable monetary policy that operates autonomously, giving it the ideal store-of-value properties.
To secure its network, Bitcoin uses a consensus mechanism known as Proof-of-Work (PoW) to
solve the “double-spend problem.” PoW requires participants (miners) to contribute computing
power to solve arbitrary mathematical puzzles in order to add a new block to the blockchain.
Bitcoin is awarded to the miner who solves the puzzle first, thus minting new bitcoins.
Whitepaper / Reddit / GitHub
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Bitcoin

Ethereum Q4’23
Kunal Goel • Senior Research Analyst (kunal.goel@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Ethereum’s rollup network now laps the mainnet three times in terms of transactions.
Strong growth in rollup activity bodes well for Ethereum’s scaling vision.
● Total value locked (TVL) on Ethereum grew by 35% in Q4, with DEX volumes growing by
26% and NFT volumes by 31%.
● Q4 2023 was a growth quarter for ETH, but it underperformed the larger Bitcoin and the
younger platform chain challengers.
● Ethereum's upcoming Cancun-Deneb (Dencun) is finally around the corner. The upgrade
aims to make rollup transactions more cost-effective, potentially rivaling alt-Layer-1s. The
upgrade is being tested and is expected to be released later in Q1 2024.
● Ethereum promises an exciting 2024 with much-hyped launches of EigenLayer and Blast
as well as a potential spot ETF approval.
Primer on Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) is a distributed blockchain computing platform for smart contracts and
decentralized applications. Ethereum’s smart contracts have enabled the creation of various new
assets and industries, such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs),
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), and more. It features an execution engine
optimized for smart contract processing, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Ethereum utilizes a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism where users can run validators to
secure the network and participate in block production. Users that meet the hardware
requirements, run the latest execution and consensus clients, and deposit 32 ETH into the Beacon
Deposit Contract can permissionlessly operate an Ethereum validator.
Instead of scaling at the base layer, Ethereum has chosen a scaling strategy through a network of
Layer-2 protocols. Through this strategy, Ethereum plans to scale while maintaining a high degree
of decentralization. These protocols rely on Ethereum for data availability and security, while they
only focus on fast execution. Ethereum is planning a network upgrade in Q1 2024 that will allow it
to better serve the needs of these protocols by creating a separate transaction type to store data
and reduce the costs for the Layer-2s.
Website / X (Twitter)
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Ethereum

BNB Chain Q4’23

Micah Casella • Research Analyst (micah.casella@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● BNB Smart Chain (BSC) processed a record 32 million transactions in a single day and
4.6 million average daily transactions in Q4’23, up 30% QoQ and up 35% YoY.
● BSC grew its revenue by 27% QoQ and saw its market capitalization increase by 48% QoQ.
● The number of active validators on BSC grew from 32 to 40, up 25% QoQ and up 54%
YoY. This growth was spurred by the implementation of BEP-131 and BEP-159.
● Venus Protocol overtook PancakeSwap in DeFi TVL share on BSC, accounting for 39% of
the total share; PancakeSwap accounted for 37%.
● BNB Chain launched the mainnet of BNB Greenfield, marking the start of a BNB
Chain-native storage network that synergizes decentralized cloud storage with the smart
contract functionality of (BSC).
Primer on BNB Chain

BNB Chain (BNB) is an ecosystem of blockchains, where each chain serves a particular function.
The three core components of BNB Chain are as follows:
● BNB Smart Chain: smart contract layer (will add staking and governance functionality)
○ BNB Beacon Chain: current staking and governance layer (will migrate functionality
to BSC and be discontinued)
● BNB Greenfield: storage network
● opBNB: optimistic rollup (with plans to upgrade to a zero-knowledge rollup)
The metrics in this report will focus on BNB Smart Chain (BSC). BSC is an EVM-compatible, layer-1
blockchain secured by a form of Proof-of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) that combines aspects of
Proof-of-Authority (PoA) and Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS). In PoSA on BSC, the validator set
is of fixed size and is elected by stake weight (staked plus bonded). In addition, validators must
continue staking assets to secure the network, and validators chosen to produce blocks are
rotated (not based on stake weight). For a full primer on the BNB Chain ecosystem, refer to our
Ecosystem report.
Website / X (Twitter) / Telegram
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on BNB Chain

Solana Q4’23
Peter Horton • Research Analyst (peter.horton@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Solana sustained QoQ growth across many metrics in Q4, including market cap (423%),
average daily fee payers (102%), DeFi TVL (303%), average daily DEX volume (961%), and
average daily NFT volume (359%).
● Solana Foundation’s annual Breakpoint conference helped drive growth, featuring many
big announcements and launches from teams including Jupiter perps and token,
Frankendancer, Backpack Exchange, and Render’s migration.
● JTO’s airdrop and BONK’s Coinbase listing further spurred onchain activity in December.
● Upcoming catalysts in Q1 will include Jupiter’s airdrop, token extensions, and continued
progress on the launches of Firedancer and TinyDancer.
Primer on Solana
Solana (SOL) is an integrated, open-source blockchain with the goal of synchronizing global
information at the speed of light. Solana optimizes for latency and throughput, sacrificing some
verifiability. It seeks to accomplish this through features such as its novel timestamp mechanism
called Proof-of-History (PoH), block propagation protocol Turbine, and parallel transaction
processing. Since mainnet launch in March 2020, several network upgrades have brought further
network performance and resilience, including QUIC, stake-weighted Quality of Service (QoS), and
local fee markets.
Network and ecosystem development and growth are supported by the non-profit Solana
Foundation, Solana Labs, as well as other third-party organizations including Helius and
Superteam. Solana Labs has raised over $335 million in private and public token sales. The Solana
ecosystem features a growing set of projects across many sectors, including DeFi, consumer,
DePIN, payments, and privacy.
Website / X (Twitter)
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Solana

XRP Ledger Q4’23

Q4 Highlights
● NFT mints increased 491% QoQ, bringing total NFT transactions up 170% QoQ. In Q4’23,
there were 3.4 million NFT mints, over half of all mints, since the XLS-20 standard was
released in 2022.
● The total market cap of tokens on the XRPL increased 47% QoQ to $169 million.
Sologenic’s SOLO remains the dominant token by market cap.
● XRP’s market cap increased 21% QoQ and 97% YoY, with spikes following the positive
regulatory news. The SEC’s case with Ripple was officially dismissed on October 19, 2023.
● Transactions were up 23% QoQ. This was primarily driven by a massive spike in Payments
in December for inscriptions-related activity.
● Hooks, Xahau, the EVM sidechain, the DID (XLS-40d), and the XLS-38d bridge
continued development. Additionally, there is ongoing voting on the AMM proposal.
Primer on XRP Ledger

XRP Ledger (XRP) has been running for over a decade, offering cross-currency and cross-border
payments, among other features. Core value propositions of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) include fast
and cheap transactions (relative to other currency-focused networks) and native functionalities —
such as tokens, NFTs, a decentralized exchange (DEX), escrow functionality, and token
management.
With these capabilities, the XRPL can execute many of the same functions that other networks do.
NFTs, stablecoins, synthetic assets, and other markets found on programmable settlement layers
are available on the XRPL. Arbitrary smart contracts are not enabled on the base layer as a design
choice to ensure maximum security and stability via simplicity. However, advanced scripting, via
solutions such as Hooks, and offchain computation, via sidechains, adds additional functionality
and use cases to the overall ecosystem
The XRPL is supported by various development groups and individuals, including Ripple, XRPL
Foundation, XRPL Labs (and Xumm), and XRPL Commons. It provides a digital payment
infrastructure not just for individuals but also for existing financial entities, such as commercial
banks and fintechs, with the community's deep interest in B2B and B2C solutions for finance. For a
full primer on XRP Ledger, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Website / Reddit / Discord
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on XRP Ledger

Cardano Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Cardano’s TVL increased 166% QoQ and 693% YoY. Cardano’s TVL ranking increased from
34th at the beginning of 2023 to 11th.
● Cardano’s stablecoin value increased 37% QoQ and 673% YTD. iUSD remained the
market cap leader, but alternative solutions such as USDM are approaching mainnet.
● ADA’s price increased 127.2% QoQ, outpacing the overall crypto market’s increase of
53.8%.
● The specifications for Midnight were released, such as the use of Substrate. Midnight is a
data-protection-focused partner chain/sidechain.
● Core infrastructure — such as SanchoNet, Hydra, and Mithril — continued development

and testing.
Primer on Cardano
Cardano (ADA) is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Layer-1 smart contract network launched in 2017.
Cardano aims to provide security, scalability, and sustainability to decentralized applications and
systems building on top of the blockchain. In addition to the community of developers, node
operators, and projects, Cardano is supported by multiple entities: Input Output Global (IOG),
dcSpark, MLabs, The Cardano Foundation, EMURGO, and more. They work together to support the
network’s development, adoption, and finances while Cardano moves toward the age of Voltaire.
Cardano has taken a unique approach to development when compared to other smart contract
networks. The Ouroboros consensus model allows for delegation of stake, the extended unspent
transaction output (eUTXO) accounting model enables native token transfers, scalability, and
decentralization, and smart contracts were enabled by the Alonzo hard fork in 2021.
With a dedicated community of users and developers, Cardano has demonstrated staying power.
Post-Alonzo, Cardano began to compete in more traditional crypto markets, such as DeFi and
NFTs. For a full primer on Cardano, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Cardano

Avalanche Q4’23
Average Joe’s Crypto • Research Analyst (ajc@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Avalanche achieved impressive QoQ growth in Q4, including market cap (344%), revenue
(2,874%), average daily transactions (182%), DeFi TVL (78%), average daily DEX volume
(245%), and average daily NFT volume (1,490%).
● Avalanche emerged as one of the top chains for inscriptions. This led to quarterly
revenues of $56.5 million, a new all-time high.
● Average daily transactions on subnets rebounded in Q4 (48% QoQ), in part due to the
launches of new subnets Beam and Hubble Exchange.
● J.P. Morgan and Citi announced that they were building on Evergreen subnets, which
could lead to increased enterprise adoption in the future.
● Avalanche Codebase, a 12-week accelerator program for projects on Avalanche, kicked

off in November. Participants have until February 12 to apply.
Primer on Avalanche
Avalanche (AVAX) is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) smart contract platform for decentralized applications.
Avalanche differentiates itself by creating and implementing a consensus family known as
"Avalanche consensus."
Following years of research, the Avalanche mainnet was launched in September 2020 and featured
the release of a multichain framework utilizing three chains: the P, X, and C chains. Each chain
plays a critical and unique role within the Avalanche ecosystem while providing the same
capabilities of a single network, often called the Primary Network. Avalanche consensus and the
Primary Network are designed to support sovereign, interconnected blockchains known as
subnets.
Subnets are subclasses of Primary Network validators that run the same Virtual Machines (VMs)
with their own rules. Subnets enable different properties of reliability, efficiency, and data
sovereignty. They provide the ability to create custom blockchains for different use cases while
isolating high-traffic applications from congesting activity on the Primary Network.
Website / X (Twitter) / Discord
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Avalanche

Polkadot Q4’23
Nick Garcia • Senior Research Analyst (nick.garcia@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Parachain monthly active addresses increased 93% QoQ, from 104,000 to 200,000. This
growth was observed across all leading parachains.
● XCM transfers increased 150% QoQ, reaching an all-time high of 133,000. The total
number of active XCM channels reached 203 by the end of the year, nearly tripling in 2023.
● As of December, Polkadot had 800 full-time developers and 2,100 total developers.
Polkadot ranks among the top three largest crypto ecosystems by developers according to
Electric Capital.
● DOT’s circulating market cap increased 111% QoQ to $8.38 billion. This growth in Q4
contributed to DOT's YoY increase of 94%, placing it among the top 15 crypto projects by
market cap.
● Polkadot boasts a high Nakamoto coefficient of 93. The validator reward model
incentivizes nominators to stake with lower-staked validators, effectively promoting a more
decentralized validator set.
Primer on Polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) is a distributed blockchain computing platform that acts as a base layer for other
sovereign blockchains, called parachains, for validation and shared security. Polkadot was built
using Substrate, a blockchain developmental framework. Furthermore, Polkadot’s base layer is
known as the Relay Chain, which utilizes a Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) consensus
mechanism, and its state machine is compiled to WebAssembly (Wasm).
Polkadot Relay Chain’s core function is to validate and provide security to its parachains.
Parachains are added to the Relay Chain through Parachain Slot Auctions. Today, the auction
process is a candle auction that lasts for one week in which potential parachains “bid” DOT tokens
to secure a parachain slot. However, this model is being updated in 2024.
Lastly, parachains on Polkadot can communicate with one another through the Cross-Consensus
Mechanism Format (XCM). The XCM is a messaging format that standardizes messages between
Polkadot’s parachains, allowing for greater interoperability.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Polkadot

TRON Q4’23
Average Joe’s Crypto • Research Analyst (ajc@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● TRX's market capitalization increased to $9.4 billion, up 87% YoY from $5 billion. TRX
remains one of the top cryptoassets by market capitalization.
● Q4 revenue in USD was up 14% QoQ from $105 million to $119 million. As for all of 2023,
the only networks that had higher revenues than TRON were Ethereum and Bitcoin.
● Total stake increased 4% YoY to 46.1 billion TRX. Stake 2.0 utilization continues to grow,
with 30% of the staked supply choosing this option.
● USDT on TRON built off its strong 2023 and grew 11% in Q4. At quarter end, 50% of all
issued USDT was on TRON.
● stUSDT on TRON grew to the second largest RWA protocol in Q4. Over $2.2 billion USDT
has been deposited to the protocol.
Primer on TRON
TRON (TRX) is a public open-sourced blockchain network using a Delegated-Proof-of-Stake
(DPoS) mechanism. It utilizes an election mechanism that determines who maintains the network.
All TRX stakers vote onchain on which candidates they want to become Super Representatives. In
each epoch, the top 27 most voted-for candidates become Super Representatives within the
active set and take turns producing blocks.
An election occurs every six hours.
The TRON Virtual Machine (TVM) powers applications on the network and uses “Energy” and
“Bandwidth” instead of gas, like its Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) counterpart. Bandwidth is gas
spent on transactions whereas energy is gas spent on smart contract calls. Energy and Gas can be
acquired by staking TRX or by burning TRX to pay for the Energy/Gas required to execute a
transaction. The TVM is EVM-compatible and offers developers affordable and fast smart contract
execution.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on TRON

Polygon Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Polygon PoS average daily active addresses increased every quarter of 2023, reaching
372,000 in Q4. Transactions also witnessed a 93% QoQ increase in the fourth quarter.
● Polygon PoS’s Total Value Locked (TVL) increased by 16% QoQ, concluding the quarter
at $1.1 billion. At the end of Q4, Polygon PoS ranked sixth among blockchains based in TVL.
● Polygon Labs released information about the Aggregation Layer. The Aggregation Layer
(AggLayer) aims to unify liquidity across a multichain ecosystem, allowing cross-chain
transactions, and developers to connect any EVM L1 or ZK-powered L2.
● Adoption of the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) continued to increase.
● The Polygon Protocol Council was introduced. This body, consisting of 13 members, will
be responsible for conducting both regular and emergency upgrades to ensure security of
the network.
Primer on Polygon
Polygon Labs (MATIC) is a software company that develops Zero-Knowledge (ZK) scaling solutions
for Ethereum, including Polygon Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network, Polygon zkEVM, and Polygon
Miden. Announced this year, the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) is a collection of open
source software components that makes it easy for developers to design and launch ZK-powered
L2s on Ethereum.
In June 2023, Polygon Labs unveiled Polygon 2.0, a series of proposed upgrades to the Polygon
ecosystem that aims to unify all Polygon protocols and blockchains using ZK-technology. As a part
of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, the Polygon PoS network will be upgraded to a zkEVM Validium
network that shares security with Ethereum. Polygon 2.0 aims to become the "Value Layer of the
Internet" and brings significant updates to protocol architecture, tokenomics, and governance.
Polygon 2.0 is the future of the Polygon ecosystem.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Polygon

Cosmos Hub Q4’23

Q4 Highlights
● The evolution of ATOM’s tokenomics kicked off in Q4, with inflation decreasing from 14%
to 10% and the introduction of EIP-1559-style fee burning. These protocol changes
triggered the AtomOne fork, after coming from the Tokenomics RFP and ATOM 2.0 paper.
● ATOM’s price and Cosmos Hub’s revenue increased 52% and 129% QoQ, respectively.
Increased revenue helped to alleviate the economic effects of decreasing inflation.
● Daily active addresses and daily transactions increased 56% and 158% QoQ,
respectively. The growth was partially driven by Inscriptions-related activity.
● Neutron and Stride’s TVLs grew 153% and 179% QoQ, respectively. They were the first to
be secured by Cosmos Hub’s Replicated Security and join the Atom Economic Zone.
● The Atom Alignment Treasury and Atom Accelerator DAO were funded for 2024, with
plans to update governance/voting and to fund more RFPs, respectively.
Primer on Cosmos Hub

Cosmos Hub (ATOM) is an individual appchain focused on interoperability and security. It is a
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) sovereign blockchain with an account-based accounting model and no native
smart contract functionality. Cosmos Hub pioneered technologies such as Cosmos SDK,
CometBFT (Tendermint), ABCI, and IBC, which were later used by many Interchain networks. The
Interchain consists of sovereign networks connected by the common interoperability protocol: IBC.
The Interchain is also referred to as the Cosmos Ecosystem.
Cosmos Hub was launched in 2019, leveraging technologies built by the Interchain Foundation and
Ignite (also known as Tendermint). Various groups continue to support the development of Cosmos
Hub and the Cosmos tech stack, including the Interchain Foundation, Binary Builders, Atom
Accelerator DAO, Informal Systems, Strangelove, and others. The Interchain is home to over 100
independent networks, each with its own unique supporting entities.
The Atom Economic Zone (AEZ) is an ATOM-aligned ecosystem set, which includes networks with
various affiliations and integrations with the ATOM token. Networks that rent security from Cosmos
Hub validators, i.e., Consumer Chains, are part of the AEZ. Replicated Security (formerly referred to
as Interchain Security) refers to the sharing of the full Cosmos Hub validator set with another
chain, permissioned by a governance vote. For a full primer on Cosmos Hub, refer to our Initiation
of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Cosmos Hub

NEAR Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Daily active addresses increased 1,250% YoY to nearly one million. The surge is led by
KAIKAINOW, along with Sweat, and Play Ember.
● NEAR Social averaged 700 daily active addresses (+118% QoQ). Several BOS-related
developer tools were released, including the FastAuth SDK Beta, Web Push Notifications,
and NEAR Query API Beta.
● NEAR’s circulating market cap increased 245% QoQ to $3.7 billion, outpacing the overall
crypto market’s growth of 54%. This QoQ growth brought NEAR’s YoY to 246%, ranking
approximately 30th among all crypto projects.
● The NEAR Foundation introduced multiple significant technical developments. These

developments include the NEAR Data Availability layer, a fast finality layer for L2s in
collaboration with Eigen Labs, and zkWasm developed with Polygon Labs.
● NEAR Co-Founder Illia Polosukhin assumed the position of NEAR Foundation CEO.
Former CEO Chris Donovan transitioned into the role of NEAR Foundation COO.
Primer on NEAR
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is the Blockchain Operating System (BOS), a fully crypto-native stack that
unifies the Web3 space into a single interface and a common layer for building, browsing, and
discovering experiences on any blockchain. It provides users the opportunity to connect with
various communities and applications while maintaining their data's privacy, all without the
requirement of owning crypto. The BOS provides a cohesive platform addressing Web3
complexities and Web2 centralization limitations.
NEAR Protocol is a smart contract platform that utilizes a Thresholded Proof of Stake (PoS)
consensus algorithm to execute transactions. NEAR incorporates a Nightshade Sharding
mechanism, which facilitates increased transaction throughput and scalability, takes a novel
approach to basic network functionality, and supports EVM and Substrate via Aurora and Octopus
Network.
In Q4 2023, NEAR introduced significant technical developments, including the NEAR Data
Availability (NEAR DA) layer, a fast finality layer for Layer 2s with Eigen Labs, and zkWasm with
Polygon Labs. These advancements showcase NEAR's technology and strength in advancing
blockchain capabilities and interoperability.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on NEAR

Filecoin Q4’23
Mihai Grigore • Director of Research (mihai@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Filecoin’s storage market continued to grow in Q4'23, as active deals were up 23% QoQ
and 414% YoY. Simultaneously, storage utilization grew from 13% in Q3’23 to 18% in
Q4’23, as Filecoin’s storage capacity continued to decrease 15% QoQ.
● As of the end of 2023, over 1,800 clients have onboarded datasets on Filecoin, of which
465 were over 1,000 TiB in size, up 10% QoQ and 196% YoY.
● The Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) brought Ethereum-style smart contracts to enable new
use cases. Since the FVM launch of FVM in March 2023, the TVL reached over $230
million by the end of 2023.
● The proposal to deploy Uniswap V3 on FVM was successfully executed and will likely
usher in a new phase of DeFi applications built on the Filecoin network.
● The FIP0001v2 community initiative was launched to improve and scale the Filecoin
Improvement Process (FIPs) and governance process.
Primer on Filecoin
Relying on centralized data storage has a major shortcoming: it's hard to systematically verify the
integrity of the stored data. The Filecoin storage network is a peer-to-peer version of Amazon S3.
It’s built on top of the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), which serves as the Filecoin network’s
distributed data storage and sharing layer. Filecoin (FIL) regularly verifies the storage of data and
uses deals that price the storage based on supply and demand dynamics, instead of a fixed pricing
structure.
A storage deal is like a contract with a service-level agreement (SLA) — users pay fees to storage
providers to store data for a specified duration. To keep data safe, Filecoin uses a cryptoeconomic
incentive model that regularly verifies the storage with zero-knowledge proofs. To incentivize
storage providers to participate in deals, Filecoin rewards them with FIL, the network's native
token. Storage providers are also slashed in the event they either fail to provide reliable uptime or
act maliciously against the network.
To retrieve data, Filecoin users pay a retrieval provider to fetch the data. Unlike storage deals,
which involve transactions onchain, retrieval deals use payment channels to settle payments
offchain, resulting in faster retrieval.
The launch of the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) in March 2023 brought Ethereum-style smart
contracts to enable new use cases on Filecoin, including liquid staking, perpetual storage, and
decentralized compute.
Website / Twitter
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Filecoin

Hedera Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Transaction volume saw an increase for the sixth consecutive quarter, achieving a new
record of 164 million daily average transactions. The Hedera Consensus Service is
responsible for 99% of all transactions on the network.
● HBAR's circulating market cap increased 78% QoQ to $2.9 billion, outpacing the overall
crypto market’s growth of 54%. This Q4 growth brought HBAR's YoY change to 211%.
● Hedera’s Total Value Locked was $64 million. SaucerSwap’s TVL grew from $27 million to
$60 million (+123% QoQ) and accounted for 95% of the network's total TVL.
● The Hedera Council has allocated 4.86 billion HBARs ($400 million) to enhance the
Hedera network.
● Hedera continues to heavily invest in its EVM capabilities, with several notable releases.
Primer on Hedera
Hedera (HBAR) is an open source, public-permissioned Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain network.
It is governed by 30 global organizations, known as the Hedera Council, with input on the
network’s features and ecosystem standards from the community via Hedera Improvement
Proposals (HIPs). Members of the Council operate Hedera’s validator nodes while the network
transitions to fully permissionless node operation. Although Hedera's Network operation is
currently permissioned in nature, the division of responsibility across each of the 30 geographically
and industry diversified (collusion-proof) council members is unique among public DLTs.
The Hedera Network offers an optimized version of the Besu EVM for smart contracts (Hedera
Smart Contract Service), alongside a native tokenization service (Hedera Token Service) and
high-throughput data writing and verification service (Hedera Consensus Service). These services
are known as the Hedera Network Services, which developers can use to build decentralized
applications. The network is powered by the Hashgraph Consensus Algorithm, which delivers high
throughput, fair ordering, and low-latency consensus for all transactions.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Hedera

Aptos Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● The Graffio communal art creation event brought 605,000 unique addresses and 1.3
million transactions in a 24-hour period. Community members drew on a communal digital
canvas, receiving an NFT of the final version.
● In a mainnet-like testing environment, Aptos achieved a peak of 30,000 TPS and over 2
billion transactions in a day.
● Onchain order book infrastructure Econia launched at the end of November. It powers
trading on several third-party protocols, including Aries Markets, whose TVL increased by
1,529% QoQ to $30.6 million.
● Aptos Labs and the Aptos Foundation formed partnerships with several large
conglomerates and gaming companies, including Alibaba Cloud, SK Telecom, Readygg,
and BlockGames.
● The Aptos network had an outage when block production halted on October 18. The
incident was resolved within around 5 hours, and the root cause was identified as
non-deterministic code in the FeeStatement module.
Primer on Aptos
Aptos (APT) is a Layer-1 blockchain designed around the core tenets of scalability, safety,
reliability, and upgradeability. Aptos was born out of Meta’s Diem and Novi projects, eventually
launching in October 2022. Core developer Aptos Labs raised about $400 million in two 2022
private investor rounds.
Aptos’ technological stack features many novel aspects, including the AptosBFTv4 consensus
mechanism, the Quorum Store mempool protocol, the Block-STM parallel execution engine, and
the programming language Aptos Move. Aptos Move, which builds on the original Move language
created by the Diem and Novi teams, offers enhanced flexibility and safety compared to other
Web3 programming languages. Aptos Move is being co-developed by multiple protocols.
Other key features aim to improve user experience and safeguards, including accounts where
private keys are decoupled from public keys, transaction pre-execution to explain the outcome of a
transaction before a user signs it, and transaction expiration time and sequence numbers.
Development of the Aptos network and growth of the Aptos ecosystem is primarily led by Aptos
Labs and the Aptos Foundation. For a full primer on Aptos, refer to our Initiation of Coverage
report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Aptos

TrueUSD Q4’23
John TotalValue_Locke • Senior Research Analyst (john.lock@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Supply fell for the first time this year to 2.3 billion, though the number of holders
remained largely unchanged.
● Transfer volume also had its slowest quarter of the year as TUSD’s prominence in
TRON’s DeFi ecosystem waned in Q4.
● TUSD continued to lead in transparency, leveraging Chainlink’s Proof of Reserves and

adding a new partner at the end of the quarter to offer daily reserve attestations.
Primer on TrueUSD
TrueUSD (TUSD) is a fully collateralized stablecoin that offers the security of real-world assets
combined with the efficiency of blockchain technology. TUSD implements smart contracts for the
minting and redemption processes, ensuring real-time onchain verification of the funds backing
the coin. This process is reinforced by The Network Firm LLP, a U.S.-based auditing firm
specializing in cryptocurrencies, as well as Chainlink's Proof of Reserve, which provides additional
transparency and trust in the available reserves.
Archblock (formerly TrustToken) was created in 2017 and launched TrueUSD (TUSD) in March
2018. It aimed to support crypto trading and serve as a stable store of value and medium of
exchange for global transactions. In December 2020, TrustToken announced a transaction in which
“ownership of TUSD is moving over to an Asia-based consortium.” Per the CEO, “the acquisition of
TUSD was led by Techteryx.” Effective July 13, 2023, Techteryx took over all offshore operations,
including minting and redeeming, while Archblock continued to service U.S.-based customers.
TrueUSD has established itself on a global scale, with listings on multiple exchanges such as
Binance, HTX, and Upbit, facilitating trade across over 160 markets and 20+ OTC desks across five
continents.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on TUSD

Stacks Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Stacks revenue (USD) increased 3,386% QoQ and 3,028% YoY to $637,000. Much of this
revenue was driven by inscription protocol STX20.
● STX’s market cap increased 203% QoQ and 598% YoY to $2.0 billion. STX’s growth
outpaced BTC and the overall crypto market.
● DeFi TVL (USD) increased 363% QoQ and 763% YoY to $61 million. ALEX firmly remained
the leader in TVL, but Arkadiko and StackingDAO considerably increased their own TVL
dominance in Q3 and Q4.
● Average daily miner revenue increased 1,015% YoY to $78,000. STX’s price increase and
Stacks’ increased revenue made it significantly more profitable for Bitcoin miners to
participate in Stacks’ consensus.
● The Nakamoto upgrade is expected in April 2024. This update will enable faster blocks,
give transactions 100% Bitcoin finality, reduce MEV, and eliminate forking.
Primer on Stacks
Stacks (STX) is a Bitcoin layer that enables smart contracts and decentralized applications to use
Bitcoin as a secure base layer. Decentralized applications are executed on Stacks and settled on
Bitcoin, leveraging the security and capital of Bitcoin while offering arbitrary programmability that
is not possible on Bitcoin’s scriptable settlement layer.
Stacks has knowledge of the full Bitcoin state, thanks to its Proof-of-Transfer (PoX) consensus
mechanism and Clarity programming language, enabling it to read from Bitcoin at any time. With
PoX, miners commit BTC to eligible Stacks addresses that participate in consensus. This process
of STX holders participating in consensus and earning BTC from miners is known as Stacking. PoX
runs parallel to Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus, hashing and settling Stacks transactions
on the Bitcoin L1. Metadata from newly mined Stacks blocks is anchored to every Bitcoin block,
allowing users to verify the canonical Stacks chain via Bitcoin blocks.
Stacks is a Bitcoin Layer-2 (L2) network, although the terminology is contested as networks
colloquially referred to as Bitcoin L2s do not meet the criteria of L2s on other networks, such as
Ethereum or Tezos. Stacks is the most ambitious programmable Bitcoin L2 (or sidechain) in terms
of Bitcoin integration and modularity.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Stacks

Algorand Q4’23
Micah Casella • Senior Research Analyst (micah.casella@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Algorand's market cap outpaced the broader crypto market cap, growing by 123%
compared to 53% QoQ.
● Algorand added 1.9 million new addresses in Q4 2023, a 72% increase QoQ.
● Algorand saw transactions rise by 58% QoQ, largely driven by the 43% increase in native
ALGO transactions.
● Continuing the xGov grant program in Q4, xGov participants approved 18 grant
applications for a total funding of 1.5 million ALGO ($332,000).
● Algorand’s DeFi TVL grew by 109% QoQ, recovering from the shutdown of Algofi the
previous quarter and reaching its second-highest level from the past year.
Primer on Algorand
Algorand (ALGO) is a smart contract platform employing a variant of the Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
consensus mechanism, termed Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS). The protocol was founded by Turing
award-winning computer scientist Silvio Micali, also known for co-inventing Zero-Knowledge
proofs, Verifiable Random Functions (VRF), and probabilistic encryption.
Unlike other PoS smart contract protocols, Algorand currently does not reward nodes that
participate in consensus, nor does it include a staking lockup or slashing mechanism. However,
Algorand plans to incentivize consensus in the future. Similar to relying on stake weight in
consensus, Algorand PPoS randomly selects consensus nodes based on their ALGO balances
using a Verifiable Random Function (VRF), where having a larger balance increases the holder’s
chance of selection.
Algorand incorporates a system of peer-to-peer relay nodes and non-relay nodes, which can be
configured as archival nodes or to participate in consensus. Algorand’s PPoS consensus protocol
ensures that only one block per consensus round can be included in the chain. This process makes
Algorand essentially unforkable, where the probability of forking the Algorand blockchain is roughly
10-18.
Algorand’s smart contract execution layer is powered by the Algorand Virtual Machine (AVM). The
AVM supports applications developed in TEAL, an assembly-level programming language. With the
developer preview now live, Algorand supports native Python smart contract development.
Algorand Technologies, the founding entity, is behind most of the network’s development. The
Algorand Foundation is a not-for-profit organization focused on ecosystem initiatives like
governance, funding Algorand-based projects, building developer tooling, and encouraging
grassroots development. The Algorand ecosystem features a growing set of projects across many
sectors, including DeFi, RWAs, payments, and gaming.
Read Messari’s Brief and Diligence reports on Algorand

The Graph Q4’23

Q4 Highlights
● As of Q4'23, 1,509 subgraphs have been published from The Graph’s hosted service to
the decentralized network, up 14% QoQ and 144% YoY.
● Indexing rewards decreased by 6% QoQ and 7% YoY in GRT terms, as the GRT annual
inflation was below 3% throughout 2023. In USD terms, indexing rewards grew by 24%
QoQ to nearly 10 million USD, driven by an increase in GRT/USD exchange rate.
● Demand-side revenue in USD dropped 10% QoQ and 65% YoY, driven by query price
optimizations. In GRT terms, demand-side revenue decreased 25% QoQ and 80% YoY.
● The Graph released an upgrade Indexer. It enables developers to upgrade their hosted
service subgraphs to The Graph Network (decentralized network) as part of the larger
plan for the sunrise of decentralized data.
● The Graph released a roadmap to address data service needs, from improving Indexer
tooling to new data services such as SQL, file hosting, and LLMs.
Primer on The Graph

The Graph is an indexing protocol that provides onchain data — such as DeFi transactions or
liquidity pool data — from a wide spectrum of sources. It removes the need for data consumers
(e.g., app developers) to build out complicated infrastructure to get onchain data. Instead, data
consumers pay to query custom APIs of onchain data — called “subgraphs” — via the GraphQL
API. Subgraphs define a data schema to be indexed, making that data queryable. Subgraphs can
be developed and queried by anyone.
To ensure the protocol runs correctly and efficiently, The Graph network incentivizes several key
roles within its ecosystem of both technical and non-technical participants:
● Indexers process and store onchain data from subgraphs. They usually have advanced
technical knowledge to operate nodes. In return, Indexers receive query fees from data
consumers and indexing rewards from new token issuance.
● Curators are economically incentivized to analyze and signal which subgraphs are valuable
to index. Curators earn a 10% portion of the query fees generated by particular subgraphs.
● Delegators do not employ resources to index onchain data; instead, they delegate The
Graph's native utility token GRT to Indexers. In return, Delegators earn a portion of query
fees and indexing rewards without running nodes themselves.
As of Q4’23, The Graph's decentralized protocol supports seven networks with indexing rewards:
Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Fantom, Optimism, Gnosis Chain, and Celo. The upgrade
Indexer supports 25+ other chains and testnets, with indexing rewards pending Chain Integration
Process governance approval.
The Graph ecosystem has completed the transition to Arbitrum One (L2) to reduce gas fees and
transaction times. Complementing this transition, L2 Transfer Tools are aimed to help all
Delegators and Indexers streamline L2 adoption.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on The Graph

Fantom Q4’23
Average Joe’s Crypto • Diligence Analyst (ajc@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● The circulating market cap of FTM increased 140% QoQ to $1.3 billion. FTM
outperformed the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies in Q4.
● Revenue was up 63% YoY due to the emergence of Fantom Inscription FRC-20s in Q4.
Daily revenue hit an all-time high on November 23, 2023.
● The Fantom Sonic builders testnet launched in December. It allows developers to create
smart contracts on the testnet to try out Fantom Sonic’s increased capabilities.
● DeFi TVL increased 58% QoQ to $81 million. The increase was attributed to both FTM
price increases and the gaining popularity of newer dApps like Equalizer Exchange and
WigoSwap.
● The first distribution of the Ecosystem Vault occurred in October, totaling 750,000 FTM
distributed to 12 different projects.
Primer on Fantom
Fantom (FTM), launched in 2018, is a Layer-1 protocol focused on fast and cost-efficient
transaction execution. Fantom became a DeFi hub with development help from Andre Cronje. As a
result, Fantom’s network hosts dozens of DeFi protocols, including Equalizer Finance, Beethoven X,
and SpookySwap. In addition to DeFi, Fantom also supports NFTs and games, like the new Estfor
Kingdom.
Fantom uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism called “Lachesis”, which was created by the
Fantom Foundation. Lachesis provides security to the Fantom Opera Chain, which is an
EVM-compatible smart contract chain. Because Fantom nodes reach consensus independently,
each node verifies transactions asynchronously and is not required to incorporate other blocks
sequentially. This speeds up transaction execution.
FTM, the project's native token, is used for payments and governance. It also enables ongoing
block rewards for validators and delegators who stake FTM. Fantom validators must stake a
minimum of 50,000 FTM. For a full primer on Fantom, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Fantom

The Sandbox Q4’23

Average Joe’s Crypto • Diligence Analyst (ajc@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● The circulating market cap of SAND increased by 89% QoQ from $649.9 million to $1.2
billion. SAND outperformed the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies in Q4.
● Non-LAND activity saw impressive QoQ growth in Q4, including daily average active
non-LAND buyers (73%), non-LAND mints (233%), daily average non-LAND secondary
sales (173%), and daily average non-LAND secondary volume (78%).
● The Sandbox partnered with brands like Drecom, Gucci, Lacoste, Warner Music Group,
Sandsoft and Mediacorp. Several other brands and companies also focused on building
virtual experiences in the Web3 industry.
● 1.8 million SAND was given as rewards to players during the Dr. Bomkus’ Trials event.
Other popular Q4 events included the FallO’ween event, the “Season’s Greetings” event,
the Lotte World experience, and more.
Primer on The Sandbox

The Sandbox (SAND) is a gaming metaverse where players and creators can make 3D assets and
experiences (e.g. games) that can be monetized via NFTs. Please see the full report for a
breakdown of the tokenized and gaming features leveraged by The Sandbox.
The Sandbox provides Roblox-esque gameplay with digital ownership and more robust in-game
economics due to the tradeable nature of the SAND token and the other assets within the Sandbox
virtual world.
Sandbox offers a variety of in-game NFTs as well as user-generated NFTs. The VoxEdit NFT
builder is used for creating 3D objects (ASSETs) such as characters, equipment, wearables, and
art.
The Sandbox was initially launched as a 2D mobile game in 2012 by the software development
company Pixowl. Pixowl was founded in 2011 by Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget. The mobile
game iteration of Sandbox accumulated more than 40 million downloads by April 2018. In May
2018, The Sandbox rebranded as a 3D metaverse game and blockchain-focused development
began. In August 2018, Pixowl and The Sandbox were acquired by Animoca Brands, a
gaming-focused software development company and VC Fund.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on The Sandbox

Synthetix Q4’23
John_TotalValue_Locke • Senior Research Analyst (john.lock@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Synthetix Perps had its best quarter by volume traded. Without any incentives, it powered
over $13 billion for the second consecutive quarter.
● SNX stakers earned record fees in Q4’23, taking in nearly $10 million in the quarter. Over
95% of fees come from the Synthetix Optimism deployment.
● After SIP-2043 passed in the first week of December, SNX no longers offer inflation
rewards to stakers, ending SNX inflation. Previous rewards will continue to vest for the
next year, but no more SNX will be minted.
● The Andromeda release on Base begins the first significant test for Synthetix V3,
featuring a new architecture, updated Perps design, a new tokenomics experiment, and
more.
Primer on Synthetix
Synthetix (SNX) is a decentralized synthetic asset issuance and liquidity protocol that allows users
to trade synthetic cryptocurrencies. Each synthetic asset tracks the price of an external asset
through the use of Chainlink, Pyth, or Uniswap V3 TWAP oracles. Users can either trade in spot or
in perpetual futures markets for synthetic assets. SNX is the native protocol token, responsible for
governance as well as the primary collateral that backs the liquidity of the network. SNX can be
staked as collateral for sUSD, the Synthetix stablecoin, which can be traded on Synthetix for any
other synth (sAsset). Synthetix V2x is live on Ethereum and Optimism, and V3 launched on Base in
Q4 2023. Synthetix Perps is the protocol’s leading product. The DAO uses a novel V3 Governance
Module (V3GM), which has councils of appointees voted on by SNX holders.
Website / Twitter / Discord
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Synthetix

Tezos Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Tezos gaming active addresses increased by 358% and smart contract calls rose by
96% QoQ. This uptrend was fueled by the introduction of several new games like trivia
platform Coin Blast and AI racing game Track Mind, with many more in the pipeline.
● Tezos ranked 30th with 250 developers as of December 2023, according to Electric
Capital data.
● Tezos core developers released the updated Oxford proposal. The revision disables
adaptive issuance and staking extensions, introduces PoS refinements, re-enables
Timelocks, and brings various improvements to smart rollups.
● Tezos added OKCoin Japan as a corporate baker. OKCoin joins Deloitte and Ubisoft,
among others, with Google Cloud also set to become a corporate baker.
● Oxford 2, the latest network upgrade, was proposed in December 2023. It is scheduled
to go live on February 9, 2023, and will bring PoS refinement, further upgrades for Smart
Rollups, and other developments.
Primer on Tezos
Tezos (XTZ) is a Liquid Proof-of-Stake (LPoS) blockchain network, characterized by
energy-efficient consensus with low power consumption. Tezos smart contracts are implemented
using the Michelson language, a language designed to ease formal verification. The network
features on-chain governance and self-amending functionality, enabling stakeholders to
participate in voting for protocol upgrades that are subsequently implemented without requiring a
network hard fork. To date, Tezos has undergone fourteen forkless network upgrades.
Tezos is enhancing its scalability through Smart Rollups and a Data Availability Layer. Smart
Rollups, introduced in the Mumbai protocol upgrade, enable higher throughput beyond 1 million
TPS on Layer-2 and integration of other technologies into the Tezos network. The Data Availability
Layer, built to run in parallel to Tezos' Layer 1, will ensure, ensures data availability by leveraging
the Tezos validators.
Tezos has a vibrant NFT ecosystem, attracting a diverse community of developers, artists, and
entrepreneurs. NFTs constitute a significant portion of the Tezos ecosystem. Additionally, Unity
and Ubisoft have built on Tezos with a focus on gaming, and there is a growing DeFi presence.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Tezos

Osmosis Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Osmosis DEX trading volume increased 241% QoQ to a total quarterly trading volume of
$3.7 billion. Osmosis introduced volume splitting incentives, recalibrating incentives each
epoch, targeting liquidity towards high-traffic, lower-fee pools.
● Osmosis DEX daily active addresses increased 67% QoQ, averaging 21,000.
● OSMO’s circulating market cap increased 400% QoQ from $192 million to $961 million.
OSMO’s market cap ranks among the top 70 crypto protocols.
● Osmosis integrated with Celestia. The integration solution, named Pipette, enables
cross-chain payments and broadens asset accessibility.
● USDC became the second leading token by trading volume. Circle launched its
cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) on Noble, enabling native USDC minting within the
Cosmos ecosystem.
Primer on Osmosis
Osmosis (OSMO) is a sovereign decentralized exchange (DEX) within the Cosmos ecosystem,
focusing on automated market making (AMM) and liquidity provision. Osmosis distinguishes itself
through its AMM as serviced functionality and customizable liquidity pools that allow for detailed
adjustments in trading parameters.
The OSMO token plays a key role in governance and transaction fee operations. Token holders
participate in protocol governance, impacting decisions on protocol upgrades and liquidity reward
strategies. Transaction fees on the network are paid in OSMO and are distributed to stakers. The
ProtoRev model uses the OSMO token for minting and burning to maintain on-chain price balance.
Trade taker fees are allocated partly to the Community Pool, with the rest benefiting stakers.
Additionally, OSMO is involved in superfluid staking, which connects liquidity pool stakes to the
network's security.
Osmosis is the primary liquidity hub and trading venue of the Cosmos ecosystem. As an app chain,
it supports the development of numerous complementary apps. Recently, Osmosis has added
features like stableswap, concentrated liquidity, rate-limiting, and in-protocol MEV capture. These
developments underscore its ongoing expansion as a full-service, cross-chain DeFi hub.
Read Messari’s Brief on Osmosis

EOS Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Driven by inscriptions activity, EOS Native sustained almost 14.9 million transactions on
December 11, with EOS EVM reaching almost 17.7 million on December 10.
● After falling 93% in Q3, EOS EVM’s DeFi TVL grew almost 3,000% QoQ to $2.2 million.
The growth was also driven by the mid-October integration of USDT into the EOS Trustless
Bridge.
● Virtual property game Upland announced a $7 million fundraise, led by EOS Network
Ventures. Upland was the most popular application on EOS Native in Q4, averaging 21,000
daily active addresses.
● The ENF, ENV, and EOS Labs in Q4 furthered ecosystem growth via partnerships, grants,
and investments, including with Spirit Blockchain Capital, CoinTR, PassPay, EOS Stable
Coin Chain, UBOX, Atem Network, and EZ Swap.
● A major consensus mechanism upgrade originally slated for Q4 was postponed to 2024.
The upgrade will bring several improvements to EOS Native including expanding the block
producer count beyond 21 and bringing near-instant finality.
Primer on EOS
EOS (EOS) is a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) Layer-1 blockchain built using the open-source
Antelope protocol. EOS’s founding team Block.one raised around $4.1 billion in a 2017-18 ICO but
slowly stopped supporting the network through core development and ecosystem funding. A
community-led effort driven by the non-profit EOS Network Foundation ensued to take over
ownership of the project to prevent further decay of the protocol codebase and the EOS
ecosystem. The grassroots effort has driven several technical upgrades, including an IBC
implementation, EVM solution, and new consensus mechanism (estimated 2024 launch). For a full
primer on EOS, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on EOS

Axelar Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● The Axelar network’s number of connected chains increased from 30 to 55 throughout
2023. The Interchain Amplifier is being built to increase this number via permissionless
connections to new networks.
● Interchain transactions and active addresses increased 478% and 430% YoY,
respectively, with help from services such as the Squid liquidity router. Squid is frequently
the most active contract by interchain transactions and volume.
● AXL’s price increased 131% YoY. Inflation via per-chain rewards gradually decreased in Q4,
reducing inflationary pressure on AXL. Gas burning will also contribute to reducing supply
increases.
● The introduction of the Axelar Virtual Machine and Interchain Token Service will expand
the Axelar network from message passing to a fully programmable cross-chain layer, such
as maintaining the fungibility and customized functionality of tokens across chains.
Primer on Axelar
The Axelar network (AXL) is a Layer-1 (L1) network that enables cross-chain interoperability
between various crypto ecosystems, i.e., a crypto overlay network. Axelar consists of a
decentralized network; a set of Gateway smart contracts that connect the Axelar network and its
interconnected external chains; and a software development kit (SDK) of developer tools and APIs.
The Axelar network began as a project in 2020, built with various Cosmos technologies to provide
interoperability across Ethereum and other networks. The Axelar network is much more than just a
Cosmos interoperability hub or a cross-chain bridge: it supports the ability to program cross-chain
logic and pass arbitrary data.
The Axelar network’s technology aims to allow cross-chain functions that are more complex than
simply transferring wrapped assets to different networks. To avoid cross-network friction, Axelar
focuses on full-stack interoperability — not only supporting the bridging of any information/asset
but also permissionless overlay programmability, executing smart contracts and dapps across
networks. The Axelar community has a three-pronged approach to ultimately scaling to hundreds
of connected networks: adjusting the network’s economic structure, releasing the Axelar Virtual
Machine to support permissionless connections, and exploring more efficient solutions like light
clients. For a full primer on the Axelar network, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s Brief on Axelar

ApeCoin Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● APE token price grew by 41%, and the APE market cap grew by 53% QoQ. Sell pressure
from an extra 24.8 million APE unlocked to non-DAO entities did not lead to a drop in APE
price.
● ApeCoin DAO voted to cut Special Council pay in half for newly elected members, which
will save the DAO roughly $375,000 in 2024.
● APE token transfers fell to their lowest level in a year. The 30%QoQ drop indicates that
traders are holding APE more than in previous quarters.
● Dolphins ($500,000 – $1 million in daily trading) and seals ($100,000 – $500,000 in

daily trading) grew their share of APE DEX trade volume to a collective 43%, overtaking
whales (over $10 million in daily trading) and lessening whale influence in DEX trading
volume of the APE token.
● ApeCoin DAO voted to fund $1.6 million in grants during Q4, down 92% QoQ. This shows
the DAO’s move to be more selective about how it spends its treasury.
Primer on ApeCoin
ApeCoin (APE) is an ERC-20 token used for governance of the ApeCoin DAO. Holding any amount
of APE qualifies the holder as an ApeCoin DAO member. Members create and vote on ApeCoin
Improvement Proposals (AIPs) that encompass Ecosystem Fund distribution, governance rules,
partnerships, and more. Third-party developers can incorporate APE into their respective projects.
APE is the adopted token of the APE Foundation, a legal entity that administers the decisions of
the ApeCoin DAO. The APE Foundation also has a Special Council, called the DAO’s Board, to
perform certain functions within the governance process. The operations of the APE Foundation
are run by transient administrative entities elected by members of the ApeCoin DAO.
The ApeCoin DAO and the APE Foundation are separate entities from Yuga Labs, the creator of the
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and associated NFTs. See the full report for a breakdown of all the
relevant entities associated with the APE token.
The APE Foundation, the DAO’s Board, and WebSlinger are the primary entities that ensure the
implementation of relevant passed ApeCoin DAO proposals (AIPs).
Website / Twitter / Snapshot
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on ApeCoin

1inch Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● 1inch dramatically increased volumes and market share in Q4’23, executing over $30
billion in volume and claiming 64% of the Ethereum DEX aggregator market share.
● Fusion transactions rose by 66% in the fourth quarter, a strong rebound after falling 29%
in the previous quarter.
● Volume from external sources nearly doubled the fourth quarter’s from last year, likely
showing the adoption of 1inch as a backend solution as well as the growth of aggregators.
● Transactions on the Limit Order Protocol (LOP) and 1inch Fusion increased in the
quarter, while transactions in the Aggregation Protocol fell.
● The amount of 1INCH staked increased, as the DAO worked to configure the resolver
competition to improve token accrual through a fair and competitive market.
Primer on 1inch
The 1inch Network (1INCH) is an all-in-one decentralized finance (DeFi) service provider operating
on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, zkSync Era, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Gnosis, Fantom,
Klaytn, and Aurora. Launched in 2019, 1inch Aggregation Protocol (AP) allows users to route trades
across various markets and realize the best available rate compared to any individual decentralized
exchange (DEX). In late 2020, the 1inch Liquidity Protocol introduced a native automated market
maker (AMM) to the network, which enabled users to provide liquidity and earn passive liquidity
mining rewards.
The network’s third product, the 1inch Limit Order Protocol (LOP), was introduced in June 2021 to
support conditional limit and stop-loss orders with no fees. In late December 2022, the 1inch Swap
Engine enabled Fusion mode, which is partially based on the existing tech, including the 1inch Limit
Order Protocol and the 1inch Aggregation Protocol. This new feature empowers DeFi users to place
orders with a specified price and time range without paying network fees. All three protocols, and
Fusion mode, are governed by the 1inch DAO using the network’s native 1INCH token.
Note: This report includes data from Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum,
Avalanche, Gnosis Chain, Fantom, and Base. Data from zkSync, Klaytn, and Aurora are currently
not included. We are working to improve access to this data.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on 1inch

IoTeX Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● In Q4 2023, IoTeX's network transaction fees saw significant growth of over 3,000% QoQ
to over $212,000. This increase in revenue can be attributed to the heightened transaction
activity generated by inscriptions.
● IOTX rewards to validators decreased 2% in Q4’23. In USD terms, rewards to validators

grew 62% to $1.3 million in Q4’23, due to the IOTX-USD price appreciation.
● As of the end of 2023, the IoTeX Network was secured by 77 active delegates staking 3.6
billion IOTX. The average staking participation reached an all-time high of 36.8% in
Q4’23, up 2.6% QoQ from 34.2% in Q3’23.
● IoTeX’s verifiable offchain compute infrastructure — W3bstream — is expected to launch
on mainnet in 2024.
● The introduction of The Marshall DAO aims to improve the effectiveness of incentive
programs, such as liquidity enhancement, supporting early-stage DePIN projects, grants
for public goods, and donations to the ecosystem.
Primer on IoTeX
IoTeX (IOTX) is a decentralized infrastructure network that enables secure two-way communication
between IoT-powered smart devices and decentralized applications (dApps). The IoTeX Network
combines its EVM-compatible base layer, offchain compute mid-layer, and open hardware to
connect with real-world data from smart devices and dApps.
The IoTeX base layer utilizes a Randomized Delegated Proof-of-Stake (Roll-DPoS) consensus
mechanism. Anyone can stake the network’s native token (IOTX) and cast a vote for one or more
community-voted Delegates, who manage consensus on behalf of the IoTeX Network.
To prove real-world activity, IoTeX collects raw data from tamper-proof devices (e.g., WiFi hotspots
in wireless networks or home batteries in energy networks) via an offchain compute middleware
called W3bstream.
The W3bstream middleware serves as open infrastructure for verifiable data streaming and
processing using zero-knowledge proofs and a general-purpose zkVM. W3bstream also powers
the DePINscan platform — a DePIN sector-wide, map-based explorer-as-a-service.
W3bstream is chain-agnostic. As such, it can support and settle to public blockchains including
Ethereum, IoTeX chain, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism. Following W3bstream’s devnet
launch in June, its mainnet is projected to go live in Q2’24.
Website / X(Twitter) / Discord
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on IoTeX

Celo Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● By the end of 2024, over 928,000 Opera Mini users activated their MiniPay wallet.
Opera’s stablecoin wallet MiniPay became available to all Opera Mini users in Nigeria,
Kenya, and Ghana.
● Average daily active addresses grew 104% QoQ and 3,062% YoY to 143,000. Growth was
driven by P2E game BLCR and universal basic income protocol GoodDollar.
● The first ever CELO burns occurred in Q4, reducing CELO’s annualized inflation rate by
1%. The “Ultragreen Money” proposal was implemented at the end of Q3, burning 80% of
base transaction fees and distributing the other 20% to a Green Fund.
● A framework for selecting an L2 stack for Celo’s upcoming migration was proposed. The
stacks being considered include the OP Stack, Polygon CDK, zkSync’s ZK Stack, and
Arbitrum Orbit.
● Celo’s RWA ecosystem expanded through significant launches and integrations,

including Untangled Finance, Huma Finance, Credit Collective, Centrifuge, and GENZERO in
partnership with TIME.
Primer on Celo
Celo (CELO) is a carbon-negative, mobile-first, and EVM-compatible Layer-1 network in transition
to an Ethereum Layer-2. Celo is focused on real-world blockchain use cases such as payments and
regenerative finance (ReFi). After raising $36.5 million in two private fundraising rounds, Celo
mainnet launched on Earth Day in 2020. Soon after, a public sale for Celo’s native token CELO
raised $10 million on CoinList. In early 2021, Celo raised $20 million in another private round. The
development and growth of Celo’s network and ecosystem were initially led by cLabs and the Celo
Foundation. While these entities are still involved, Celo’s development and growth have become
more decentralized and community-driven, with participation from a globally distributed group of
projects and DAOs.
In 2023, Celo began its transition to an Ethereum Layer-2 (“CEL2”), which is estimated to launch in
2024. Developers are currently leveraging the OP Stack and EigenDA, although the final decisions
on which stack to use have not yet been made. Modifications will be made to maintain several of
Celo’s current properties, including a decentralized sequencer set powered by Celo’s existing
validators, 1-block finality, reorg resistance, and low transaction fees.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Celo

Sia Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Sia’s market cap grew 138% QoQ, ending the year at $373 million after reaching a $451
million quarterly high in mid-December.
● Used storage increased 25% QoQ, leading to storage utilization growth from 24% in
Q3’23 to 29% in Q4’23, its highest level in 2023.
● Sia saw a 72% increase in active storage contracts, despite new contract issuance
falling 20% QoQ. This dynamic points toward either longer contract terms or more activity
toward the end of Q4.
● The distribution of blocks mined among Sia’s four mining pools became more
decentralized, with F2Pool’s market share dropping from 51% in Q4’22 to 30% in Q4’23.
● Sia released the official versions of its renting (renterd) and hosting (hostd) core
software modules to simplify network interactions for storage providers and consumers.
Primer on Sia
Sia (SC) is a decentralized cloud storage network that combines a Proof-of-Work blockchain with a
contract-based storage model. Storage contracts are used to uphold storage agreements between
hosts and renters. Renters define the amount of data to be stored, the timeframe for storage, and
the price. As users and storage providers enter into storage contracts, they each deposit the
native asset — Siacoin (SC) — into an escrow account. Storage providers must cryptographically
prove they are hosting the required data, and if they do not uphold the storage agreement, their
collateral is slashed. At contract expiry, the storage provider receives the majority of the escrowed
funds, with a small portion (3.9%) going to holders of Siafund (SF) tokens. Siafunds are security
tokens that accrue SC to the SF holder from finished contracts on Sia.
Sia facilitates a global data storage marketplace by connecting storage providers (hosts) with
underutilized hard drive capacity to storage consumers (renters). Siacoin can be used to pay for
gas on the Sia blockchain and as the medium of exchange for the storage market. Renters pay a
storage fee, upload/download bandwidth prices, and gas for the creation of storage contracts.
Files stored on the Sia network are encrypted via ChaCha20 and stored redundantly via
Reed–Soloman Erasure Coding. The encryption aspect ensures that uploaded files remain private,
and redundancy ensures security by sharding files. Files uploaded to Sia are split into 30 chunks,
or shards, and sent to various hosts. Only 10 shards are required to rebuild the file, and their
copies are re-duplicated to new hosts whenever one is offline. For a full primer on Sia, refer to our
Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Sia

Moonbeam Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Moonbeam's XCM activity hit an all-time high. The all-time high of 185 messages per day
represents a 108% increase QoQ, driven by enhanced ecosystem activity and strategic
integrations.
● Network usage experienced a significant uptick. Daily active addresses increased 54%
QoQ to 5,000, and daily transactions increased 14% QoQ to 52,000.
● Referendum 139 extended Moonbeam's parachain slot. The slot was secured for 162,800
DOT which was self-funded by the Moonbeam team.
● Moonbeam maintained a strong developer presence. Data from Electric Capital indicated
that Moonbeam's ecosystem was supported by 250 monthly active developers, including
85 in full-time roles.
● The Moonbeam ecosystem surpassed 300 projects.

Primer on Moonbeam
Moonbeam (GLMR) is a Layer-1 parachain on the Polkadot Network, serving as an EVM-compatible
smart contract platform. It provides an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation and a
Web3 API, enabling straightforward deployment of Solidity contracts and protocol interfaces with
minimal modifications. Its primary features include cross-chain integration, staking, and onchain
governance.
The network includes multiple deployments: Moonbeam on Polkadot (December 2021), Moonriver
on Kusama (June 2021), and Moonbase Alpha on TestNet (September 2020). This structure
ensures safe and rapid updates to Moonbeam's mainnet.
Moonbeam's technology stack, built with Rust and Substrate, provides a robust development
environment. It boasts Ethereum compatibility, offering a full EVM implementation and Web3 RPC
API, which integrates existing Ethereum tools and applications. As a key player in the Polkadot
ecosystem, Moonbeam provides developers with an accessible route to leverage Polkadot's
network effects while utilizing Ethereum tooling and compatibility.
Read Messari’s Brief on Moonbeam

SKALE Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Nebula’s average daily transactions, active addresses, and new addresses grew QoQ by
525%, 1,710%, and 1,147%, respectively. Growth was driven by existing games, including
MotoDex, 5tars, and CricketFly, as well as new Q4 launches like DexGO.
● Starting February 1, 2024, SKALE chain owners will need to make monthly payments in
SKL to continue operating a chain. The “SIP 1: Addition of Chain Pricing” governance
proposal was passed in December, transitioning SKALE out of a loss leadership model.
● SKL’s circulating market cap rank increased from 185 to 147 QoQ. Its market cap jumped
by 238% QoQ to $353 million.
● Metaport upgraded to 2.0, bringing RainbowKit support, routed transfers, a revamped
UI, and more. Metaport is the UI widget for the SKALE bridge which enables token
transfers between SKALE chains.
Primer on SKALE
SKALE (SKL) is a Layer-1 (L1) app-chain framework with pooled security. A set of Ethereum smart
contracts manage several core network functions, including staking, validator orchestration, BLS
key generation for each SKALE chain, and more. SKALE supports a network of configurable
EVM-compatible, dapp, or general-purpose chains (SKALE chains). Each SKALE chain is secured
by a rotating subset of SKALE’s pooled validator set. The SKALE V2 upgrade in Q2’22 brought
interoperability between SKALE chains.
SKALE also differentiates itself by offering zero gas fees to end users. To generate fees, the
protocol instead collects subscription fees from developers to create a new SKALE chain. SKALE
contributors SKALE Labs and the Network of Decentralized Economics (N.O.D.E.) Foundation are
specifically targeting gaming and other retail use cases via their development and growth efforts.
At the end of Q2’23, SKL token holders passed a proposal to initiate token-based governance over
protocol parameters using offchain governance platform Snapshot. For a full primer on SKALE,
refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on SKALE

0x Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● 0x’s API consumption volume increased 40% QoQ, growing to $3.7 billion in Q4.
● 0x daily application integrations grew 16% QoQ and 86% YoY, reaching a daily active
average of 93 — its highest level in the past year.
● 0x’s daily average unique traders grew by 41% YoY to nearly 15,000, despite falling 17%
QoQ.
● 0x achieved a rate of failed transactions (revert rate) of only 4%, its lowest in the past
year and the lowest in the industry.
● 0x opened beta access to Tx Relay API, allowing developers to embed gasless trading and
MEV protection into their apps on Ethereum and Polygon. 0x’s key partners include
Coinbase Wallet and Robinhood.
Primer on 0x
0x (ZRX) is an integrated suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure APIs that enables
developers and teams to build financial products on crypto rails. Through the 0x APIs (offchain
routing) and the 0x Protocol (onchain settlement via an open-source protocol), 0x connects
Makers and Takers to facilitate the trading of digital assets. While Takers demand liquidity of digital
assets on 0x, Makers are the parties that supply that liquidity. Onchain makers include AMMs and
DEXs, while offchain makers are professional market makers that provide RFQ (Request-for-Quote)
liquidity to 0x.
0x’s flagship product, Swap API, enables developers to deliver the best-executed price to users
directly in their applications. It does this by aggregating liquidity from 100+ sources, including
decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and private market makers through the 0x RFQ, and its
proprietary smart order routing. The best-executed price is different from the quoted price in that
it is the best rate when the trade is realized, as opposed to the quoted rate subject to price
slippage. Swap API is available on nine EVM-compatible blockchains including Ethereum, BNB
Smart Chain (BSC), Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, Fantom, Celo, Arbitrum, and Base.
The 0x platform also includes the 0x Dashboard, a developer experience tool with instant API keys,
analytics, and monetization controls; Tx Relay API, which enables developers to enhance user
experience to reduce drop-offs in the trading process (currently in beta on Ethereum and Polygon);
and Orderbook API, which enables developers to add limit orders to their DeFi applications
(available on Ethereum, Polygon, and BSC). 0x’s products have been powering the backend
processes for DeFi since it launched in 2017.
Read Messari’s Brief on 0x

Pocket Network Q4’23

Q4 Highlights
● Despite POKT issuance dropping 18% in Q4’23, supply-side revenue (POKT minting)
increased 103% QoQ to $1.2 million, due to POKT-USD price increase throughout Q4.
● Simultaneously, protocol revenue decreased 23% QoQ to $75,000, in line with activity
measured in serviced relays decreasing 45% in Q4’23. As of Q4’23, there are two
Gateways servicing relays: Grove (71% of relays) and NodiesDLB (29% of relays).
● Average POKT staking participation was 53% in Q4’23, down 7% QoQ. Service nodes and
users (applications / developers) collectively accounted for ~95% of staked POKT.
● The Shannon upgrade, scheduled for Q2’24, is set to enable decentralized demand-side
access points for Gateways and application developers in 2024.
● POKT aims to become a broad provider of decentralized data services and support any
open-source service or public database. Specifically, its current focus is on supporting
open-source LLMs hosted by node runners.
Primer on Pocket Network

POKT Network (Pocket Network) is a decentralized node infrastructure protocol that enables users
(applications/developers) to access blockchain data. Users submit API requests (relay requests) to
service nodes via access points (Gateways) that build on top of the POKT Network. The protocol
runs on top of POKT Network’s Proof-of-Stake blockchain, which uses a work token model to
capture value. Refer to the full report for a breakdown of the key participants in the POKT Network.
As of Q4’23, there are two Gateways servicing relays: Grove (71% of relays) and NodiesDLB (29%
of relays). Simultaneously, the POKT Network is working towards further decentralization of
demand-side access points by onboarding more Gateways. The upcoming Shannon Upgrade will
enable permissionless Gateways. POKT aims to become a broad provider of decentralized data
services and support any open-source service or public database. Specifically, its current focus is
on supporting open-source LLMs hosted by node runners.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Pocket Network

Livepeer Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● The usage of Livepeer transcoding network grew 13% QoQ in Q4’23, driven by a series of
live-streaming video events powered by Livepeer.
● Livepeer demand-side revenue decreased 30% QoQ in USD terms, down 38% QoQ in
ETH terms.
● Revenue from staking rewards grew 33% QoQ in USD terms (up 9% QoQ in LPT terms), as
LPT issuance reached its highest level since the Arbitrum migration in Q1’22.
● The Livepeer community approved a governance proposal — called Livepeer Delta — to

introduce a community-governed onchain treasury for public goods funding.
● Livepeer introduced an AI-powered upgrade to Livepeer docs and developer tools, as well
as a revised technical roadmap.
Primer on Livepeer
Building decentralized video apps like Twitch or TikTok requires heavy infrastructure for video
streaming. Based on a user’s bandwidth and device, video content needs to be processed — i.e.,
transcoded — into viewable formats. While cloud providers like AWS, Google, or Microsoft are
commonplace solutions for video transcoding services, they incur high costs.
Livepeer offers an open and permissionless transcoding marketplace — allowing anyone to

contribute compute resources and to compete on price. The network is designed to reduce
transcoding costs for end users by up to 10x.
Within Livepeer’s decentralized transcoding network, there are three key participants:
● Node operators — called "Orchestrators" — route transcoding jobs. The amount of work a
node operator can perform is proportional to how many Livepeer native tokens (LPT) it
stakes. Node operators earn ETH fees and newly minted LPT rewards.
● Transcoders provide compute resources for node operators and deliver transcoded video
content. In return, they earn ETH fees.
● Delegators stake LPT towards effective node operators to help secure the Livepeer
network. Staking is rewarded with a portion of both ETH fees and newly minted LPT
rewards.
Beyond transcoding, Livepeer aims to build the world’s open video infrastructure and become the
go-to decentralized tech stack for developers integrating video streaming into their apps.
Read Messari’s Brief on Livepeer

WAX Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Funko’s licensed Back to the Future collection led WAX collections with over $1 million in
total Q4 sales volume. As a whole, WAX’s average daily NFT volume decreased by 32%
QoQ to $54,000.
● WAX Labs announced $WAX tokenomics updates planned for Q1’24. An optional gas fee
will be introduced to augment staking for network resources. The network will stop
collecting a 2% fee on NFT volume and bridging fees to Ethereum for liquidity rewards.
● WAX’s stablecoin market cap increased by 823% QoQ to $243,000. The growth was
largely driven by USDT bridged by Alcor Exchange from EOS via Antelope IBC.
● $WAX’s circulating market cap grew by 67% QoQ to $236 million, ranking it 187th among
all tokens
● A reduction in the amount of network resources available for free caused onchain
activity to decrease. Average daily active transactions and addresses fell QoQ by 51% and
25%, respectively.
Primer on WAX
Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) is a Layer-1 (L1) network geared toward gaming and NFT use
cases. WAX launched in June 2019 following a token generation event (TGE) that raised around
$60 million at the end of 2017. The network is built using the open-source Antelope framework
(formerly EOSIO), which features Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus, smart contract
programming in C++, a unique resource model with bandwidth and state storage components, and
a smart contract accounts model with similar effects to account abstraction. On top of this core
Antelope stack, WAX Labs built other services, including a cloud-based wallet, an NFT creator and
marketplace, an onchain random number generator, and a block explorer. These services were
built to provide a more familiar Web2 experience on top of the core blockchain protocol. For a full
primer on WAX, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on WAX

Archway Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● In Q4, those who deployed contracts earned more than $11,000 worth of ARCH tokens,
benefiting from a 231% surge in ARCH price. By the end of the year, almost $2 million was
allocated to the Dapp Treasury and earmarked for distribution among developers.
● The number of unique addresses to have deployed contracts on Archway grew from 114
to 167 by the end of Q4, with 263 contracts deployed since genesis.
● The staking ratio increased to 44.5% by the end of Q4, and the chain was consistently
supported by at least 99 validators.
● The infrastructure and ecosystem around the Archway chain grew in the fourth quarter,
with multiple wallet integrations, bridges, and cross-chain protocols adding functionality.
Users executed over 1 million transactions on Archway in under six months.
Primer on Archway
Archway (ARCH) is a Cosmos-native Layer-1 blockchain designed to redefine the economic model
for decentralized applications (dApps). Archway is positioning itself both to facilitate the growth of
the app chain ecosystem, as well as to compete as a Layer-1 on which to build and launch heavily
utilized dapps. By leveraging the Cosmos ecosystem's Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC)
protocol, Archway ensures seamless interoperability across over 50 chains, enhancing the reach
and functionality of deployed dApps.
Archway also has a unique rewards system. Unlike traditional Layer-1 economic models, Archway
provides direct compensation to dApp developers through gas fee rebates, inflationary rewards
share, and smart contract premiums. Unlike other platforms, entrepreneurs and developers
building on Archway can receive a stake in the growth and governance of the protocol itself. This
model aims to foster a sustainable and thriving development environment.
Archway's technical foundation is built on the Cosmos SDK. It features a complete implementation
of CosmWasm, enabling dApps to be developed in multiple programming languages. The
blockchain is secured by the Tendermint consensus algorithm, known for its speed, security, and
environmental efficiency. With these capabilities, Archway positions itself as a leading platform for
developers seeking to build economically viable dApps within the Cosmos ecosystem and beyond.
Read Messari’s Brief on Archway

Venus Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Borrowing demand on Venus increased to the highest levels of the year, ending with
$740 million in active borrows, up 120% QoQ and 74% YoY.
● TVL increased significantly less than the total amount borrowed, leading to higher rates
and a 4.5% average APY for depositors in Q4.
● Transactions fell 22% QoQ, partially because of a high comp but also because
depositors were less active.
● The treasury saw a large outflow related to the repayment of the BUSD shortfall after
winding down BUSD deposits on the protocol.
Primer on Venus
Venus (XVS) is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that operates on the BNB Chain, offering a
robust money market protocol for the crypto community. At its core, Venus enables users to
deposit a variety of cryptoassets, which can then be borrowed. Unlike traditional financial systems
where interest rates are often set by central entities, Venus employs a unique algorithmic
approach. The interest rates for borrowing and lending on Venus are dynamically adjusted based
on an interest rate model. This model takes into account the utilization ratio, which is the
proportion of deposited assets that have been borrowed.
The utilization ratio is a critical component of Venus Protocol. When there's a high demand for
borrowing a particular asset, the utilization ratio increases, leading to a rise in interest rates.
Conversely, when the demand for borrowing is low, the utilization ratio decreases, causing interest
rates to drop. This dynamic adjustment ensures that the system remains balanced, incentivizing
lenders when demand is high and borrowers when it's low.
The protocol is overseen by the Venus DAO community. This is facilitated through the XVS token,
which acts as the governance token for Venus Protocol. Holders of the XVS token can actively
participate in the governance process, proposing changes or voting on proposals. Additionally,
XVS holders can stake their tokens in a specialized vault that comes with financial incentives. Per
the Venus tokenomics model, stakers are entitled to a share of the protocol's revenue in the form
of a buyback and redistribution, ensuring that those who actively participate in the platform's
governance are rewarded for their contributions. For a full primer on Venus, refer to our Initiation of
Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Venus

Hashflow Q4’23
John TV Locke • Senior Research Analyst (john.lock@messari.io)
Q4 Highlights
● Hashflow trading activity on Ethereum continued to grow, with volumes up 7% QoQ to
$1.2 billion and 470 transactions per day. Hashflow migrated its contracts to V3 in the
fourth quarter as well, dampening activity as liquidity migrated.
● Hashflow 2.0 introduces Smart Order Routing and a new deployment on the Solana
blockchain. It also brought UX improvements for traders, allowing them to make more
informed and up-to-date decisions.
● Tokenholders voted to turn on fees for traders, and the team is working on an
implementation that splits a portion of execution savings between users and the protocol.
● After a large transaction at the end of the year, the number of HFT staked returned to
over 6.3 million, while the number of stakers continued to steadily increase, up 24% in
Q4.
Primer on Hashflow
Hashflow (HFT) is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that uses a request-for-quote model with
pricing provided by professional market makers. Hashflow's signature-based pricing offers traders
a guaranteed execution price, MEV resistance, and no slippage. The offchain order routing enables
significantly reduced costs and allows market makers to compete on price with CEXs. After
launching in Private Alpha in April 2021, Hashflow fully launched in August 2021. Since initially
launching on Ethereum, it has expanded to Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB, Polygon, and Optimism.
Hashflow also offers cross-chain trading, allowing traders to exchange assets on different chains
without escrowing or bridging assets between chains. HFT is the governance token for the
Hashflow protocol. In early 2023, the Hashflow Foundation announced the Hashverse, a gamified
experience to onboard new users, diversify HFT ownership, and promote usage. For a full primer
on Hashflow, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Hashflow

Boba Network Q4’23

Q4 Highlights
● ROVI Network accounted for 99.7% of Boba BNB transactions, with 9 million transactions
in Q4. ROVI Network is a “super app” that facilitates messaging, payments, and gaming.
● DeFi TVL increased 107% QoQ, led by Teahouse and Uniswap. This was the first QoQ TVL
increase in six quarters.
● BOBA’s circulating market cap increased 187% QoQ, outpacing the overall crypto market
cap and moving up in overall rank from 579th to 550th.
● The Erigon sequencer client is being used on devnet and will soon be ready for mainnet.
Boba Network is preparing to be the first optimistic rollup on OP Stack to use Erigon in
production.
● Hybrid Compute remains a core focus for Boba Network, with new developments being
tested on the Anchorage testnet. Hybrid Compute enables developers to leverage offchain
computational resources.
Primer on Boba Network

Boba Network (BOBA) is a Layer-2 multichain scaling solution with a focus on gaming. Boba
operates on Ethereum and BNB, and it is maintained by Enya Labs. As an optimistic rollup (OR)
based on Optimism’s codebase, Boba offers reduced gas fees, increased transaction throughput,
L1 security guarantees, and EVM compatibility for smart contracts, such as NFTs and decentralized
finance (DeFi).
This network also has unique features that set it apart from other ORs and Optimism forks, such as
Hybrid Compute — the ability to connect to offchain computational resources, data, and APIs, a
multichain focus, and fast exit bridging to L1.
Boba’s combination of features — specifically Hybrid Compute — enables decentralized

applications (dapps) to run at a fraction of the cost of L1 dapps, leverage offchain computation via
Web2 APIs, and provide the multichain solutions needed for blockchain gaming. Boba Network was
previously active on Avalanche, Fantom, and Moonbeam, but those implementations have since
been deprecated. For a full primer on Boba Network, refer to our Initiation of Coverage report.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Boba Network

Metronome Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● In Q4’23, TVL increased by 33% QoQ, ending the year at over $13 million. This is the
fourth consecutive QoQ growth in Metronome TVL.
● The value of synthetic assets (synths) outstanding only rose by less than 1% QoQ in
Q4’23, led by a $900,000 increase in USDC-denominated synthetics.
● Activity fell in Q4’23 as only 137 new unique users used the protocol. Simultaneously,
transactions fell to 3,087 in Q4’23, the lowest since before the Optimism deployment in
Q2’23.
● Metronome implemented LayerZero in the fourth quarter to enhance cross-chain

liquidity.
Primer on Metronome
Metronome (MET) is a multi-collateral synthetics protocol on Ethereum and Optimism. Its primary
aim is to provide users with tools to issue synthetic assets (synths) backed by collateral, enabling
efficient yield-farming strategies and exposure to different assets without selling. Metronome's 2.0
version includes the formation of the Metronome DAO, the launch of Smart Farming, and a
transition to a new MET token.
Metronome's core feature is Smart Farming: it automates leverage yield farming using synthetic
assets and offers a fixed borrowing rate with dynamic mintage parameters. In addition to
enhancing yield farming, these mechanisms allow for a wide range of asset accommodations, such
as productive ETH positions and their yield-bearing wrappers.
In addition to Smart Farming, Metronome offers a dedicated marketplace for zero-slippage trading
of its synthetic assets, enabling users to take directional positions. Users deposit tokens to mint
synths, governed by a Collateral Factor that determines the value that can be borrowed against
the deposit. These synths function as dynamic debt instruments within DeFi, suitable for various
strategies including trading, arbitrage, and liquidity provision.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Metronome

Matcha Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Volume on Matcha increased by 58% QoQ, crossing over $1 billion as it recovered from
the decline in Q3.
● Total unique traders on Matcha increased by 16% YoY, though declining by 16% QoQ.
● Ethereum regained the lead in share of trades on Matcha, accounting for 26% of Matcha
trades, while the next highest activity chains were Optimism (20%) and Arbitrum (19%).
● Matcha saw a 36% YoY decline in the daily average rate of failed trades (revert rate),
from 9.5% to 6.1% using the Standard trading mode.
● In Q4, Matcha added support for cross-chain trading and made a series of updates to its
limit order product.
Primer on Matcha
Matcha is a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that was launched in June 2020 by 0x. As a
DEX aggregator, Matcha aims to deliver users the best prices on DeFi trades. Using the 0x Swap
API, Matcha finds the best-executed price from over 100 onchain (i.e., AMMs) and offchain (i.e., 0x
proprietary RFQ) liquidity sources. This approach enhances price efficiency and optimizes gas
costs for users, rendering it a more economical choice than direct trading on platforms like
Uniswap or SushiSwap.
Matcha also offers a range of core features that enhance the trading experience. It supports the
trading of over 5 million tokens on nine blockchains, including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain (BSC),
Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, Fantom, Celo, Arbitrum, and Base. Gas fees are conveniently
embedded into trades to cover re-submission costs, alleviating concerns over failed transactions
and eliminating the need for users to hold native gas tokens. Matcha also provides MEV (Maximal
Extractable Value) protection, powered by 0x Swap APIs, to prevent slippage and MEV attacks.
Ethereum and Polygon users that utilize Matcha Auto or route trades through RFQ also avoid MEV
attacks. Additionally, Matcha supports cross-chain trading across seven different networks
(Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BNB Smart Chain, and Avalanche).
Read Messari’s Brief on Matcha

SynFutures Q3’23
Q4 Highlights
● SynFutures V3 testnet and alpha launched, enabling users to trade with up to 100x
leverage. It also helps protect LPs and limit order makers through a dynamic penalty fee
framework. The mainnet is expected to launch in Q1’24.
● SynFutures added Blast testnet to its roadmap, aiming to use the native yield design to
build unique user experiences around zero-fee trading.
● V2 usage brought in $1.66 billion in volume and nearly $1 million in fees paid in Q4’23.
● Activity increased throughout the quarter, with record volumes, fees, and daily active
users. SynFutures V2 also drew nearly 12,000 new addresses that transacted on the
protocol during Q4’23.
Primer on SynFutures
SynFutures is a decentralized derivatives exchange deployed on Polygon Mainnet and zkSync Era.
Though the platform has yet to launch a native token, the SynFutures team is considering it and
recently secured $22 million in a Series B funding round spearheaded by Pantera Capital. Through
a single-token liquidity model, SynFutures enables users to freely list and trade any asset in
seconds, without centralized intervention or DAO proposals. The spot price for each underlying
asset derives from oracles such as Chainlink or spot DEX markets and uses an exponential moving
average to smooth volatility. The synthetic automated market maker (sAMM) model of SynFutures
V1 facilitated over $18 billion in trading volume, serving more than 50,000 traders across 257
underlyings.
To enhance the trading experience, V2 was publicly released in May 2023, focusing on perpetual
futures. This move enabled SynFutures to offer a better UX experience by eliminating the need for
users to roll over positions and juggle separate margins. Additionally, V2 introduced unique
mechanics to guarantee the futures price convergence to the spot price. Unlike other perpetual
futures contracts that have traders pay the funding rate out of their margin account on a fixed
schedule, the funding rate on SynFutures is reflected in a trader’s PnL and is determined by the
price discrepancy between the spot price and perpetual futures contract price every day at 8 a.m.
UTC.
Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on SynFutures

tanX Q4’23
Q4 Highlights
● Launched in mid-2023, tanX's first-year trading volume exceeded $1.2 billion. The
platform has been actively hosting trading competitions and utilizing the Salt Score to
support this growth.
● tanX recorded 5 million cumulative transactions and 6,000 addresses. Activity spiked in
early September following a flurry of announcements and has stabilized since.
● tanX announced $16.5 million in Series A funding. The round included Pantera Capital,
Spartan Group, StarkWare, Goodwater Capital, Elevation Capital, Protofund, and Upsparks.
● tanX is live on Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Scroll, and Starknet, with announced
expansions to Arbitrum, Manta, Monad, Linea, and others. The majority of activity still
predominantly occurs on Ethereum.
● tanX caters to institutional clients. Its orderbook APIs are designed to fulfill the complex
needs of high-frequency traders, OTC desks, exchanges, and brokers.
● The protocol rebranded to tanX in December 2023, formerly known as Brine Finance.
Primer on tanX
tanX (SALT), formerly known as Brine Finance, is a Cross-chain Orderbook DEX amalgamating
qualities of centralized and decentralized exchanges. It leverages ZK Proofs and STARK Proofs to
ensure privacy and security. Key features include scalability, low trading fees, rapid order
execution, and end-to-end decentralization. tanX eliminates gas fees for trades, supports various
order types, and offers simple APIs for a wide range of use cases. tanX caters to both retail and
institutional clients with its focus on a secure, efficient, and compliant trading environment.
The native token of tanX is not live yet, but tanX is hosting a SALT Score campaign to incentivize
participation and reward community members. Additionally, tanX has successfully completed a
Series A funding round, raising $16.5 million from notable investors including Pantera Capital,
Spartan Group, StarkWare, Goodwater Capital, Elevation Capital, Protofund, and Upsparks.
Originally launched on Ethereum, tanX has expanded to include Optimism, Polygon, Scroll, and
Starknet, with announced expansions to Arbitrum, Manta, Monad, Linea, and others. This report
will specifically focus on the Ethereum deployment of tanX, as it is the primary hub of user activity
and transaction volume to date.
Website / Twitter / Discord
Read Messari’s Brief on tanX

State of Market Q4 2023

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State of Market Q4 2023

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Protocol Services

March 15, 2024

Quarterly Community Report

State of the Market Q4 2023

Peter Horton (peter.horton@messari.io) • Research Analyst

About Messari Protocol Services

It is our mission at Messari to facilitate better decision making by providing transparency to

Whitepaper / Reddit / GitHub

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Bitcoin

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Ethereum

BNB Chain Q4’23

Primer on BNB Chain

● BNB Greenfield: storage network

● opBNB: optimistic rollup (with plans to upgrade to a zero-knowledge rollup)

Website / X (Twitter) / Telegram

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on BNB Chain

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Solana

XRP Ledger Q4’23

Primer on XRP Ledger

Website / Reddit / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on XRP Ledger

● Core infrastructure — such as SanchoNet, Hydra, and Mithril — continued development

Website / X (Twitter) / Telegram

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Cardano

● Avalanche Codebase, a 12-week accelerator program for projects on Avalanche, kicked

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Avalanche

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Polkadot

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on TRON

● Adoption of the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) continued to increase.

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Polygon

Cosmos Hub Q4’23

Primer on Cosmos Hub

Website / X (Twitter) / Telegram

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Cosmos Hub

● The NEAR Foundation introduced multiple significant technical developments. These

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on NEAR

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Filecoin

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on Hedera

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Aptos

● TUSD continued to lead in transparency, leveraging Chainlink’s Proof of Reserves and

Website / X (Twitter) / Telegram

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on TUSD

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Stacks

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s Brief and Diligence reports on Algorand

The Graph Q4’23

Primer on The Graph

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on The Graph

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly and Diligence reports on Fantom

The Sandbox Q4’23

Primer on The Sandbox

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Read Messari’s full Quarterly report on The Sandbox

Website / Twitter / Discord