OKX TR's Market Assessment For The First Half Of 2024

(MENAFN- B2Press) With the end of June, global markets left the first half of 2024 behind. While the impact of macro factors was felt in the Cryptocurrency markets in the first half of 2024, bitcoin halving, spot ETF developments and increased institutional adaptation stood out. Bitcoin performed over 40% from the beginning of the year to 30 June.

TURKEY - Global markets officially left the first half of 2024 behind with the end of June. In the six months marked by macroeconomic developments, anti-inflation methods and interest rate cut routes of global central banks, especially the US central bank Fed, elections held around the world and geopolitical tensions, cryptocurrencies were also affected by macro developments. On the other hand, cryptocurrency markets emerged from a period of increased institutional adaptation, the approval of new investment instruments such as spot exchange-traded funds, and Bitcoin's re-experiencing the halving that occurs every four years. Mehmet Çamır, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OKX TR, which carries the global vision of OKX, the world's second largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, to the Turkish market, shared his evaluations regarding the first half of the year.

Pointing out that 2024 started with events that supported the acceptance of digital assets in traditional markets for cryptocurrency markets, Mehmet Çamır said, "The crypto agenda did not stop in the first six months of 2024. The first half, a period in which Bitcoin, the world's most valuable digital asset, recorded an all-time high, brought both sadness and joy to the investor. While the halving event directly affected the supply and demand for Bitcoin, the approval of spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the Bitcoin price opened a new space for crypto assets on Wall Street. On the other hand, our country has taken a pioneering step in terms of regulation by adopting the long-discussed crypto asset law."

Mehmet Çamır, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OKX TR, stated that OKX TR, which announced its products with Turkish applications, Turkish support and 24/7 deposit and withdrawal facilities in February 2024, has achieved its goals to a great extent in the first half and concluded his evaluations with the following statements: "OKX continued to establish trust with its regular monthly Proof of Reserves reports and to lead innovation in the sector with the steps taken in innovations such as Web3, Ordinals and Runes. OKX TR did its best to successfully bring this global vision to the local market, both in the field and on screen. We emphasised that we really care about our community with our prize pools, and we made it clear that we are here to stay in Turkey with the physical events we organised. In the days following the launch, we permanently registered our name among the most downloaded cryptocurrency exchanges of the App Store. On the one hand, while establishing contact with traditional finance through institutional collaborations, on the other hand, we became a part of the process with our constructive views on regulation and completed our preparations. In the second half of the year, we will continue to maintain and improve our service quality, bring Turkish crypto investors together with qualified projects, and come together with the blockchain and Web3 community all over Turkey."

In this period, while the innovation of protocols such as Runes and Ordinals in Bitcoin revived, looking at the thematic performances in the overall market, it was seen that memecoins were the winners of the volatile markets.
Memecoins gained 1,834% in the first half of the year. The best-performing themes were tokenisation-focused projects that foresee the transfer of real-world assets to the blockchain with a return of 214% and artificial intelligence tokens, which have taken their share of the trend in global technology with a return of 72%. On the other hand, decentralised physical infrastructure (DePIN) projects also saw a 59% return.

January 2024

According to OKX TR's assessment, the most important event of January 2024 was the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Spot Bitcoin ETFs, which paved the way for leading US asset management companies and their clients to adopt Bitcoin and increased the accessibility of Bitcoin, could not create large upward movements in the price with the "sell the news" effect in the first month.

February 2024

After a quiet January, February 2024 was Bitcoin's best month since December 2020. Spot Bitcoin ETFs were the most important driver of growth in cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin's February gain was over 43%, while Ethereum gained close to 50%.

March 2024

The last month of the first quarter was a month of euphoria for cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin recorded an all-time high, rising above $ 73,000 in mid-March. Spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to drive growth with net inflows of $ 5 billion. On the other hand, publicly traded MicroStrategy in the US also signalled institutional adaptation by increasing the amount of Bitcoin in its treasury.

April 2024

After a very active March, cryptocurrency markets calmed down in April. The economic data that came above expectations in the US and proved that the economy was strong despite high interest rates had a great impact on this calm. BTC, which recorded all-time highs in the previous month, fell to $ 60,000 in April, while Ethereum fell below $ 3,000. On the other hand, Bitcoin completed its quadrennial halving event on 19 April and Bitcoin mining rewards were halved.

May 2024

According to the evaluation made by OKX TR, May stood out as another important month that strengthened the cryptocurrency markets in the first half of the year. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first stage of spot Ethereum ETF applications with an unexpected, surprise step. On the other hand, the US House of Representatives approved the law that recognises crypto assets as commodities and largely gives the US Federal Trade Commission (CFTC) the authority to supervise. Although Congressional approval is required for the law to enter into force, these developments emphasised that the steps towards cryptocurrency regulation in the US are accelerating and especially the potential impact of crypto on election results is also taken into account by prominent candidates. BTC completed the month above $ 67,000, while ETH was trading at $ 3,700.

June 2024

Developments such as the statements made by the Japan-based bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Mt that repayments to victims will begin, and the central exchange transfers of the German and US governments signalling sales, deepened the selling pressure in the markets in late June. On the other hand, in the last days of the month, expectations increased that the spot Ethereum ETF approval would not be delayed until the end of summer. While investors expected spot Ethereum ETF approval in July, Solana-based ETF applications came from companies such as VanEck and Ark 21. While all this was happening, economic data proving that inflation in the US was mobilising for a permanent decline and the increase slowed down began to be announced. This strengthened hopes that the Fed will make at least one interest rate cut in 2024. Cryptocurrency law passed the parliament in Turkey.

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