Weekly Crypto Recap - 17th January 2025

This is the first in a new series of blog posts published each Friday which will recap the must-know crypto news each week. The goal is to keep you updated on the most important developments within the industry, as well as the key areas for Haven1. Please let us know what you think and share the update with fellow degens who will find it valuable.

TGIF and happy Friday to our community and Web3 frens! 

Here’s what we have this week:

  • Market overview
  • DeFi 2.0
  • RWA
  • Security
  • The Haven1 take

Market overview

Great news for crypto projects, Donald Trump begins a new term as President on Monday and already media outlets are reporting that he will oversee an overhaul of the SEC’s crypto policies that will reverse the tough stance taken by the agency under its former head Gary Gensler. That may see some existing cases frozen and dropped, with more clarity given for the future!

Trump has already assembled a crypto advisory council, which will reportedly include 24 CEOs and founders from the industry. If he can even pull off half of the goals he has spoken of, it will mark significant progress for crypto and other nations could follow suit.

The inauguration is Monday so we will soon see.

DeFi 2.0

1.Layer-2s gave $113M to Layer-1s in 2024

During 2024 as a whole, L2 chains grossed $270 million in revenue, according to data from growthepie.xyz shared on X by Lorenz Lehmann. But of that revenue, $113 million (42%) was shared back to Layer-1 chains.

Those figures are important to us at Haven1 because they represent one of the key reasons why we have developed our ecosystem to be self-contained. All of the revenue generated from our core protocols (or hApps) including the DEX, swaps, lending, perps and NFT marketplace, will flow back into the Haven1 ecosystem, benefitting $H1 token holders.

2.Coinbase could relaunch Bitcoin loans in US

It is reported that Coinbase may reintroduce crypto-backed loans in the US having previously withdrawn the feature in July 2023.

This is a big deal because this type of loan doesn't require a credit score and they don’t require custody or even interaction with a protocol. Loans are over-collateralized and governed by code. It is not yet clear how the loans would work but previously Coinbase allowed customers to borrow up to $1 million against up to 30% of their Bitcoin holdings.

We’re great believers in DeFi as a bridge to connect people who don’t qualify for loans, savings products or even bank accounts. Coinbase’s product is limited to Bitcoin and the US market, but it is further validation for what we are building at Haven1.

3.DeFi TVL doubled in 2024

It was easy to think crypto and DeFi were dead and buried in 2023 after FTX, Luna and other sagas rocked the industry. But 2024 was a year of rebuilding, and TVL (total volume locked) in DeFi protocols grew by 110% last year, according to a report from CoinGecko.

That jump took the total TVL to $180 billion by the end of the year. Ethereum remains the leader but Solana more than doubled its share of the market

We believe the best is yet to come for DeFi and the growth we saw last year is just the beginning. 

RWAs

1.The RWA market more than doubled in 2024

RWA is another pillar of the Haven1 ecosystem and, like DeFi, it recorded significant growth in 2024.

There’s huge potential to bring treasuries, lending, real-estate and more onchain to provide new levels of transparency and authentication within finance. The total RWA onchain market reached $16.94 billion, up from $8.4 billion on 1 January 2024. US treasuries saw particularly rapid growth, rising from $763 million to $3.75 billion last year.

2.Top German stock exchange sees crypto trading boom

In further proof crypto is going mainstream, Boerse Stuttgart, one of Germany’s top stock exchanges, said crypto trading now accounts for 25% of its overall revenue.

Bitcoin is the dominant cryptocurrency, making half of its revenue from crypto. The exchange operates a retail crypto app as well as a broader digital exchange.

We see a logical synergy between stock trading and crypto trading. In fact, the traditional stock industry can learn a lot from crypto, which trades without borders and 24/7.

Security 

1.More than $2B was lost to hacks in 2024

Web3 saw $2.36 billion lost due to hacks, phishing and more, according to a report from CoinMarketCap and CertiK. That figure represented a worrying increase of 31% on 2023’s numbers thanks to a “growing sophistication” of attacks.

Some key highlights include:

- May was the worst month, with $444.44 million stolen

- Ethereum was the most targeted—with $748.7 million stolen across 403 incidents

- Multichain is a weakness with $435 million lost across 39 incidents affecting multiple blockchains

- Phishing was the biggest attack vector, North Korea is one of the best known attackers using that method

We see security as the biggest hindrance for mainstream crypto adoption, that’s why we’ve made it a core part of Haven1’s infrastructure and ecosystem. Dual-auditing all smart contracts that run on our network, ensuring builders and developers do KYB / KYC, and also building a community of KYC’ed users means that we can avoid rugpulls, scams and other attacks that have plagued the industry in recent years.

The Haven1 take

It’s tough to predict the market right now with President Trump taking office on 20 January. All signs suggest this could be the first crypto-friendly President. We will see if that’s the case early on as Trump is expected to issue executive orders around crypto as soon as he enters the White House. The market is waiting, we know you are, too.

We’ll be back with more next Friday!