Despite persistent volatility in the cryptocurrency space, a clear story of infrastructure and utility growth is emerging as evidenced by this week’s performance figures from the CoinMarketCap leaderboard. The market is becoming increasingly selective in its treatment of different projects, with only those that add real-world value to ecosystems being rewarded. Although historically much of the sentiment has been driven by Bitcoin and Ethereum, small-cap cryptocurrencies appear to be the best bets for long-term appreciation today.
The Frontrunners – BUILDOn and Venice Token
BUILDOn (B) is leading the way in weekly gains, having increased by more than 82.78%. This major price increase is indicative of growing investor interest in decentralized development frameworks. BUILDOn’s prices are seeing increased activity and demand indicating high interest in “builder” ecosystems that will assist in bringing about the widespread adoption of decentralized apps (dApps).
The value of the Venice Token (VVV) has risen significantly over the past week, with price $16.67, and has now been appreciated by 79.45%. VVV has performed well amongst other DeFi tokens based on weekly usage, which points to a consistent trend of growing usage across many similar tokens (to Venice) regarding liquidity and governance. This increase is happening as the associated platforms are achieving major milestones concerning the Total Value Locked (TVL) and number of users.
Niche Growth – Siren and Humanity
The Weekly Leaderboard further demonstrates the successes of more narrowly focused initiatives. The Siren (SIREN) decentralized options and insurance protocol displayed an incredible 56.73% increase demonstrating the strength of decentralized options as well as the strength of decentralized insurance protocols. Meanwhile, the Humanity (H) project had a successful week with a 36.30% increase in marketability and popularity as well as interest in general proof of personhood and identity based blockchain solutions.
This rise in Humanity is part of a broader movement toward a new generation of Web3 ecosystems. These platforms allow users to earn rewards through both blockchain participation and real-world activities. This combination of the real world with the blockchain is providing a major catalyst for community driven growth and token value appreciation.
Established Giants – Internet Computer and Sui
Sui (SUI) and the Internet Computer (ICP) were both in the week’s highest performing blockchains. ICP saw a growth of 34.79% this week, demonstrating a renewed level of confidence in providing a decentralized option for traditional cloud computing.
Sui climbed 31.90%, but the most impressive stat for Sui is that it had the largest 24-hour trading volume at over $1 billion. And reports suggest that Sui is rapidly adopting within the DeFi community because of its efficient processing of a lot of transactions at very low costs, which will likely put it at the top of institutional-grade applications.
Conclusion
According to CoinMarketCap’s data, the blockchain and crypto markets are evolving into more than just speculation-driven markets. The infrastructure strength of BUILDOn and the giant liquidity flowing through Sui are two examples of that maturity. Weekly gainers show that building the new pillars of the web, or what is referred to as Web3 is providing a reference point for future blockchain adoption as these projects continue to develop their own ecosystems.
