NEAR Q3 Market Cap Dive: Exploring The 27% Plummet And Key Financial Metrics

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As a seasoned crypto investor with a penchant for unconventional assets and a knack for spotting undervalued projects, I must say that the NEAR Protocol’s Q3 performance left me both intrigued and somewhat perplexed. The token’s resilience amidst the broader market downturn and subsequent rally was commendable, but the decline in transaction volume and developer engagement is certainly concerning.

A study conducted by research company Messari has offered insights into how the NEAR (NEAR) platform held up amidst the intense market fluctuations in Q3 of 2024, a period marked by high volatility across the global cryptocurrency sector.

NEAR Protocol Q3 Performance

During the second and third quarters of 2024, the crypto market experienced a prolonged dip, which included NEAR. The value of the protocol’s circulating market cap declined to around $5.16 billion, representing a substantial drop of approximately 27.52% compared to the previous quarter.

The price of NEAR’s token dipped slightly and ended the quarter at approximately $5.29, representing a minimal decrease of 0.21% compared to the previous quarter. Yet, despite these hurdles, NEAR successfully held onto its place as the 17th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, demonstrating a degree of resilience among prominent digital assets.

Over the last three weeks, its market value has surged by 54%, reaching a staggering $7.99 billion. This impressive growth can be attributed to two main factors: the general market rally inspired by Bitcoin (BTC), and the election of Donald Trump, acting as a significant catalyst.

One striking feature of NEAR’s third quarter performance was the revenue figure, representing income from network transaction fees, but without including storage staking rewards. This revenue dipped to roughly $1.64 million, indicating a significant decrease of about 30.13% compared to the previous quarter.

This dip is noteworthy because it’s the first quarterly drop in the past year where we started with higher revenue than we ended with. The report points to a decrease in transaction numbers as the primary cause, leading to a significant reduction in transaction fees. This decrease was around 10.48% compared to the previous quarter and over 34.23% when compared to the same period last year.

By Q3 of 2024, roughly 93.46% of NEAR’s total token supply had been circulated, with a significant portion, 52.36%, being staked. The annualized nominal return from staking hovered around 8.60%. Adjusting for inflation, the real yield came in at approximately 4.09%. In my analysis as an analyst, these figures indicate a high level of participation and promising returns for NEAR’s staking program.

Despite the challenges in transaction volume, NEAR experienced an uptick in address activity. The average daily active returning addresses increased by 7.27% QoQ, and the average daily new addresses rose by 11.06%. 

TVL Rises, Liquid Staking Sees Increase

The report also highlighted a concerning trend in developer engagement. NEAR saw a significant drop in its weekly active core developers, decreasing by 41.28% from 177 to 104. Similarly, the number of weekly active ecosystem developers fell by 19.70%, from 286 to 230. 

As an analyst examining the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector, I observed that NEAR’s Total Value Locked (TVL) experienced a modest growth, concluding Q3 at approximately $251.44 million. This represents a 7.63% surge compared to the figures from the preceding quarter.

Significantly, the total value locked (TVL) in NEAR’s liquid staking experienced a 9.85% growth quarter-over-quarter, amounting to approximately $279.66 million. The LiNEAR Protocol held an estimated TVL of about $145.14 million, while Meta Pool witnessed a rise of 12.70%, accumulating around $126.61 million.

Currently, the NEAR token is being traded for approximately $6.745. Over the last two weeks, it has experienced significant increases of 27% and 46%, respectively. On a yearly scale, its value has skyrocketed by an impressive 266%.

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2024-11-29 17:10