2026 Q1 Cryptocurrency Market Report

The crypto industry entered 2026 under significant pressure. Over 20 crypto projects shut down in Q1 alone, while returns across major sectors and top tokens remained broadly negative. Market sentiment got a lot worse, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index staying below 20 for most of March, firmly in “Extreme Fear” territory.

To better understand the true state of the market, NFTPlazas has analyzed the latest data across trading activity, on-chain usage, institutional flows, and emerging sectors in the first quarter of 2026. This report combines gathered datasets with our own calculations and restructuring to present a clear view of where crypto stands and where it may be heading next.

Crypto Market Overview

1. Trading Volume, Market Cap, Derivatives Open Interest

• Total spot trading volume for Q1 reached approximately $1.94 trillion, while total derivatives volume was about $18.63 trillion, bringing combined volume to roughly $20.57 trillion and a derivatives-to-spot ratio near 9.6x. 
  • January recorded the highest total volume, with spot at $704.7 billion and derivatives at $6.73 trillion.
  • Average daily spot trading volume stood at around $21.8 billion. This is only about 10.4% of the average derivatives volume, which is approximately $209.3 billion daily.
  • In February 2026, centralized exchanges saw a total trade volume of about $1.13 trillion. This was one of the lowest levels since September 2024 and about the same as December 2025.
• The total crypto market capitalization fell by 20.4% over the quarter, falling below $2.5 trillion for the first time since November 2024.
• Throughout Q1 2026, total derivatives open interest (OI) averaged roughly $117.2 billion per day, peaking at approximately $152.5 billion on January 15.
  • January posted an average daily OI of about $141.1 billion. This fell sharply in February to approximately $102.6 billion (a decrease of about 27%), followed by a modest rebound in March to roughly $106.0 billion.

• Average daily transactions across both Currency and Smart Contract Platforms increased by about 14% quarter-over-quarter, signaling continued network engagement.
• Total fees across all sectors declined by more than 30%, though this reduction was largely driven by falling asset prices rather than decreased activity.
• Daily active addresses decreased slightly within the Currencies segment (down 6.8%), while Smart Contract Platforms experienced a 18.7% increase, indicating a shift in user engagement toward more versatile ecosystems.

2. ETFs and DATs

• In the first quarter of 2026, Bitcoin ETFs saw $18.7 billion in total inflows, the highest amount since they started. 
• IBIT had roughly $54 billion in assets under management at the end of the quarter, which was about half of the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market. It brought in about $8.4 billion in net inflows for Q1.
• U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows of roughly $500 million across the quarter. Although March recorded $1.32 billion in inflows, that wasn’t enough to make up for the $1.61 billion in redemptions in January and $206.52 million in February.
• Spot XRP ETFs recorded total net inflows of 42.52 during Q1 2026, with combined inflows of $73.68 million for the first two months offset by $31.16 million outflow in March.
• Solana ETFs attracted a total of $213 million for the quarter, with all three months showing positive inflows.
• In contract, Spot Ethereum ETFs experienced net outflows of around $769 million, with no month showing positive flows.

• Digital Asset Treasuries added more than $3.7 billion of cryptocurrency to their balance sheets.
• By the end of the quarter, public US-traded companies collectively held 5.42% of all circulating Bitcoin, 5.22% of Ethereum, and 2.95% of Solana. 
• Bitmine Immersion bought 179,946 ETH, Strategy (Michael Saylor) bought 42,114 BTC, and Hyperliquid Treasury paid $129 million for 5 million HYPE tokens.
• Despite large accumulation, dropping prices resulted in unrealized losses of more than $7 billion across multiple Digital Asset Treasuries. Hyperliquid Treasury was the only top DAT to remain profitable in Q1.
• MicroStrategy’s Strategy reported an unrealized loss of $14.46 billion on its Bitcoin holdings during Q1 2026, partially offset by a deferred tax benefit of $2.42 billion. 
• Despite the dip, the company has continued to purchase over 54,000 BTC since February 2. March purchases were among its greatest weekly acquisitions, with a total monthly increase of 41,362 BTC. During the first quarter, the company acquired 89,316 BTC for a total of around $6.3 billion. 

3. Venture Capital & Fundraising

• Cryptocurrency startups raised nearly $5 billion in the first quarter of 2026. That’s a 16% decrease year-on-year when compared to the first three months of 2025 when the market saw closer to $6 billion in funding amid the crypto industry’s euphoria after Donald Trump took office. Crypto startups raised around $5 billion in Q1 2026.That’s a 16% decline year over year compared to the Q1 2025, when the market saw $6 billion in funding amid the crypto industry’s happiness after Trump became president.
• The prediction market segment led fundraising activity with more than $1.7 billion raised, followed by payments at $735 million and trading infrastructure at $423 million.

Top 10 funding rounds in Q1 2026

Top Crypto Tokens in Q1 2026

• Among all crypto categories, AI-related tokens experienced the smallest sector decline at approximately -14% for Q1. TAO, FET, and RENDER posted positive returns, while 38% of altcoins traded near their all-time lows.
• Among individual assets, Bittensor (TAO) delivered a strong +40% return in Q1, reaching a market capitalization of approximately $3.4 billion, driven by solid fundamentals including an estimated $43 million in quarterly revenue and a notable endorsement from Nvidia. Fetch.ai (FET) was also one of the top performers, surging +67% to around $1.8 billion, supported by the expansion of the ASI Alliance and growing demand for agentic AI solutions.

Best performing cryptos in Q1 2026

• In contrast, major assets underperformed. Bitcoin (BTC) declined nearly 23% over the quarter as geopolitical tensions and tight money conditions. Ethereum (ETH) saw a bigger drop of 32%, impacted by contraction in DeFi activity and rising competition from Layer 2 platforms.

Bitcoin Price, Return & Mining Hashrate

• Bitcoin began January around $90,000, reached approximately ~$95K–$97K (cycle high for Q1) on Jan 14–15. 
• It dropped below $63,000 on February 6 for the first time since September 2024. The decline began on January 29 with a 15% single-day fall from $96,000 to $80,000, followed by further downside after the nomination of Kevin Warsh, which pushed prices below $80,000. The Fear and Greed Index fell to 6, its lowest level since the FTX collapse. A mid-February rebound to $70,000 was cut short by U.S. military action in Iran. Although Bitcoin partially recovered above $70K in March, it still finished the first quarter of 2026 at around $66K in the final days of the month.
• Bitcoin recorded a 22.6% loss in Q1, driven by geopolitical pressures, hawkish Fed repricing, and a cooling technology stock market.
• Since the outbreak of the US-Iran war on February 28th, Bitcoin has shown notable relative strength compared to equities and gold, with only a 1.5% loss.

• Bitcoin’s network hash rate dropped to approximately 0.85 ZH/s in early February 2026 from 1.045 ZH/s in December 2025 due to miner shutdowns, before recovering to around 1.02 ZH/s by late March.
• On March 10, the 20 millionth Bitcoin was mined at block height 939,999 by Foundry USA, meaning 95.24% of total supply is now in circulation. Roughly 1 million BTC remain to be mined over the next 114 years, with an estimated 2.3 to 3.7 million permanently lost. BTC was trading near $69,000 at the time of this milestone.

How much did BTC Whales & Millionaires lose?

• Large wallets holding between 100 and 10,000 BTC recorded average daily losses of approximately $336 million in Q1 2026, marking the worst quarter since 2022.
• In Q1 2026, Bitcoin sharks (holders of 100-1,000 BTC) lost approximately $188.5 million per day, while whales (holders of 1,000-10,000 BTC) lost approximately $147.5 million per day. Overall, the average daily loss was approximately $336 million, and the total realized losses for the year was approximately $30.91 billion.
• In Q1 2025, the decline in millionaire addresses was 13,942, meaning Q1 2026 saw a larger contraction by 6,648 addresses, or a 47.7% deeper year-over-year drop. The number of BTC addresses with $1 million dropped from 131,716 on January 1 to 113,233 on March 31, decreasing by 18,483.  Meanwhile, the number of BTC addresses with $10 million or more dropped from 16,368 to 14,261, decreasing by 2,107.

Ethereum & Other Altcoins

• Ethereum fell below $1,900, posting a -32% return for the quarter, significantly below its historical Q1 average of 66%.
• On February 6, Ethereum reached $1,820, its lowest level since May 2025, down from $2,800 at the beginning of 2026. Despite this decline, Ethereum retained over 56% of DeFi TVL, supported a $164 billion stablecoin base, and generated $34.67 million in fees during the quarter. A brief rebound above $2,115 in March was halted by geopolitical developments.
• Solana ended the first quarter with a 33.2% price decline, underperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• XRP declined by 27.1% during Q1, although its narrative continued expanding beyond cross-border payments. RLUSD gained traction, reaching a $1.42 billion market cap by the end of the quarter.
• Coinbase (COIN) declined throughout Q1, closing at approximately $195.53 on March 13, down from January highs of $220–$230, and recording year-to-date losses exceeding 10%.
• Total altcoin market capitalization fell by roughly 40%, with dominance dropping to 12.45% on February 6.
  • Memecoins declined between 45% and 60%, with cat-themed tokens losing 58% of their total market cap in a single day on February 6, coinciding with Bitcoin’s drop below $63,000.
  • Privacy coins experienced significant volatility: Monero rose 82% in early January, reaching a record $797 before falling 62% by February 6 to below $300, while Zcash declined by up to 45% in March.
  • Despite broader declines, several small-cap tokens delivered significant gains in Q1:

Key Crypto Sectors

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

• Over 120 million agentic transactions were processed during Q1 2026, including increasing B2B AI agent payments, though total value remained between $50 million and $150 million due to an average transaction
• The market capitalization of AI-related crypto assets reached $18 billion, supported by over 406,000 active AI agents.
• Base and Solana collectively accounted for 97% of all agentic payment activity. Base led with 59% (70.9 million transactions), while Solana contributed 38% (45.3 million transactions).

DeFi (Decentralized Finance)

• Total value locked (TVL) across DeFi protocols declined to $90 billion on February 6, 2026, marking the lowest level since April 2025, representing a 16% drop from the end of 2025.
• The sectors that were hit hardest include:
  • Liquid staking experienced significant declines, with Lido’s TVL decreasing by more than 11% and Ether.fi dropping by 21%.
  • The restaking sector also saw broad reductions, including Eigencloud ($9.23B TVL), Babylon ($1.92B), and Symbiotic ($477M).
  • Staking protocols overall contracted in line with falling ETH and SOL prices.

• Despite declining TVL, DeFi platforms recorded some of the highest daily volumes during the February selloff, reaching $21.29 billion on February 5 and $18.8 billion on February 6. 
• Top performers include:
  • Lending protocols: Sky and Morpho increased their TVL by over 15% during Q1. The lending sector remained the largest DeFi category, totaling $54.36 billion in TVL.
  • RWA protocols recorded an average increase of 7% across major platforms and assets, making it one of the few sectors with gains during the quarter.

• Top DeFi Sectors by TVL in Q1 2026 include Lending ($54.36 Billion), Liquid staking ($43.52 Billion) , RWA ($21.8 Billion active TVL), Decentralized Exchange ($13.9 Billion) and Restaking ($12.65 Billion).
• Ethereum stayed on top with 56.96% of total DeFi TVL, followed by Solana at 6.91%. Bitcoin DeFi, including Layer 2s, exceeded BNB Chain in January, capturing over 5% of total TVL.
• Provenance blockchain recorded the strongest ecosystem growth, increasing its TVL by 99.8% during Q1, from $572 million on Dec 31, 2025.

Top 10 Networks by Revenue & Fees in Q1 2026

Stablecoins 

Supply & Market Cap

• Total stablecoin supply reached an all-time high of $315 billion in Q1 2026, increasing by approximately $8 billion QoQ, representing the slowest quarterly growth since Q4 2023.
• Due to slow supply growth of only 2.6%, stablecoin dominance rose slightly from 9% to 13% of total crypto market cap.
• In Q1 2026, USDC supply grew by $2 billion, while USDT declined by $3 billion.
• Yield-bearing stablecoins expanded by more than 22% in Q1, adding approximately $4.3 billion in market capitalization.
• USDY’s market cap grew by more than 150%, while sUSDS increased by more than $2.5 billion, exceeding the combined capital inflows of the next four yield-bearing stablecoins.

• In terms of network distribution, Tron dominated with over $4 billion in stablecoin supply, mostly USDT. Ethereum saw the biggest decline with more than $7 billion in USDT outflows. Among smaller ecosystems, Solana experienced the greatest increase in supply, adding more than $1.6 billion. Meanwhile, HyperEVM experienced the most rapid relative growth, with its stablecoin supply increasing by more than 80% in Q1 2026.

Trading volume: USDT Reserves Drop while USDC Gains Ground 

• In Q1 2026, stablecoins registered $8.3 trillion in trading volume, making up 75% of total crypto trading volume, the highest share recorded.
• USDT accounted for 68% of total crypto trading volume and 86% of stablecoin volume in Q1.
• USDC increased its share of stablecoin trading volume from 9% to 10% QoQ. 
• In the first quarter of 2026, USDC exchange reserves went up by more than 12%, while USDT reserves went down by 12%.
• USDC’s share went from 48% in Q4 2025 to 58% in Q1 2026 for all stablecoin-related financial activities, such as trading and on-chain on-chain transactions.

Transaction Volume & Bot Activity

• Total stablecoin transaction volume (including on-chain activity) surpassed $28 trillion, showing a 51% increase compared to Q4 2025.
• Bots accounted for approximately 76% of all stablecoin transaction volume in Q1 2026, up from 70% in Q4 2025 and the highest since Q2 2024.
• Ethereum and Tron recorded the highest levels of bot-driven stablecoin activity at 72% and 54%, respectively.
• USDC represented 80% of total transaction volume and 85% of bot-driven activity.
• USDC saw one of its biggest increases in organic (adjusted) activity, with a 59% QoQ increase in volume. USDT, on the other hand, had one of its sharpest declines ever, with its organic volume falling by 17%.
• Retail-sized stablecoin transfers fell by 16%in Q1 2026, the biggest decline since the 12% decline in Q1 2022.
• Peer-to-peer stablecoin transaction volume on Solana reached a new all-time high of $832 billion in Q1 2026.

RWA (Real World Assets) Tokenization

• The on-chain RWA market cap increased by 38%, rising from $10.58 billion at the end of 2025 to over $20 billion by February 10. U.S. Treasuries accounted for nearly $10 billion, with BlackRock’s BUIDL as the largest product.
• As of Q1 2026, Ethereum hosted 59.4% of total RWA supply.
• Tokenized equities surpassed $1 billion, while $2.2 billion in gold was tokenized via XAUT and PAXG. Over $1.7 billion in RWAs were deployed in DeFi, an increase of more than $400 million from December 2025.
• HIP-3 open interest on traditional assets increased impressively in Q1 2026: Open interest in Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 markets hit $1.74 billion on March 22, up 25% in just one week, and set a new Q1 high of $2.1 billion on March 31. This is more than 100x growth compared to launch levels six months earlier.

Prediction Markets

• Monthly trading volume reached $338 billion in January, while TVL exceeded $560 million on January 21.
• Polymarket led the on-chain segment with a 65.6% market share, over 606,000 monthly active users and 102,870 events in January, representing a 52% increase from the previous year’s peak.
• TRON was the revenue leader in the first quarter, with $67.33 million in both fees and revenue, $86.82 billion in stablecoin market cap, making it the second-biggest network behind Ethereum.

• Hyperliquid generated over $180.08 million in fees and $161.1 million in revenue, making it the highest-revenue DeFi protocol in Q1. Its market cap increased by 25%, contributing to a 12% rise in perpetual DEX market cap.

How Top Crypto Exchanges Performed in Q1

Top CEXs by Spot Trading Volume

• The five leading platforms by total Q1 spot trading volume were Binance ($639.9 billion), Gate ($201.4 billion), Bybit ($186.9 billion), Coinbase ($167.7 billion), and OKX ($162.7 billion).
• Binance recorded ~$639.9 billion in cumulative spot trading volume during Q1, equivalent to an average daily volume of $7.19 billion.
• Binance’s total market volume declined from $705 billion in January to $542 billion in March (a 23% decrease).

Top CEXs by Derivatives Trading Volume

• Binance generated approximately $4.9 trillion in cumulative derivatives trading volume in Q1, with an average volume of $55 billion daily. It held a 34.9% market share among the top 10 CEXs, which exceeded the combined volumes of OKX ($2.2 trillion) and Bybit ($1.5 trillion).
• Binance’s derivatives market share remained stable throughout 3 months in the 33% – 35% range.

• Binance’s derivatives volume was approximately 3.3 times higher than Bybit, 3.4 times higher than Gate, and 5.5 times higher than Bitget.
• Hyperliquid recorded approximately $492.7 billion in Q1 derivatives trading volume, placing it within the top 10, with an average open interest of around $6 billion.

Top CEXs by Derivatives Open Interest

• Binance’s average open interest (OI) in Q1 was around $23.9 billion, representing around 29.9% of the top 10 exchanges. Bybit, Gate, OKX, and Bitget followed with average OI levels of $11 billion, $10.8 billion, $6.8 billion, and $6.4 billion, respectively.
• Binance’s overall open interest share remained within the 20–21% range throughout Q1, indicating relative stability.
• Binance’s highest OI reached ~$32.1 billion, around 2.2 times higher than Bybit’s peak of $14.5 billion, highlighting its ability to absorb larger positions during volatile periods.

Top CEXs by User Asset Reserves

• The top five exchanges by user asset reserves were Binance, OKX, Gate, Bitget, and Bybit, with average custodial assets of approximately $152.9 billion, $15.9 billion, $6.8 billion, $6.7 billion, and $5.6 billion, respectively.
• Among major exchanges, only OKX maintained reserves above $10 billion, while third- to fifth-ranked platforms clustered between $5 billion and $7 billion.
• Binance’s average daily custodial assets stood at approximately $152.9 billion in Q1, accounting for around 73.5% of the top 10 exchanges. Its custodial assets followed a decline-then-stabilization pattern: $172.7 billion in January, $136.4 billion in February (down ~21%), and $147.8 billion in March. The quarterly peak occurred on January 15 at approximately $182.1 billion.

Top CEXs by Liquidity Depth

• In both BTC futures and spot markets, Binance ranked 1st with the average ±1% depth levels of around $284 million and $37.54 million, respectively.
• In ETH futures markets, Binance, OKX, and Bybit recorded average ±1% depth levels of approximately $139 million, $117 million, and $90.15 million, respectively, with narrower competitive gaps compared to BTC futures.
• In ETH spot markets, the same three CEXs recorded average ±1% depth levels in the $10-$17million range.

DEX Market Share & Performance

• Decentralized exchanges followed a similar downward trend, with monthly spot trading volume declining to $288 billion in February, the lowest level since April 2025.
• Two standout performers were:
  • PumpSwap reached a record $16 billion in monthly trading volume in February, more than 10 times its December level of $1.5 billion, overtaking Aerodrome to rank fourth among DEX platforms.
  • BisonFi, a Solana-based AMM developed by Forward Industry, averaged $15 billion in trading volume during the first two months of Q1, establishing itself as one of the largest AMMs on Solana.

• Perpetual DEXs saw total market cap increase by 12%, rising from $10.7 billion at the end of 2025 to nearly $12 billion in February 2026. Hyperliquid led this expansion with a 25% increase in market cap. However, trading volume declined from $973 billion in January to $763 billion in February, the lowest level since September 2025.

Crypto Crime & Regulatory Framework

DeFi Hacks & Exploits

• DeFi exploits increased significantly, with total losses reaching $168.91 million across 34 protocols during the first three months of 2026.
• Top 3 attacks in Q1:
  • Step Finance recorded the largest exploit of 2026, losing $40 million due to a private key compromise. The incident resulted in platform shutdown and a collapse of its native token (STEP), which dropped over 80% immediately and nearly 96% following the closure announcement.
  • Truebit ranked second, with losses of $26.4 million caused by a smart contract vulnerability.
  • Resolv ranked third, losing over $24 million on March 21 due to a minting vulnerability.

Crypto Regulatory Developments in Q1 2026 

• As of March 2026, the EU has already issued 174 MiCA licenses, but only 14 Centralized Crypto exchanges obtained full CASP authorization. 
• More than 40 tokens were delisted from EU-regulated platforms due to non-compliance with disclosure requirements. Over €540 million in penalties have been imposed since enforcement began, with fines reaching up to 12.5% of annual turnover under ESMA oversight.

Notable regulatory changes by timeline

• Jan 12, 2026: Senators Lummis and Wyden introduce the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. This bipartisan legislation clarifies that software developers and infrastructure providers who do not control user funds are not money transmitters under federal law.
• Jan 12, 2026: Chairman Tim Scott releases a bipartisan “manager’s amendment” to the Responsible Financial Innovation Act. The 278-page amendment defines terms (“ancillary assets” vs “network tokens”), prohibits offering yield on fiat-backed stablecoins except as user rewards, and provides limited protections for DeFi protocols. It makes clear that developer activity (code publication, infrastructure support) won’t itself count as a security or payment service.
• Feb 4, 2026: UK Parliament enacts the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026. The new cryptoasset regime is expected to come into force on 25 October 2027. The FCA has begun consultations on rules for trading venues, intermediaries, custody, and stablecoin issuance.
• Feb 6, 2026: The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and multiple agencies issue a joint notice banning unauthorized offshore issuance of yuan-denominated stablecoins and pledging strict vetting of tokenized real-world assets (RWA). 
• Feb 12, 2026: The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published an opinion on the end of its PSD2/MiCAR transitional No Action Letter. By Mar 2, 2026, CASPs must either have obtained an EMI/PI license, partnered with a licensed firm, or cease EMT payment services
• March 4, 2026: Kraken Financial became the first digital asset bank in the U.S. to receive a Federal Reserve master account, gaining direct access to Fedwire.
• March 11, 2026: SEC and CFTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing joint oversight across six areas for crypto assets. This MOU has formally settled jurisdictional conflicts between the two agencies. 
• March 17, 2026: SEC and CFTC jointly issued a binding interpretive rule classifying 16 crypto assets as digital commodities and introducing a five-category framework for digital assets. 
• March 18, 2026: The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates at 3.5–3.75% in an 11-1 vote, with dissenter Stephen Mirin favoring a 25 basis point drop. The dot plot still predicts one rate drop in 2026, with year-end rates expected around 3.4%.
• March 20, 2026: Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks announced a bipartisan agreement on stablecoin regulation, banning passive yield while allowing activity-based rewards, backed by the White House. Polymarket gives the bill 72% chances of becoming law. The discussion by the Senate Banking Committee is planned for the end of April. But 72% isn’t 100%, and the DeFi industry’s opposition to the ban on passive return could still complicate the final text. 
• March 26, 2026: Canada’s Parliament granted Royal Assent to Bill C-15, the Budget Implementation Act, 2025, No. 1. Division 45 of C-15 enacts a Stablecoin Act mandating that all domestic (and foreign) issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins must register with the Bank of Canada and hold 1:1 reserves of high-quality liquid assets 
• March 27, 2026: The SEC issued final rulings on 91 crypto ETF applications covering 24 tokens, including spot, staking, leveraged, and multi-asset products.

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