For crypto markets, the second quarter of this year has been the best three-month sequence since the bear turn of early 2018 put a brutal end to the dreams that the explosive growth of coin prices was to go on forever. Market capitalization ballooned from $144 billion on the last day of March to $339 billion on the last day of June, while bitcoin (BTC) caught both cryptocurrency aficionados and skeptics off guard by pulling off a spectacular rally from just over $3,000 to $11,000.
Although prices are the most visible and convincing indicator of the markets’ health, they do not necessarily correspond with the deeper currents that define the state of the industry at large. This time, however, there are multiple signs that the recent upward trend is not just a product of hype, speculation or whale activity. Disparate metrics, ranging from network activity to the rates of institutional adoption, suggest that the blockchain sector is steadily on its way to recovery. But how did Q2 stack up against preceding periods in terms of these and other dynamics, and what are the crucial macro trends?