EVM-Chains in the Bear Market

Key Insights

• The current bear market provides an opportunity to see how user activity has held up across platform chains without incentives.
• Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Polygon have healthier ecosystems with relatively higher user and capital retention rates even in the bear market.
• Near Protocol’s Aurora has seen the largest fall in user activity but is most aggressively priced for growth.
• Fantom has seen the largest fall in total value locked and revenue from the bull market highs and is priced the most conservatively among its peers.

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.” – Warren Buffet

In crypto, there tends to be a direct relationship between usage and price. As prices increase, users tend to transact more, buying and selling with a furor. When prices fall, speculative opportunities reduce, and users tend to be satisfied with HODLing. This phenomenon applies doubly to platform chains that allow users to speculate through a broad range of services, including decentralized exchanges, NFT markets, and yield farming.