Crypto market cap tops $1 trillion despite record hacks in October

The cryptocurrency market cap rose to $1 trillion in October despite the $1 billion in losses recorded via hacks during the month.

DappRadar, the global app store for decentralised applications, revealed in its October report that the cryptocurrency market has continued its recovery, reaching a market cap of $1 trillion.

Last month, the number of industry Unique Active Wallets (UAW) for blockchain dapps reached 2.01 million per day on average, a 6.84% increase from September. This data suggests the industry’s resilience against the wider economic turmoil.

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have become an integral part of the digital asset space. DappRadar revealed that NFT trading volume decreased by 30% from September, reaching $662 million, the lowest amount recorded this year. 

However, despite the decrease in NFT trading volume, the unique traders count increased by 18% reaching 1.11 million.

Last month, OpenSea’s market dominance decreased by 8.3% compared to August. Furthermore, the platform’s NFT trading volume decreased 12.1% ($313 million) month-over-month, the lowest trading volume since July 2021. 

While the NFT space continues to shrink, the blockchain gaming sector continues to experience a surge in adoption. DappRadar revealed that the gaming sector had an average of 898,481 daily UAWs in October, making it one of the most promising web3 sectors.

The decentralised finance (DeFi) sector continues to recover in tandem with the broader crypto ecosystem. The sector recorded a 5.33% growth last month, reaching $83 billion. 

Ethereum remains the most popular chain with $51 billion TVL, a 9.52% growth from September. Comparing Ethereum to other blockchains, its dominance decreased from 69% in September to 61.97% in October. BNB takes second place with $8.3 billion in TVL, an 8.57% growth from September. The recent BNB Chain exploit didn’t affect the metric at all.

The cryptocurrency market continued its slow recovery last month, with the market cap finally reaching $1 trillion after weeks of poor performance. The report said;

“After the crypto market started to turn green on October 25, over $1.2 billion in short liquidations took place in around 24 hours. The crypto market finally broke free from the tight price range it had oscillated in since September.”

Altcoins were not left behind as they rallied excellently in October, led by Dogecoin (DOGE). DOGE ended the month at $0.12, a 50% increase in the past 30 days and six-month highs. This price increase was driven by Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and Dogechain’s announcement of its future roadmap.

The recovery comes despite the record security hacks reported last month. According to the database of DeFi scams, hacks and exploits DEFIYIELD, this month saw the largest value of funds lost all year: $1.09 billion.

Cross-chain hacks represented 82% of the exploits reported last month. The biggest fraud this month is Francisco Valdevino da Silva, aka the “Bitcoin Sheikh.” 

Brazilian authorities revealed that he is suspected of having defrauded and laundered up to 4 billion Brazilian reals (about $766 million) from thousands of Brazilians and citizens from at least ten other countries. 

At the current pace, 2022 could likely surpass 2021 as the biggest year for crypto and blockchain hacking, despite the bear market.