Bitcoin becomes 7th largest global asset, stablecoins and AI drive crypto in 2024: report

The new Binance report for December highlights bullish and notable trends in the crypto space as we enter a new year.

The cryptocurrency market closed 2024 with a record performance. Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $100,000, driven by regulatory optimism, bullish sentiment, institutional adoption and technological innovation.

Binance’s December Monthly Research Monthly Market Analysis report highlighted some of the growth trends the firm sees in 2024 and into December. While stablecoins such as Ethena’s USDe (USDe) are gaining traction in decentralized finance, artificial intelligence has also become a significant transformative force.

Bitcoin becomes the 7th largest global asset by market value

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $108,000 in 2024, ending the year with 123.4% year-to-date growth. This milestone made Bitcoin the 7th largest global asset by market cap, surpassing Saudi Aramco and Silver.

Among the top 10 global assets, only Nvidia outperformed Bitcoin throughout the year.

Many factors have triggered Bitcoin’s rise, including the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs that have attracted institutional investors and the expectation of the upcoming Bitcoin halving. Changes in monetary policy, including modest interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, also contributed to growth.

However, in late December, the market saw a correction after the Fed tapered its planned interest rate cuts in 2025. Despite this pullback, Binance’s report highlighted Bitcoin’s growing legitimacy as a global asset.

Ethena’s USDe broke out

Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a fixed value, continued to expand in 2024.

Ethena’s USDe has emerged as a major player, becoming the third largest stablecoin with a market cap of $5.9 billion. According to the report, its growth depends on the high returns it offers to users and its integration with decentralized finance platforms.

Stablecoins such as USDe are often used as a bridge between traditional currencies and cryptocurrencies. They provide stability in the volatile crypto market and are crucial for trading, lending and other financial activities in DeFi.

Artificial intelligence agents attract attention

According to Binance, AI agents are becoming increasingly important in the crypto world. Unlike traditional bots, these autonomous programs can plan, execute tasks, and adapt to goals without human intervention.

They also have the ability to iterate, self-reflect, and collaborate, making them more versatile in their functions and applications.

The AI ​​agent narrative gained traction earlier this year with the emergence of Truth Terminal and the GOAT token, increasing interest in its potential applications. Since then, the ecosystem has expanded significantly, with projects launching new platforms and tools that support agent development.

Source: Binance

Virtuals is the largest AI agent launchpad that allows users to create and tokenize their own agents with useful tokenomics. Other platforms, such as Zerebro’s ZerePy and ai16z, offer similar frameworks.

ai16z, a decentralized hedge fund, specifically developed the open-source Eliza framework, which has over 6,900 stars on GitHub and supports a variety of AI agents.