Introduction

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're undoubtedly aware of Bitcoin's achievement on March 5th. Its price surge to over $69,200 isn't just a headline; it represents a landmark event, eclipsing the previous peak of November 2021 with a rally of over 21% in the past week, and showcasing an impressive 198% year-on-year growth, marking the start of an exhilarating new cycle.

This isn't just about Bitcoin's price; it's about setting the stage for a transformative period. Spurred by ETF approvals, bolstered by institutional demand, and with the Bitcoin halving on the horizon, we're witnessing the dawn of a new era for our industry. Furthermore, with the rise of modern, high throughput chains like Solana and scaling solutions like Ethereum L2s we’re seeing blockspace become abundant which should catalyze massive growth for on-chain businesses.

The global crypto market cap today stands at $2.63 trillion, up 145% from a year ago, with TVL and volumes in DeFi regaining their former glory.

As this exciting chapter unfolds, we feel it's critical to share our perspective on the market, Solana's role, and Zeta's response to these evolving conditions.

The Bear Market's Lessons

In times of market optimism, it's essential to remember the path that brought us here. Over the past two years, the crypto community has weathered a storm of challenges, with 2022 branded as the year of the "Black Swans”. The collapse of LUNA and major players such as 3AC, Celsius, BlockFi, and FTX sent shockwaves through the market, undermining value and trust. The FTX crash, in particular, had a profound impact on Solana, testing the resilience of the entire ecosystem during an exceedingly difficult period.

Despite facing its trials, Solana's inherent strengths and the commitment of its community have shone through. Zeta Markets remained steadfast, continuing to build, grow, and adapt. In fact the bear market was a blessing in disguise, allowing us to totally redesign our platform from the ground up which has allowed it to scale to new heights today. The network not only survived, but began to thrive again, demonstrating its capacity for innovation and remarkable resilience and ushering forth a true Renaissance.

Even though I despise TVL as a metric, it’s a good proxy for ecosystem stickiness. Solana's TVL is up by 8.3x since Sep 2023, almost half the peak, which is pretty good considering that was bootstrapped largely by FTX customer’s money (or Alameda, as they were known then). Likewise, Zeta's cumulative volumes have surged even more impressively by over 30x in the same period (+$2.2 billion to date). Judging by the exponential graph I see here, I don’t see any signs of slowing down.

Solana Positioning: Leading DeFi Mass Adoption

In our quest to put the power of on-chain trading into the hands of every trader, our allegiance to Solana isn't arbitrary. As an OG protocol in this thriving ecosystem since 2021, our belief in its ability to drive mass adoption has remained steadfast. The unparalleled speed, simplicity, and security of Solana stand out, making it the premier platform for democratizing DeFi access for all.

Looking back on the last few months, we’ve already seen DEXs like Jupiter aggregator that have trailblazed Solana DeFi adoption, competing head to head with the Ethereum Defi juggernauts. With the stage set for more incredible teams focused on product excellence and building and solving user problems at web scale, I am quietly confident that the best is yet to come.

Zeta's Role in shaping the future of DeFi

As we stand at this pivotal moment, the path forward for Zeta is filled with excitement. We're certain that the unfolding market conditions provide the ideal backdrop for our community to reap the rewards of our continuous efforts and dedication.

Our vision remains unchanged - to place the power of on-chain trading into the hands of every trader. To that aim, Zeta has been relentlessly building towards the best perps exchange experience for users - no truly on-chain exchange is faster, more user-friendly or secure. I will gladly catch up on sleep when we no longer have to deal with apps that take 10 seconds per interaction, where the cost of any action is in the ballpark of dollars and takes a cryptographer to decipher what their transaction is doing.

In the numbers, the surge in interest and trading volume we've observed at Zeta — recently setting a new record with over $72M in daily trading volume and experiencing a 45x monthly active user (MAU) growth to 71.7k since beginning Q4 2023 — is a clear indicator of the growing confidence in the crypto markets. To date, more than 1B Z-Score has been racked up by users on the platform. I believe this underscores a widespread desire for a more inclusive decentralized financial ecosystem, and that this is just the beginning stages of life.

With the upcoming launch of the $Z token and a roadmap brimming with initiatives (coming soon this Q2), we're poised to lead the perpetual DEX space in DeFi. Our plans are ambitious, aimed at enhancing our platform's functionality to continue to work towards a buttery smooth UX whilst maintaining the security, transparency and self custodial benefits of a public blockchain ledger. We’re also very excited to partner closely with incredible builders in the space such as Backpack to bridge the worlds of centralized and decentralized finance together, where hundreds of millions of users are yet to try their first DeFi app.

Together with our investors, partners, users, and very soon, our DAO and governance council, we will enter together a new era of DeFi trading that is accessible, efficient, and most importantly driven by the needs and aspirations of our community.

Big things are on the horizon, and you won't want to miss what's next. Make sure to turn on your notifications!

Here's to the journey ahead,

Tristan