Investment platform eToro has crunched the numbers on cryptocurrency trades done by its clients worldwide over the past month, finding bitcoin has seen “renewed interest” from investors, topping the list of cryptocurrencies with the most trades overall and a 36 per cent increase on trades from July 2020.

But it wasn’t alone in seeing an increased number of trades. In fact, nine of the top 10 cryptocurrencies experienced trade increases over August.

Ethereum saw a much more significant boost, with a whopping 123 per cent increase in trades from July figures, which placed it in second spot overall.

Weighing in on the findings, eToro market analyst and crypto expert Simon Peters said investors had flocked to Ethereum in August, as co-founder Vitalik Buterin and team continue to roll out their much anticipated 2.0 upgrade.

“The release of the Medalla testnet in August, an important development on the road to ETH 2.0, faced some teething problems but was clearly a step in the right direction,” he commented.

“With Ethereum now sitting at $462, the price rise is clearly a statement of intent from the DeFi community. The increase in activity around Ethereum shows investors recognising the potential that exists in the DeFi space.” 

XRP was ranked third for the most number of trades, with 112 per cent more activity compared with July.

Ranked number four for August was Tezos, with a 73 per cent increase in investor activity.

Mr Peters outlined how Tezos had traded lower against bitcoin at the start of August, “which may have encouraged some inflows into the token”.

Weighing in on its prospects for future success, the crypto expert highlighted that the asset has already developed a partnership with China’s Blockchain Service Network and is integrating Harbinger price oracles, which “allows the Tezos network to use real-world pricing data for DeFi applications”.

From Mr Peters’ point of view, it’s a “very positive” sign for the long-term success of the network.

The month also saw “massive increases for top altcoins – in particular EOS and TRON, as investors sought to take advantage of their excellent price performance”, Mr Peters highlighted.

For him, “the question now is, will altcoins maintain retail investor interest, or will rising bitcoin prices usurp their popularity?”  

Here are the top 10 cryptocurrencies by trade volume, according to eToro:

1. Bitcoin
2. Ethereum
3. XRP
4. Tezos
5. ADA
6. Binance Coin
7. EOS
8. TRON
9. MIOTA
10. NEO