<p><span>It was a strong start to the year for the cryptocurrency markets, with Bitcoin (BTC) leading the rest of the market with a 39.9% increase to $23,130. Layer-1 blockchain native tokens like Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) outperformed heavily, returning 58.9% and 140%, respectively. Other assets not included in this report proved to be the biggest gainers, such as Aptos - the recently launched layer-1 blockchain - which returned 386% in the first month of the year.</span></p>