This round clearly exhibits a strong Matthew effect, especially in the two new sectors, Perp and prediction markets.
Recalling the DeFi Summer, the second-largest player in a sector typically commanded 10%-30% of the valuation of the largest player. However, in this prediction market round, the gap between the first and second largest players is nearly 100 times. In the Perp sector, Hyperliquid is also far ahead. Looking at trading data alone, it doesn't seem like it has a market capitalization lead of several tens of times, but this round is extremely rewarding the first-largest player, leaving the second, third, fourth, and fifth largest players relegated to the sidelines.
The era of missing out on the first-largest player and blindly buying the second and third largest players to make money is gone forever. 😥