Cryptocurrency tracking platform CoinGecko has announced its year-end analysis revealing the most profitable trends of 2024 based on annual average price returns.
As the crypto market capped off another volatile year, artificial intelligence (AI), memecoins, and real-world assets (RWA) emerged as the top-performing sectors, with GameFi and Layer 2 solutions lagging behind.
The AI trend has dominated 2024, delivering an average return of 2,940% year to date (YoY). This surge was primarily driven by the popularity of AI tool launchpad Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), which became the year’s top earner.
AI saw a particularly strong year-end rally, nearly doubling its returns from 1,598% to 2,940% in December. This year-end momentum could see AI overtake memecoins as the most profitable trend of 2024.
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Memecoins have followed AI closely, with an impressive 2,185% average annualized return. This trend gained traction in March, when returns skyrocketed from 96.6% to 1,713.1% in a single month. Despite high volatility, memecoins have maintained their leading trend position for much of the year. However, after reaching a record 3,211.4% return on December 9, the sector has seen a pullback as investor interest has begun to wane.
Real world assets (RWA) came in third with an average annual return of 820%. The trend experienced steady growth early in the year, peaking at 365.3% in April before entering a period of stagnation. RWA returns rose again in November, driven by the rising price of MANTRA (OM), and rose to their year-end positions.
Layer 2: Layer 2 tokens, the only trend to lose money, saw an average decline of 21%. Seven of the top 10 Layer 2 projects reported price declines with losses ranging from 6.3% to 75.3%. The trend of projects building their own Layer 2 networks contributed to the sector’s underperformance.
*This is not investment advice.
