With 2024 over, we can now take a look back at the crypto categories that did the best. In its latest report, CoinGecko highlights the narratives that have recorded the best performance.
What were the best crypto categories during 2024?
In its latest report, CoinGecko studies the categories of cryptocurrencies which performed the best during the year 2024. To do this, analyst Lim Yu Qian compiled the daily evolution of the 10 largest capitalizations in each category, from January 1 to December 29.
If Bitcoin (BTC) had a particularly profitable year with more than 125% increasesome asset classes achieved much higher multiples, while others were particularly disappointing.
💡 How to buy Bitcoin (BTC)?
Among the disappointments, this is particularly the case of the layer 2 category. If 2024 was a year where Ethereum (ETH) scaling solutions particularly developed, the tokens associated with these networks significantly underperformed, down 20.7% over the year. ETH itself also remained in the shadow of BTC, with “only” 49% increase.
The Web3 games weren't very convincing either, with a GameFi category up 14.65%.
Higher in the ranking, 3 categories performed more or less similar to BTC, namely decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) and layer 1, respectively with 101.44%, 135.37% and 142.46%. Note, however, that these are only the category averages, and that in terms of performance/risk, the choice of BTC therefore seemed more relevant.
Download Bitstack and earn €5 in Bitcoin with code CRYPTOAST5*
* After saving for €100 of BTC purchase
On the podium, we find in third position the narrative of Real-World Assets (RWA), notably carried by Mantra (OM), which saw its token increase from 0.06 to 3.8 dollars in one year. The first 2 positions are then characteristic of the fashion of the last 2 years, on the one hand with memecoins, recording an increase of almost 2,200%, then artificial intelligence with more than 2,900% :
Performance of different categories of cryptos in 2024
If investing part of your portfolio in the popular narratives above can prove profitable, we nevertheless warn of the increased risks that this can cause. Faced with the fashion effect, certain tokens stamped as such sometimes only have artificial intelligence in namewhile the performance of memecoins has a strong randomness.
👉 Also in the news — What are the top 20 cryptocurrencies for 2025, according to Grayscale?
Faced with this observation, it is therefore a safe bet that crypto investors primarily invested in BTC during 2024 will have performed better than the average.
In parallel with these observations, BTC begins 2025 with a slight decline of 0.73% in 24 hours, for a price of approximately $93,400.
Don't miss the bullrun, join our experts on Cryptoast Academy
Advertisement
Source: CoinGecko
The #1 Crypto Newsletter 🍞
Receive a summary of crypto news every day by email 👌
Some links in this article may be affiliated. This means that if you buy a product or register on a site from this article, our partner pays us a commission.
Investments in cryptocurrencies are risky. There is no guaranteed high return, a product with high return potential involves high risk. This risk-taking must be in line with your project, your investment horizon and your capacity to lose part of this savings. Do not invest if you are not prepared to lose all or part of your capital
Since 2021, I have devoted my free time to seriously educating myself on cryptocurrencies in order to acquire maximum knowledge and credibility. I often have the opportunity to conduct interviews with influential figures in the blockchain industry. I also conduct in-depth analyzes on Web3 themes to offer exclusive content to Cryptoast readers.
Vincent Maire
1520 items
