Author: Lim Yu Qian, Coingecko; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Which cryptocurrency narrative has the highest return rate?

The most profitable cryptocurrency narrative in 2024 is AI, which has the highest average year-to-year price gain (YTD) of 2,939.8%, followed by meme, which has a year-to-year return of 2,185.1%. This makes the AI ​​and memecoin narrative more than twice as profitable as other popular cryptocurrency narratives.

The meme coin narrative initially began outperforming other narratives in March, when returns surged from 96.6% to 1,713.1% in a month. Despite high volatility, the meme coin subsequently continued to deliver the highest returns and became the most profitable narrative for much of 2024. However, after posting an all-time high return of 3,211.4% on December 9, meme coin narrative prices have retreated as interest in meme coins has waned.

In contrast, the AI ​​narrative rebounded strongly at the end of the year, nearly doubling its returns from 1,598.1% to 2,939.8% in December. This is largely due to the surge in popularity of AI agent launchpad Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), which has also been one of the biggest cryptocurrency gainers this year. As a result, the AI ​​narrative finally overtook the meme narrative in late December.

Meanwhile, RWA is the third most profitable cryptocurrency with an average year-to-date return of 819.5%. RWA's returns rose steadily at the start of the year, reaching 365.3% by April 12, but then traded sideways over the next six months. Then, in November, RWA's returns resumed rising, with MANTRA (OM) surging in price.

Modest Returns for Layer 1, DePIN, and DeFi Narrative

Layer 1, DePIN, and DeFi Narrative performed similarly in 2024, recording modest returns of 142.5%, 135.4%, and 101.4%, respectively. This means that the Layer 1 and DePIN narrative is only slightly better than Bitcoin itself, which is up 125.5% during the same period, while the DeFi narrative is not as profitable as Bitcoin.

In other words, simply holding Bitcoin could allow conservative investors to make profits comparable to at least three of this year’s major cryptocurrency narratives.

Games and Layer 2 Narratives Underperform

GameFi and Layer 2 Narratives become the least profitable narratives in 2024, still underperforming even compared to Ethereum’s 49.0% return.

Specifically, GameFi Narrative has returned just 14.7% year-to-date, with six of the top ten gaming tokens losing between 3.1% and 32.9%.

Layer 2, on the other hand, is the only narrative to lose money this year, with a negative return of 20.7%. Amid a growing trend of projects looking to launch their own Layer 2, seven of the ten largest Layer 2 tokens have seen their prices fall, ranging from 6.3% to 75.3%.

Crypto Narrative Return Rankings in 2024

Crypto Narrative Performance in 2024, ranked by average annual ROI of the 10 largest tokens by market cap: