What is the best performing cryptocurrency sector in 2024?

TL;DR

Meme coins and real world assets (RWAs) have had the best performances so far in 2024, with significant price increases. Bitcoin and Ethereum have also seen substantial gains, with BTC up 43% year-to-date. Memes and RWA lead the pack

The cryptocurrency industry has seen a major renaissance since the beginning of 2024. Its global crypto market cap has risen from $1.77 trillion to $2.2 trillion (at the time of writing) , which represents an increase of 25%.

One niche that provided some of the best returns is the realm of meme coins. The prices of the major meme coins (DOGE, SHIB, WIF, PEPE, BONK and FLOKI) have soared an average of 338% year-to-date (YTD). The success of dogwifhat (WIF) is the most impressive and is the main reason for the high average.

The largest meme built in the Solana ecosystem was valued at less than $0.02 at the beginning of 2024, while it is currently worth around $1.80. At one point in April, it hit an all-time high of $4.58.

DOGE and SHIB are also up on the year, albeit in a much more modest way. Still, they remain the undisputed leaders of the industry, collectively accounting for more than 50% of their entire market capitalization.

Real World Assets (RWAs) have also been a sensation. Mantra (OM) and Ondo (ONDO) have soared 1570% and 380%, respectively.

Other sectors that have performed well since January 1 include Layer 1 (+17%), SOL DeFi (+9.8%) and AI & DePIN (+43%).

Main conclusions of the annual performance by sector:

-> Mostly green, obvious bull market
-> $ETH DeFi rect
-> Coins themselves dominate, $WIF bring
-> RWA returns took a big hit $OM
-> $SOL DeFi and L1s underperform flagship products pic.twitter.com/Fh9kN1snmE

— CryptoPotato Official (@Crypto_Potato) August 9, 2024

What about BTC and ETH?

The largest and most globally recognizable cryptocurrencies by market cap, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), are also doing well in the green YTD.

BTC started 2024 at around $42,260, while currently, its price is around $60,000 (around a 43% increase). Its rise was much more impressive in mid-March, when the valuation reached an all-time high of more than $73,500.

Meanwhile, ETH is up 15% from $2,280 to around $2,600. It will be interesting to see if the flagship cryptocurrencies have yet to hit new highs due to various bullish events in recent months (including the BTC halving and the launch of BTC and ETH spot ETFs in the US) or certain meme coins will continue to eclipse them.

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