How these 4 key cryptocurrencies outperformed the Nasdaq Composite in 2024

Also, even in a year where many stocks doubled and tripled their historical average annual returns, major cryptocurrencies posted gains of more than 100% for the year.

With several years of operation behind them, historic victories against SEC regulators in US court, and even Wall Street ETFs for two of them, the crypto assets on this list are less risky for investors than ever before.

This does not mean that buying these digital assets is without risk, just like buying stocks like Apple or Amazon. But gone are the days when educated investors had to scratch their heads at the amazing reports of these coins’ price gains and wonder if it could be real.

They are currently stuck in the bullish part of a multi-year boom and bust cycle. This means that their exchange rates against the dollar have been rising for months and could continue to rise until all market demand is exhausted. Prices are then likely to correct again for the remainder of this market cycle.

Four Big Cryptos That Beat Wall Street

Each asset is listed below, with a note on how it outperformed tech stocks on the Nasdaq Composite this year. For reference, the NASDAQ, a broad benchmark for the performance of US technology stocks, gained 33% in the year ended Thursday, December 26.

Meanwhile, the four cryptocurrencies shown here gained accordingly:

Bitcoin: 126% Ethereum: 49% Solana: 75% Ripple: 247%

Throughout its history, the Nasdaq has taken up to ten years or more to return these kinds of gains to the market value of its shares. These crypto assets did it in just one year, and it is far from the first time they have performed well in a year.

1. Bitcoin (BTC) Annual Return 2024: +126%

Bitcoin is the original and first cryptocurrency. It invented the entire segment with its debut in 2009. On Thursday, the total market capitalization of the Bitcoin economy surpassed $1.9 trillion.

In the year to December 26, Bitcoin was up 126% from its average price on January 1 on crypto exchanges. It is the most traded and liquid cryptocurrency, as well as the most established, with a hands-off approach from US regulators and several ETF (exchange-traded fund) products available on Wall Street so that regulated investors buy with less risk than the use crypto exchanges or self-custodial to buy and secure.

In addition to its ongoing unique value proposition, Bitcoin beat the Nasdaq this year for three proximate reasons:

SEC approval of Wall Street ETF for Bitcoin on January 10 Four-year BTC supply halving on April 20 Former President Donald Trump’s re-election on 5 of November

Bitcoin’s unique value proposition is the highly secure maintenance of a scarce supply of unique, serialized digital notes on its network. Economists who understand how it works compare Bitcoin to digital gold, which you can send to anyone in the world as easily as sending an email.

2. Annual return of Ethereum (ETH) 2024: +49%

Inspired by the ideas and design behind Bitcoin, Ethereum was the first blockchain smart contract platform to scale to a mass market of users. Smart contracts are like the currency on the Bitcoin network, but they can do more than basic bookkeeping.

The idea is powerful and the possibilities are endless: smart contracts or decentralized finance (DeFi) networks like Ethereum host programmable money.

Imagine you could write a note on a $100 bill that says the first person to qualify for that note will get the $100 bill.

Also, you could leave that note hanging on a cork board in an office park, and it wouldn’t go anywhere until someone actually does what the note requires (eg leave a note in place with the solution to a problem complex). that would cost you over $100 to solve).

This technology is still new, but it promises to revolutionize finance, law, accounting, insurance and supply chain management in a way comparable to how the Internet revolutionized publishing and retail.

Ethereum beat the Nasdaq this year by:

Wall Street ETF Approves Ether by SEC on July 22nd. The Federal Reserve’s pivot to cut interest rates on September 18 The re-election of former President Donald Trump on November 5

Blockchain insights and analytics team CryptoQuant recently noted that key Ethereum metrics portend a persistently bullish market outlook for ETH tokens at the moment.

3. Annual performance of Solana (SOL) 2024: +75%

Inspired by the success of Ethereum, Solana is another smart contract DeFi platform built with a second-mover advantage of higher network speed and lower fees. While Ether remains the leading DeFi cryptocurrency by market cap, Solana has made great strides in closing the gap.

It still has a ways to go, with a market cap of about $90 billion on Thursday compared to Ethereum’s $400 billion. But cryptocurrency market watchers are watching these two closely to gauge the future of the blockchain economy and cryptocurrency exchange markets.

Solana lagged Bitcoin in terms of ROI growth this year relative to the average crypto exchange price as of January 1, but outperformed Ethereum by a good margin. It also marked one of the best years of growth on the Nasdaq, with gains of 33% for the year ending Thursday, December 26.

Solana beat the Nasdaq this year by:

High network performance and low fees compared to DeFi competitors The Federal Reserve’s pivot to low interest rates and Trump’s re-election The exceptional success of Solana’s meme coins against its competitors

Some of the best Solana memes that have stood out this year include Bonk, Pudgy Penguins, Dogwifhat, Fartcoin, Popcat, Gigachad, Goatseus Maximus, and Baby Doge Coin. But beginner crypto investors who don’t know memes are probably safer with base layer SOL tokens.

4. Ripple (XRP) Annual Return 2024: +247%

One of the first altcoins inspired by Bitcoin, Ripple’s XRP is a decentralized and automated platform for large cross-border payments between financial institutions.

Ripple’s XRP tokens are the top gainers on this year’s shortlist due to pent-up demand as the market awaits a resolution of the SEC lawsuit. The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple over allegations of selling unregistered securities (which are the XRP tokens for its decentralized payment network).

Three US court rulings in favor of Ripple last year and another most recently in November set the stage for XRP’s outperformance among major cryptos this year.

Ripple beat the Nasdaq by:

Several decisive wins against the SEC in court and hype around a possible resolution The Fed’s low-rate pivot and Donald Trump’s re-election Ripple’s aggressive push for business partnerships around the world

Recent technical analysis of the XRP price indicates that the bull run will continue as long as the average exchange rates remain above this key support level.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored) Binance Free $600 (Exclusive to CryptoPotato): Use this link to register a new account and receive an exclusive welcome offer of $600 to Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato Readers on Bybit – Use this link to register and open a FREE $500 position with any currency!