The most profitable narrative in the crypto industry for 2024 was AI, with a remarkable 2940% yield. Meme coins took second place with 2185%, followed by RWA at 820%, according to CoinGecko.

The most profitable crypto narratives in 2024 are AI, which recorded the highest average price gains of 2,940% YTD, followed by memecoins which saw returns of 2,185% and RWA with average returns of 820%.

Read the full study: https://t.co/GhkQh9CGtt pic.twitter.com/548oaW4rKL
— CoinGecko (@coingecko) December 31, 2024

The figures represent the average daily returns of the ten largest tokens in each narrative, covering the period from January 1 or the first available price data to December 29.

The fourth to eighth places are as follows:

L1 — 142%
DePIN — 135%
DeFi — 101%
Gaming — 14%
L2 — -21%

Until December 9, meme coins led with a 3211% return, with most of the growth occurring in March (from 97% to 1713%). In December, AI tokens surged to first place due to a rally that boosted returns from 1598% to 2940%.

While L1 and DePIN slightly outperformed Bitcoin (+125.5%), other narratives lagged behind.

Previously, CoinGecko identified meme coins as the top trend among traders in 2024.

As a reminder, some community members have expressed doubts about the long-term popularity of AI agents.