What's the Best Performing Cryptocurrency Sector in 2024?

TL;DR

• Meme coins and Real World Assets (RWAs) have been top performers so far in 2024, with significant price increases.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum have also seen substantial gains, with BTC up 43% YTD.

Memes and RWA Lead the Pack

The cryptocurrency industry has experienced a significant revival since the beginning of 2024. Its global crypto market capitalization has pumped from $1.77 trillion to $2.2 trillion (as of the moment of writing these lines), representing a 25% increase. 

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

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

DOGE and SHIB are also up YTD, albeit in a much more modest fashion. Still, they stand as the sector’s undisputed leaders, collectively comprising over 50% of its entire market cap.

Real World Assets (RWA) have been a sensation, too. Mantra (OM) and Ondo (ONDO) have skyrocketed by 1570% and 380%, respectively.

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

What About BTC and ETH?

The biggest cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization and the most recognizable globally – Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) – are also well in the green YTD.

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

For its part, ETH has spiked by 15%, from $2,280 to around $2,600. It will be interesting to see whether the flagship cryptocurrencies are yet to chart new peaks due to several bullish events over the past several months (including the BTC halving and the launch of spot BTC and ETH ETFs in the United States) or whether certain meme coins will continue to outshine them.