Author: Lim Yu Qian, Coingecko; Translator: Wu Zhu, Jinse Finance
Which cryptocurrencies had the biggest gains in 2024?
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) was the cryptocurrency with the largest gains in 2024, with a price return of 23,079.2% among the largest crypto assets by market cap. The price of $VIRTUAL started the year at $0.01311 and mostly hovered below $0.20, before skyrocketing to $3.04 on December 25th. The strong price surge was driven by crypto investors' enthusiasm for the launch of Virtuals Protocol's AI agent.
In other words, if a crypto investor had purchased $100 worth of $VIRTUAL on January 1st and held it for the entire year, they would have been able to sell it on Christmas Day for a profit of $23,079.
The second largest crypto gainer in 2024 was Brett (BRETT), with its token price surging from $0.0009766 on February 29th to $0.145 on December 25th, a 14,784.6% increase. It reached a peak of $0.234 on December 1st. Brett's impressive price gains made it the only meme token on a Base chain to reach a $1 billion market cap so far.
The third most profitable cryptocurrency was also a meme coin, called Popcat (POPCAT), which rose from $0.007640 on January 1st to $0.8067 on December 25th, a 10,459.0% increase. Although Popcat was launched late last year and became a leading staking narrative around Solana meme coins, its price only started to hit new highs in March this year. Popcat was the first cat meme coin to reach a $1 billion market cap on September 27th, which it maintained for several months before its market cap contracted again.
In summary, 7 out of the top 10 best performing cryptocurrencies this year were meme coins. In addition to Brett and Popcat, other top-gaining meme coins include: Mog Coin (MOG), up 6,051.0%; the AI-generated Frog Meme Coin Turbo (TURBO), with a 3,036.0% return; the more recent FARTCOIN and the AI agent investment fund AI16Z, up 2,890.5% and 1,409.9% so far; and Pepe (PEPE), which outperformed the mid-2023 meme coin frenzy with a 1,400.6% increase, solidifying its status as one of the largest meme coins.
Meme coins MANTRA (OM) and Aerodrome Finance (AERO) set records mid-year
MANTRA (OM) ranked fourth among the meme-dominated crypto gainers in 2024, with a return of 6,418.3%, as its price rose from $0.0584 on January 1st to $3.81 on December 25th. This made MANTRA the most profitable RWA investment that year, even 9 times better than Ondo Finance (ONDO), the second most profitable RWA game, which returned 682.8%.
Meanwhile, Aerodrome Finance (AERO) ranked sixth among the cryptocurrencies with the biggest gains in 2024, with a return of 3,139.4%, as its token price increased from $0.0511 on January 1st to $1.66 by the end of the year, driving the development of its ecosystem.
Bitcoin's stable returns and Ethereum's lackluster performance
Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 133.8% gain in 2024, with its price steadily rising from $42,208 on January 1st to a new all-time high of $98,696 in December. Bitcoin ranked 39th out of the 123 large-cap cryptocurrencies analyzed, outperforming the remaining 84 cryptocurrencies. This means that, just like last year, the odds of randomly selecting a cryptocurrency from this list and beating Bitcoin's growth in 2024 are about one in three.
On the other hand, Ethereum (ETH) had a relatively low return of 53.4% in 2024, with its price recovering from $2,280 on January 1st to $3,498 on December 25th. This is nearly half of the 98.6% gain Ethereum achieved in 2023. The price remained in a range throughout the year, briefly testing the $4,000 level a few times but unable to surpass its 2021 peak.
As of December 25th, the top 10 best performing cryptocurrencies had returns ranging from 1,400.6% to 23,079.2%. Holding any of these cryptocurrencies this year would have outperformed Bitcoin by at least 10 times and Ethereum by 26 times.
Top cryptocurrencies in 2024
The top 20 most profitable cryptocurrencies by price appreciation, as well as Bitcoin and Ethereum, in 2024 are:
Top cryptocurrencies in 2023
The gains for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the other top 10 cryptocurrencies in 2023 are as follows:
