Review of the performance of crypto assets in 2024: What are the top ten tokens with the highest growth?

This research analyzes the price performance of the 150 largest cryptocurrencies listed on the CoinGecko platform as of December 25, 2024, by comparing the price changes from January 1, 2024, or the earliest available data date, to comprehensively examine the investment returns of the annual cryptocurrency market. To ensure the accuracy and reference value of the data, the study specifically excludes stablecoins, wrapped tokens, collateralized assets, staked assets, and re-staked assets, which are derivative asset classes. The cryptocurrency with the largest gains in 2024 is Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), with an astonishing 23,079.2% increase. The price of $VIRTUAL started the year at $0.01311 and remained mostly below $0.20, but suddenly surged in the fourth quarter, reaching a high of $3.04 on December 25. This strong performance was driven by the viral spread of Virtuals Protocol's AI agent platform, attracting a large number of cryptocurrency investors seeking dual investment opportunities in AI and meme coins. Closely following is Brett (BRETT), which has increased by 14,784.6% since its launch at $0.0009766 on February 29, reaching $0.145 on December 25, although it has retreated from its all-time high of $0.234 on December 1. Brett's significant gains have made it the only Meme coin on a Base chain to reach a market capitalization of $1 billion. Ranked third is another Meme coin project, Popcat (POPCAT), whose price has increased from $0.007640 on January 1 to $0.8067 on December 25, a gain of 10,459.0%. Although Popcat was launched at the end of last year and became one of the leading Meme coins in the Solana ecosystem, its price did not start to break new highs until March this year. Popcat became the first cat-themed Meme coin to reach a market capitalization of $1 billion on September 27 and maintained that status for several months before its market value declined. It is worth noting that 7 out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies with the largest gains this year are Meme coins. In addition to Brett and Popcat, other well-performing Meme coins include Mog Coin (MOG), which increased by 6,051.0%; Turbo (TURBO), an AI-generated frog Meme coin, which increased by 3,036.0%; the recently launched Pump.fun project Fartcoin and the AI agent investment fund ai16z, which increased by 2,890.5% and 1,409.9%, respectively; and Pepe (PEPE), which increased by 1,400.6%. Surpassing the Meme coin frenzy of the mid-2023 period, these Meme coins have consolidated their status as major Meme coin projects. Outside of Meme coins, $OM and $AERO have also achieved significant gains. MANTRA (OM) ranks fourth, with an annual increase of 6,418.3%, rising from $0.0584 on January 1 to $3.81 on December 25, making it the best-performing RWA investment project this year, with a return rate 9 times that of the next best RWA project, Ondo Finance (ONDO). At the same time, the Base chain decentralized exchange Aerodrome Finance (AERO) ranks sixth, with an annual increase of 3,139.4%, rising from $0.0511 on January 1 to $1.66 on December 25, driven by the momentum of Meme coins and the Base ecosystem, which has boosted on-chain trading volume. Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a 133.8% increase in 2024, rising steadily from $42,208 on January 1 to $98,696 on December 25, comparable to the 162.5% increase in 2023. Ranking 39th out of the 123 large-cap cryptocurrencies analyzed, it outperformed the remaining 84 cryptocurrencies. This means that, as in the previous year, the probability of randomly selecting a cryptocurrency and outperforming Bitcoin's growth in 2024 is about one-third. On the other hand, Ethereum (ETH) had a lower increase of 53.4% in 2024, recovering from $2,280 on January 1 to $3,498 on December 25, only half of the 98.6% increase in 2023. Ethereum's price fluctuated throughout the year, testing the $4,000 level several times but failing to break the 2021 peak. As of December 25, the top 10 cryptocurrencies by price increase ranged from 1,400.6% to 23,079.2%. Holding any of these cryptocurrencies would have resulted in a performance at least 10 times that of Bitcoin and 26 times that of Ethereum.