2024 Crypto Market Theme Performance Analysis: AI and Meme Coins Lead, L2 Lags Behind

The cryptocurrency market in 2024 is showing significant thematic differentiation, with vast disparities in performance across different sectors. Based on market data from a certain data platform, an in-depth analysis of the major narrative themes in the cryptocurrency market from January 1 to December 29, 2024, has been conducted. The research method involves tracking the performance of the top ten tokens for each theme and calculating their average return relative to the beginning of the year (or the first trading day). Representative tokens with high market capitalization at the end of the period were selected, and specific public chain ecosystems and sectors with high overlap with other themes were excluded. The analysis results indicate significant differences in annual returns among different narrative themes, with a range from -20.7% to +2,939.8%.

AI and Meme coins dominate market gains

The most outstanding encryption currency narrative theme in 2024 is the AI sector, with an average increase of 2,939.8% YTD from the beginning of the year to now (. Following closely is the Meme coin sector, which has achieved a return of 2,185.1% this year. The returns of these two sectors far exceed those of other popular narrative themes by more than double.

The Meme coin sector began to significantly lead in March, with a monthly return soaring from 96.6% to 1,713.1%. Despite the volatility, Meme coins maintained the highest returns for most of 2024. However, after reaching a historical high return of 3,211.4% on December 9, the sector experienced a pullback as market interest waned.

In contrast, the AI sector saw a strong rebound at the end of the year, with returns in December nearly doubling from 1,598.1% to 2,939.8%. This was mainly due to the explosive growth of the AI agency platform Virtuals Protocol )VIRTUAL(, which also became the token with the largest increase in the crypto market this year. Ultimately, the AI sector surpassed Meme coins by the end of December, becoming the annual return champion.

The real-world assets ) RWA ( sector ranks third with an annual average return of 819.5%. The sector performed steadily at the beginning of the year, with a return of 365.3% by April 12, followed by a sideways consolidation over the next six months. In November, driven by the price increase of MANTRA ) OM (, the RWA sector restarted its upward trend.

Layer 1, DePIN, and DeFi performed mediocre

Layer 1, decentralized physical infrastructure ) DePIN (, and decentralized finance ) DeFi ( sectors performed similarly in 2024, recording returns of 142.5%, 135.4%, and 101.4%, respectively. This means that Layer 1 and DePIN slightly outperformed Bitcoin's increase of 125.5% during the same period, while the performance of the DeFi sector was even less than that of Bitcoin.

It is worth noting that conservative investors can achieve returns comparable to at least three major narrative themes by holding only Bitcoin. This phenomenon reflects that in certain areas, innovation has not brought significant excess returns.

The gaming and Layer 2 sectors performed poorly

GameFi and Layer 2 have become the worst-performing sectors in 2024, even underperforming Ethereum's 49.0% increase. Specifically, the GameFi sector has only risen by 14.7% this year, with six of the top ten gaming tokens experiencing declines ranging from 3.1% to 32.9%.

Layer 2 is the only sector this year that recorded a negative return, down 20.7%. Amid the trend of projects seeking to launch their own Layer 2 solutions, seven out of the top ten Layer 2 tokens saw their prices drop, with declines ranging from 6.3% to 75.3%. This may reflect concerns in the market regarding excessive competition in Layer 2 technology and its profit models.

Crypto Narrative Revenue Ranking

The performance of the cryptocurrency narrative in 2024, ranked by the average annual price return of its 10 largest tokens, is as follows:

1. AI: 2939.8%
2. Meme coin: 2185.1%
3. RWA: 819.5%
4. Layer 1: 142.5%
5. DePIN: 135.4%
6. DeFi: 101.4%
7. Bitcoin: 125.5% (reference)
8. Ethereum: 49.0% (reference)
9. GameFi: 14.7%
10. Layer 2: -20.7%

![Crypto narrative annual performance: AI and Meme surged over 20 times, L2 fell 20.7% at the bottom])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-7f10d54608398d4d8993b59e3bdc8ee2.webp(

This ranking clearly demonstrates the thematic rotation and changes in investor preferences in the crypto market for 2024. The outstanding performance of AI and Meme coins reflects the market's enthusiasm for emerging technologies and social narratives, while traditional DeFi and Layer 2 projects face growth bottlenecks and competitive pressures.

![Crypto narrative annual performance: AI and Meme surged over 20 times, L2 dropped 20.7% at the bottom])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-e54073507ba641fcac4a3ba2ccfdb3f9.webp(