Author: Lim Yu Qian, Coingecko; Compiled by: Wu Zhu, Golden Finance
What are the biggest cryptocurrency gains in 2024?
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) is the asset with the largest gain in cryptocurrency for 2024, achieving the highest price return among the largest market-cap cryptocurrencies at 23,079.2%. The price of $VIRTUAL was $0.01311 at the beginning of the year, mostly hovering below $0.20, before surging in the last quarter to reach $3.04 on December 25. The launch of Virtuals Protocol's AI agent platform has driven strong price increases among cryptocurrency investors.
In other words, if cryptocurrency investors purchased $VIRTUAL worth $100 on January 1 and held it for the entire year, they would be able to sell it on Christmas Day for a profit of $23,079.
The second highest cryptocurrency gain in 2024 is Brett (BRETT), whose token price soared from $0.0009766 on February 29 to $0.145 on December 25, an increase of 14,784.6%. The peak on December 1 was $0.234. Brett's significant price gains make it the only meme token on the Base chain to reach a market capitalization of $1 billion so far.
The third most profitable cryptocurrency is also a meme coin called Popcat (POPCAT), whose price increased from $0.007640 on January 1 to $0.8067 on December 25, a rise of 10,459.0%. Although Popcat launched at the end of last year and became a leading narrative on Solana meme coins, its price only began to hit new highs in March of this year. Popcat was the first cat meme coin to reach a market cap of $1 billion on September 27, maintaining that for several months before its market cap shrank again.
Overall, among the top 10 cryptocurrency gains this year, 7 are meme coins. In addition to Brett and Popcat, other meme coins with high gains include: Mog Coin (MOG), which grew by 6,051.0%; AI-generated Frog Meme Coin Turbo (TURBO) with a return of 3,036.0%; the recent FARTCOIN and AI agent investment fund AI16Z (AI16Z), which have risen by 2,890.5% and 1,409.9% respectively; and Pepe (PEPE), whose price performance surpassed that of the mid-2023 meme coin frenzy, rising by 1,400.6%, solidifying its position as one of the largest meme coins.
Meme coin record gains mid-year for $OM and $AERO
MANTRA (OM) ranks fourth in the cryptocurrency gain leaderboard dominated by meme coins in 2024. $OM had a return of 6,418.3%, with its price rising from $0.0584 on January 1 to $3.81 on December 25. This made MANTRA the most profitable RWA investment of the year, nine times that of Ondo Finance (ONDO), which was the second most profitable RWA game with a return of 682.8%.
Meanwhile, Aerodrome Finance (AERO) ranks sixth among the tokens with the highest gains in cryptocurrency for 2024, with a return of 3,139.4%, rising from a token price of $0.0511 on January 1 to $1.66 in December, which boosted the development of the ecosystem.
Bitcoin's stable returns and Ethereum's poor performance
Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a gain of 133.8% in 2024, with its price steadily climbing from $42,208 on January 1 to $98,696 in December, continuing to set historical highs. Bitcoin ranked 39th among 123 major cryptocurrencies analyzed, outperforming 84 other cryptocurrencies. This means, just like last year, the chance of randomly selecting a cryptocurrency from this list and outperforming Bitcoin's growth in 2024 is about one in three.
On the other hand, Ethereum (ETH) had a lower return rate of 53.4% in 2024, with its price recovering from $2,280 on January 1 to $3,498 on December 25. This is almost half of the 98.6% gain Ethereum achieved in 2023. Throughout the year, the price remained within a range, briefly testing the $4,000 level several times but failing to exceed the peak set in 2021.
As of December 25, the top 10 cryptocurrencies had returns ranging from 1,400.6% to 23,079.2%. Holding any of these cryptocurrencies this year would outperform Bitcoin by at least 10 times and Ethereum by 26 times.
Top cryptocurrencies of 2024
In 2024, the top 20 most profitable cryptocurrencies ranked by price gains, along with Bitcoin and Ethereum, are:
Top cryptocurrencies of 2023
The gains of Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2023, along with the other top ten cryptocurrencies, are as follows:
