During the first quarter of 2024, the cryptocurrency market demonstrated strong performance in various sectors, including meme coins, real-world assets, and AI tokens.
Meme coins saw impressive returns, with an average of 1,312% across the top tokens on CoinGecko. New entrants like Brett (BRETT), BOOK OF MEME (BOME), and cat in a dogs world (MEW) performed exceptionally well, with Brett leading the pack with a 7,727% return by the end of the quarter. Dogwifhat (WIF) also gained significant traction, with a 2,721% return.
The Real World Asset (RWA) narrative, which focuses on tokens linked to physical assets or real-world utilities, saw a 285% return. Leading RWA tokens like MANTRA (OM) and TokenFi (TOKEN) achieved gains of 1,074% and 419% respectively.
The AI narrative also performed strongly, with an average return of 222%. AIOZ Network (AIOZ) and Fetch.ai (FET) were among the top performers in this sector, with gains of 480% and 378% respectively.
Decentralized finance (defi) and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) narratives saw moderate gains, with defi ending the quarter with 98.9% returns. Ribbon Finance (RBN) was the most profitable defi token, gaining 430%. DePIN ended the quarter with 81% returns, led by tokens like Arweave (AR), Livepeer (LPT), and Theta Network (THETA).
However, Layer 1 (L1), GameFi, and Layer 2 (L2) narratives lagged behind in profitability. L1 narratives saw 70% returns, with Solana (SOL) gaining popularity but being outperformed by Toncoin (TON) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). GameFi and L2 narratives posted returns of 64.4% and 39.5% respectively, with established Ethereum L2s like Arbitrum (ARB), Polygon (MATIC), and Optimism (OP) underperforming.