2024 Crypto Market Theme Review: AI and Meme Coins Lead the Rise, Layer 2 Performance Weak

The crypto market in 2024 is showing significant differentiation. Analysis based on market data indicates that the annual returns vary greatly across different thematic sectors, ranging from -20.7% to +2,939.8%.

Artificial intelligence ( AI ) and Meme coins have become the absolute protagonists of the crypto market in 2024. The AI sector leads with an astonishing annual average rise of 2,939.8%, followed closely by Meme coins with a rise of 2,185.1%. The performance of these two sectors far exceeds other popular themes.

Meme coin began to significantly lead in March, with a monthly rise from 96.6% to 1,713.1%. Despite the volatility, Meme coin has maintained the highest returns for most of 2024. However, after reaching an all-time high return of 3,211.4% on December 9, the sector experienced a correction as market enthusiasm cooled.

In contrast, the AI sector experienced a strong rebound at the end of the year. In December, its return nearly doubled 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 rise in the crypto market this year. Ultimately, the AI sector surpassed Meme coins at the end of December, becoming the annual return champion.

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, reaching a yield of 365.3% by April 12, and then consolidated over the next six months. In November, driven by the price increase of MANTRA ( OM ), the RWA sector restarted its upward trend.

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 Layer 1 and DePIN only slightly outperformed Bitcoin's return of 125.5% during the same period, while the performance of the DeFi sector was even below that of Bitcoin.

GameFi and Layer 2 have become the worst performing sectors in 2024, even falling short of Ethereum's 49.0% rise. The GameFi sector has only risen 14.7% this year, with six out of the top ten game tokens experiencing varying degrees of decline. Layer 2 is the only sector to record negative returns this year, down 20.7%. Amid the trend of projects seeking to launch their own Layer 2 solutions, seven of the top ten Layer 2 tokens have seen their prices decline.

Overall, the crypto market in 2024 shows a clear trend of thematic rotation. The strong performance of AI and Meme coins reflects the market's enthusiasm for emerging technologies and social trends, while the mediocre performance of traditional sectors such as DeFi and Layer 1 indicates a shift in market sentiment. The weakness of Layer 2 may suggest concerns about excessive competition for scaling solutions.