Bitget App
Trade smarter
Buy cryptoMarketsTradeFuturesCopyBotsEarn
Memecoins capture 31% of investor mindshare in 2024, surging 4x in popularity

Memecoins capture 31% of investor mindshare in 2024, surging 4x in popularity

CryptoSlateCryptoSlate2024/12/24 06:55
By:Gino Matos

The overall popularity of memecoins was almost twice the size of AI-related narratives.

Memecoins dominated 31% of crypto narratives in 2024, according to a report by CoinGecko .

This represents nearly 4x growth compared to last year when the theme appeased just 8.32% of investors out of 25 narratives. 

The rise of memecoins, initially driven by dog-themed coins, expanded into new territories in 2024, including animal- and personality-themed tokens.

According to the report, the trend highlights an investor appetite for speculative opportunities prioritizing cultural virality over traditional fundamentals.

The memecoin launchpool Pump.fun can be used as a proxy for the success of these tokens. Nearly 5 million new memecoins were deployed on Solana alone this year, with the platform capturing over $335 million in fees, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard by user evelyn223.

The primary memecoin narrative claimed the top spot among crypto narratives, accounting for 14.36% of investor mindshare. 

Also, four memecoin trends ranked in the top 20: Solana memecoins (7.65%), Base memecoins (2.13%), AI memecoins (1.49%), and cat-themed memecoins (1.19%).

According to data from Artemis, memecoins represented the third most profitable narrative in 2024, generating an average yearly return of 201%. The gains were also above the 128% average return from the market.

Besting AI tokens

This year’s growth in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies raised investors’ expectations about the intersection between AI and blockchain. As a result, this became a hot trend within the crypto community, capturing 15.67% of the mindshare across six narratives.

The core AI ecosystem was responsible for most of the popularity, registering the second-largest overall popularity with a 12.58% share, up 1.26% from last year.

AI-related trends, such as AI agents (1.17%) and AI meme coins (1.49%), further contributed to the technology’s growing influence in crypto.

Nevertheless, the memecoins sector’s meteoric rise in popularity eclipsed the AI narrative this year by heavily outperforming. Additionally, AI tokens had a negative 11.6% performance this year, mainly due to Worldcoin’s WLD 39% drawdown.

Growing narratives

The real-world assets (RWA) narrative gained traction, climbing to third place with an 8.64% share of investor interest, up 2.16% from 2023. 

Similarly, Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) moved from 13th to 8th place, with its share rising by 1.56%.

In contrast, the blockchain gaming (GameFi) narrative declined, shrinking from a 10.49% share in 2023 to just 3.72% in 2024, reflecting waning interest in gaming-related blockchain applications.

The RWA sector posted an average yearly gain of 1,755%, primarily due to the 6,520% rise in Mantra’s OM token. As a result, the average returns for this sector’s tokens got inflated.

Meanwhile, DePIN tokens jumped 30% in the same period, while gaming tokens had an average negative performance of 23.4%.

Solana and Base shine

Blockchain ecosystems also captured significant attention in 2024, with Solana and Base-related narratives gaining prominence, with memecoins playing a key role. 

Solana narratives combined for a 14.30% share, driven by Solana memecoins (7.65%) and broader ecosystem interest (5.78%).

Base narratives totaled 4.87%, bolstered by the Base ecosystem and Base memecoins.

Mentioned in this article
Solana MANTRA Worldcoin CoinGecko Dune Analytics Pump.Fun
0

Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.

PoolX: Locked for new tokens.
APR up to 10%. Always on, always get airdrop.
Lock now!

You may also like

How OpenAI cemented its place on a rocky road in 2024

Share link:In this post: OpenAI had a challenging journey in marking itself as a prominent force in Artificial Intelligence. However, major milestones and other setbacks occurred for the company in 2024. This happened because CEO Sam Altman returned to help save the company.

Cryptopolitan2024/12/25 01:11

Majority of businesses are still at early stages of AI maturity: MIT study

Share link:In this post: Authors of the study categorized stages of AI advancement into four, with the majority of firms still in the initial stages. The study analyzed 721 companies at different stages of AI advancement. Companies become AI future-ready in the final stage.

Cryptopolitan2024/12/25 01:11

DeFi security sees a 40% drop in losses as CeFi faces a $694M surge in breaches

Share link:In this post: DeFi crypto hacks account for about 20.4% of all crypto hacks in 2024, while CeFi’s adds up to 30%. CeFi losses have increased to $694 million in 2024. Access control exploits accounts for the loss of over $1.7 billion.

Cryptopolitan2024/12/25 01:11

5 crypto predictions for 2025

These 5 crypto prophecies put Nostradamus to shame

Blockworks2024/12/25 01:00