Bitcoin has been fluctuating for nearly two months, and earlier it dropped below the 60,000 mark. This article will compare and analyze the returns of various cryptocurrency tracks in the first half of this year and analyze the possible reasons behind them.
Table of Contents
How do different cryptocurrency tracks perform in terms of returns from the beginning of the year?
Meme coins have become the most profitable track
The RWA track has a return rate of 213.5% from 2024 to the present
The AI track closely follows with a return rate of 71.6%
DePIN and Layer1 achieve steady growth
GameFi, DeFi, and Layer 2 lag behind
Calculation Method
The first half of this year is almost over. Since BTC broke through the previous bull market high and rose to 70,000, there has been no exciting brilliance. The recent months have been full of ups and downs, and the promising money-making flag set at the beginning of the year has been slightly shaken. In any case, the main upward wave of the bull market has not yet arrived, and there will be opportunities everywhere. Don’t be in a hurry.
At this point, it is suitable for introspection and review. This article statistically compares the return rates of different cryptocurrency tracks from 2024 to the present. It is no longer the era of “picking up money.” What track is the most profitable? After reading this article, you will know.
According to the average YTD (January 1, 2024, to June 21, 2024) price return rate of the top 10 tokens in each track, the data comes from CoinGecko. The performance of cryptocurrency tracks in the first half of 2024 is shown in the figure below. 
In recent months, “value investment is empty, and going all in on MEME” has gradually become one of the “coin trading maxims” of this round of bull market. According to statistics, there is no doubt that Meme coins have been the most profitable track from 2024 to the present, with the highest average return rate reaching 2405.1%. As of June 19, among the ten largest Meme coins by market value, three tokens were newly released around March to April: Brett (BRETT), BOOK OF MEME (BOME), and DOG・GO・TO・THE・MOON (DOG). Among them, BRETT has the highest return rate, rising by 14353.54% from its issuance price; dogwifhat (WIF) has risen by 933.93% from 2024 to the present (YTD), sparking the craze for Meme coins at that time. It is worth noting that the profit capability of Meme coins is 8.6 times that of the second-most profitable track RWA and 542.5 times that of the least profitable DeFi track. (Note: The actual final ranking of the Layer 2 track’s return rate is negative, so no comparison is made in terms of multiples) 
The concept of Real World Assets (RWA) has been the subject of continuous discussion in recent months, with major institutional giants laying out in this track, including BlackRock Funds. Therefore, RWA briefly became the most profitable track in February, ranking first in the return rate, but was subsequently surpassed by Meme coins and the AI track until the end of March, and its performance was also good at the beginning of June. Among the high market value RWA tokens, MANTRA (OM) and Ondo (ONDO) have the largest increase, at 1123.8% and 451.12% YTD, respectively, while XDC Network (XDC) has the worst performance, falling by 44.38%. Apart from some old DeFi projects, RWA projects are generally in the earlier stages and are worth paying attention to.
As early as the end of 2023, the AI track has frequently appeared in the annual outlooks of major investment institutions. As Messari stated in its 2024 investment forecast, AI has become the new favorite in the field of technology. Indeed, as expected, the average return rate of the AI track from 2024 to the present is 71.6%, ranking third. Among them, Arkham (ARKM) has the highest increase, at 215.50%. This is followed by AIOZ Network (AIOZ), which has risen by 192.19%. Tokens that have received a lot of attention in the first half of the year, such as Render (RNDR) and Fetch.ai (FET), have return rates of 57.47% and 116.00%, respectively, and have also performed well.
DePIN basically had a negative return rate in the first half of the first quarter and began to reverse the trend since March, with a return rate of 58.7% to date. Among the high market value DePIN tokens, JasmyCoin (JASMY) has performed the best, with an increase of 323.42%, followed by Arweave (AR) and Livepeer (LPT), which have YTD increases of 174.07% and 116.06%, respectively. In contrast, Helium (HNT) has performed poorly and is the only large market value DePIN token with a decrease of more than 50%, with a return rate of -50.94%. DePIN is also one of the tracks that have attracted capital in this round of bull market. If the total market value of DeFi grows tenfold and the total market value of DePIN reaches half of DeFi’s, then the total market value of DePIN will reach 500 billion U.S. dollars, at least a 20-fold increase.
The return rate of the Layer 1 (L1) track from 2024 to the present is 43.0%. Although Solana (SOL) has received a lot of attention as a public chain with many high-potential Meme coins, its YTD increase is 22.91%, which is significantly lower than the 85.05% return rate in mid-March. The best-performing high market value L1 cryptocurrencies are actually Toncoin (TON) and Binance Coin (BNB), with increases of 204.72% and 86.10%, respectively. In contrast, Bitcoin (BTC) has a 45.06% increase from the beginning of the year after setting a new high, while Ethereum (ETH), despite the expected rise through ETF applications, has only a 49.65% YTD increase, which is comparable to BTC.
The return rate of the GameFi track is 19.1%, which is a track with less rotation in the market from the beginning of the year to the present. Although it has received a lot of financing, it has not yet become a bestseller. The best-performing high market value GameFi tokens are FLOKI (FLOKI), with an increase of 362.79%, Ronin (RON) with 21.16%, and Echelon Prime (PRIME) with 5.27% YTD. Other high market value tokens have negative return rates, including GALA (GALA) at -13.43% and Immutable (IMX) at -32.02%.
The DeFi track performed well in the first quarter, receiving a boost from the proposal to convert Uniswap (UNI) fees at the end of February. However, in the second quarter, its performance was slightly lacking, and the return rate from the beginning of the year dropped to 3.4%. The high market value DeFi token with the highest return rate is Maker (MKR), with a YTD increase of 49.88%.
The Layer 2 (L2) track is the worst-performing track, with a return rate of -40.59%, nearly halved. Among the high market value L2 tokens, AEVO (AEVO) and Starknet (STRK) had the worst performances, with return rates of -85.40% and -63.16%, respectively. The mainstream Ethereum L2 performed poorly as well: the return rate of Optimism (OP) is -54.64%, and that of Arbitrum (ARB) is -53.71%. It is worth noting that Mantle (MNT) has outperformed them all, with a YTD return rate of 26.09%.
This study is based on data from CoinGecko, analyzing the performance of the most popular cryptocurrency tracks from January 1, 2024, to June 21, 2024, based on the average daily price return rate of the top 10 tokens in each track and their comparison with the initial price at the beginning of the quarter. For tokens launched during the quarter, their data is compared with their first day’s price. The representative tokens of each track (the top 10 tokens by market value) were selected based on their market value ranking on the last day of the quarter. In order to better meet the purpose of this study, tracks with specific chains, tracks with a small number of high market value tokens, or tracks that overlap highly with other tracks are excluded. This study is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. When investing in any cryptocurrency or financial assets, be sure to conduct your own research and act cautiously. 
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