Meme coins, AI and RWA crypto tokens could drive profitability in 2024

• Meme coins have emerged as the most profitable sector in 2024, averaging returns of over 2,400%. 
• AI tokens and RWA are two other key narratives driving profitability for holders.
• Meme coins WIF, BONK, BOME, AI tokens NEAR, FET, and RWA’s ONDO and PENDLE pose a buy-the-dip opportunity to traders.

Meme coins, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Real World Asset tokenization (RWA) are the dominant narratives as the first half of 2024 draws to a close. A report by analysts at Biteye shows that the three sectors have emerged as the most profitable ones in 2024. 

According to the average year-till-date return rate of the top 10 tokens in each of the three sectors, the performance is as follows:

Ranking of crypto sector returns in the first half of 2024 

Most profitable sector in H1 2024 is meme coins

The shift in narrative from value investing to going “all-in” on meme coins happened in the first half of 2024. This gradual shift made the meme coin sector one of the most profitable compared to Layer 1, Gaming Finance, DeFi, Layer 2, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Real World Assets (RWA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

As of June 19, three of the top 10 meme coins ranked by market capitalization were launched in March or April 2024: Brett (BRETT), Book of MEME (BOME), and Dog go to the moon (DOG). 

The report shows that BRETT had the highest return at 14,353% from its issuance price, WIF rallied over 933% year-to-date (YTD), and meme coin profitability is over 500 times that of the least profitable sector, DeFi.

Among top meme coins, Dogwifhat (WIF), BOME, and Bonk (BONK) are down between 2% and 4% in the 24-hour timeframe, and their market capitalization is upwards of $625 million. The top three meme tokens offer a “buy the dip” opportunity to traders before the next imoulse in the narrative. 

Average returns of the top 10 tokens by market value in each sector 

AI and RWA tokens among top-gaining sectors in 2024

The second most profitable sector, RWA, has offered traders 213% returns in 2024. The concept of RWA has made headlines, and institutional investors like BlackRock have discussed the narrative in H1 2024. 

In February 2024, RWA was briefly the most profitable sector among the three, but meme tokens and AI surpassed it after that. 

The top token in the RWA narrative is Ondo Finance (ONDO), with YTD gains of 451%. Among the top three tokens in the sector, ONDO, Pendle (PENDLE), and Mantra (OM) wiped out between 3% and 6% of their value in the past 24 hours. This offers traders a buy-the-dip opportunity on Thursday. 

RWA narrative assets

The AI sector offered traders over 71% gains. Among the top tokens of the sector, Arkham (ARKM) rallied 215%, and AIOZ Network added 192% to its value. NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Fetch.ai (FET), Internet Computer (ICP) prices are down between 2% and 5% in the past 24 hours. The three AI tokens pose an opportunity for traders to “buy the dip.”

AI tokens 

The market capitalization of the three sectors is down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko data.