📣 CoinGecko Summed Up 2024’s Most Popular Crypto Narratives

posted  13 hr ago
As 2025 approaches, CoinGecko’s new report highlights the top 20 crypto trends of 2024.  

The research is based on the website’s global traffic across different coin categories from January 1 to December 21, 2023, and January 1 to December 21, 2024.  

Here are the key findings:

Memecoins Were the Biggest Crypto Narrative   


According to the report, memecoins captured around 30.67% of global investor interest. CoinGecko mentions that the market expanded rapidly from dog-related memecoins to other animal and personality-related tokens.

Alongside the general meme coin hype, four specific memecoin trends made it into the top 20 crypto narratives:

  • Solana meme coins took 4th place with 7.65% of the interest

  • Base meme coins landed in 11th with 2.13%

  • AI meme coins ranked 15th with 1.49%

  • Cat-themed meme coins came in 16th with 1.19%

Memecoins were the biggest crypto narrative of 2024. Source: coingecko.com

Memecoins were the biggest crypto narrative of 2024. Source: coingecko.com


AI-Related Crypto Projects Were the Second in Popularity   


AI-related crypto projects accounted for 15.6% of investor interest. Leading AI cryptocurrencies include Bittensor (TAO), Fetch.ai (FET), Render Network (RNDR), and others.AI crypto projects combine artificial intelligence with blockchain to create smarter, more efficient systems. Their use cases include advanced trading bots, DeFi optimization, NFT creation, and securely sharing and monetizing AI data through blockchain tech.

Two major trends in the overall AI narrative are AI memecoins and AI agents.

AI memecoins are meme-based tokens that incorporate AI concepts, themes, or features into their identity or use case, such as using AI in marketing or creating community-driven projects that highlight AI technology.

AI agents, on the other hand, are autonomous programs that use AI to perform tasks like trading, managing assets, or interacting in decentralized apps.

Interest in Projects at the Intersection of Real-World Assets and Blockchain Increased  


RWAs (Real World Assets) and DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure networks) ranked third in popularity, capturing 8.64% of investor interest, up from 6.48% in 2023.

RWAs involve tokenizing physical assets like real estate or gold, allowing them to be traded or managed on a blockchain. Meanwhile, DePIN takes it a step further by enabling decentralized ownership and management of physical infrastructure—such as cell towers or energy grids - through blockchain, removing the need for central companies.

GameFi and DeFi Saw Investor Interest Decline in 2024 


According to CoinGecko’s research, blockchain-based gaming (GameFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) both saw a decline in popularity in 2024. Investor interest in GameFi dropped from 10.49% in 2023 to just 3.72% in 2024.

Similarly, interest in DeFi decreased from 2.73% to 1.87%.

Top 20 crypto narratives in 2024. Source: coingecko.com

Top 20 crypto narratives in 2024. Source: coingecko.com


Projects Based on Solana and Base Made Waves   


Users have been actively investing in the Solana and Base ecosystems. CoinGecko notes that Solana-related narratives captured a combined 14.30% of investor interest, with memecoins driving nearly half of the attention toward the chain.

The memecoin launchpad platform Pump.fun contributed 0.61% of investor interest.

Two Base-related narratives made their way into the top 20 this year, underscoring the chain’s growing popularity. Together, the  Base ecosystem and Base meme coins accounted for 4.87% of investor interest.

In addition to these, CoinGecko’s list of the top 20 crypto narratives includes the Ethereum ecosystem (1.82%), Layer 1 projects (3.51%), Layer 2 projects (2.25%), the Sui ecosystem (1.04%), the BRC-20 token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain (1.6%), and others.

In an earlier report, CoinGecko predicted that in 2025 the crypto market will continue its bull run. According to the study, Bitcoin will be integrated into global economic frameworks and more crypto ETFs will be approved.