Meme Coins Become The Most Profitable Crypto Narrative in Q1 2024: Reports

Meme coins, fueled by online communities and social media hype, have outshone all other crypto sectors in Q1 2024, according to CoinGecko’s latest report.

CoinGecko, one of the leading crypto market data providers, released a detailed report on April 3, 2024. This report, titled “Top Crypto Narratives Gained 39% to 1313% in Q1 2024,” explores the significant gains made by some top crypto narratives during the first quarter of the year.

BRETT, BOME, and MEW Led the Meme Coins Frenzy

With an average return of 1,312.6% across its top tokens, meme coins have captured the playful parts of investors and marked a significant shift in the crypto market dynamics. Among the frontrunners in this meme coins frenzy are three newcomers — Brett (BRETT), BOOK OF MEME (BOME), and cat in a dogs world (MEW), launched around March 2024.

Brett (BRETT) notably soared, achieving a staggering 7,727.6% increase by the end of Q1 2024 from its launch price. This surge was closely followed by dogwifhat (WIF), which rose 2,721.2% quarter-to-date (QTD) after going viral.

Read more: 7 Hot Meme Coins and Altcoins that are Trending in 2024

Top Crypto Narrative Profits Statistics in Q1 2024. Source: CoinGecko

The meme coin phenomenon outpaced the next best-performing crypto narrative, Real World Assets (RWA), by 4.6 times. RWA, briefly leading in early February, saw returns of 285.6%, thanks to significant gains in tokens like MANTRA (OM) and TokenFi (TOKEN).

Artificial intelligence (AI) has also made notable strides in Q1 2024. AI tokens delivered triple-digit returns of 222%. Notably, AIOZ Network (AIOZ) gained 480.2% and Fetch.ai (FET) up 378.3%.

Meanwhile, although dubbed the next biggest crypto narratives, decentralized physical infrastructure (DePin) narratives only saw moderate gains, with an 81.0% return. Besides DePin, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector also witnessed moderate gains, with a 98.9% return.

In contrast, the Layer 1 (L1), GameFi, and Layer 2 (L2) narratives lagged, with L2 posting the lowest gains of 39.5%.

Explosive Gains, but Risks Remain

CoinGecko’s report adds to mounting evidence of meme coin trading success stories. A recent example involves a trader who turned $113,000 into $3.4 million through the Base network meme coin, Degen (DEGEN).

Read more: 7 Best Base Chain Meme Coins to Watch in 2024

New coins like Dogwifhat (WIF) and PEPE have also burst into the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

The rise of meme coins also attracted attention from influential figures like Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. Buterin sees the potential for meme coins to contribute positively to societal and global community causes, such as charity-focused meme coins.

“I want to see higher quality fun projects that contribute positively to the ecosystem and the world around them (and not just by ‘bringing in users’) get more mindshare,” Buterin wrote.

However, the inherent volatility of meme coins remains a significant concern. A recent Solana (SOL) meme coin pre-sale debacle highlights the risks, reminding investors that caution is crucial in this unpredictable market.