Altcoins include all the other Internet currencies secured by cryptographic blockchains, in addition to Bitcoin, which is a seminal and first-in-class cryptocurrency. Their currency market exchange rates can vary with as much volatility as BTC and tend to track along with Bitcoin’s price.
In fact, big rallies for BTC tend to lead to major bull runs in altcoin markets as well. Seasoned crypto day and swing traders refer to these movements as “alt season.”
While Bitcoin posted a price gain of 121% from New Year’s Day to Christmas Eve this year, the following six altcoins saw increases ranging from 1,249% to a staggering 1.84 million percent for a latecomer to altcoin markets this year that only launched in October.
Lower down in this article is the entire list of top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap ranked in order of gains they delivered from Jan. 1 through Dec. 24 this year. The author calculated these gains by taking the average crypto exchange price on Dec. 24 and dividing it by the average price on Jan. 1.
Accordingly, some coins may be more or less profitable to day trade or swing trade than they appear on this list due to their market movements between the beginning and end dates for this calculation.
Several of these coins would show much higher percentage gains if the end date were calculated from price peaks that happened earlier in the year. But here are the six that did best for investors who dollar cost average or hold long term.
1. Fartcoin Blew Investors Away This Year
Fartcoin now valued at $1.2 Billion – what an explosion! pic.twitter.com/q53MnDbJwh
— Barchart (@Barchart) December 24, 2024
The silent but violent creeper rally for Fartcoin blew away crypto markets this year. This hot meme coin is a fresh one. It began to rally right out the gate following its launch in mid-October.
Following the November election, however, this Solana Program Library meme coin really ripped. Trump’s reelection saw most crypto markets rally, but Fartcoin posted a 300% gain in a matter of days from Nov. 5 through Nov. 18. Then in December, Fartcoin took another leg up to above $1 by Dec. 19.
Now, Fartcoin is poised to run to $2 per token on popular Solana decentralized exchanges (DEX) like Radium and Meteroa VD. What could be behind such a hilarious meme economy? Perhaps it has something to do with the name Trump being a traditional slang term for a—well for—a Bronx cheer.
In addition, this meme coin is the latest demonstration of the ease of use, low fees, and high liquidity for issuing new currency on the Solana network. The smart contract Layer 1 blockchain continues neck-and-neck with Ethereum in the race to dominate decentralized finance.
From its debut through Dec. 24, Fartcoin’s price posted a percentage gain of 1,847,357%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Who would have thought that a currency named Fartcoin would earn the highest percentage gains of any cryptocurrency in 2024?
Anyone who’s been paying attention to the meme coin sector: These ragtag upstarts are decidedly the shock jocks of the digital finance industry.
2. MANTRA Bags Win For RWA Tokenization
Several meme coins have flown up the price charts in 2024, but so also have altcoins with specific use cases and direct utility. That’s shown the market’s demand for currencies that power useful applications and artificial intelligence (AI).
Mantra continued hitting new ATHs all year, in June, July, and October, and then surged to a major peak in November, which dwarfed all previous records. From January through December, this crypto gained the second most ROI out of any top 100 coin.
Mantra’s (OM) crypto token is the currency that powers its Layer-1 blockchain focused on security and optimized for real-world asset tokenization (RWA). The platform is built from the ground up to comply with and enforce real-world regulatory requirements in accounting for real-world assets.
Why Mantra’s Price Ratcheted Up In 2024
Launched in Q4 2020, Mantra has come a long way in the meantime. A big part of Mantra OM’s rise this year is its successful attainment of licensing from financial authorities to remain compliant with regulators as it expands to a global user base.
Mantra secured licensing from authorities in the United Arab Emirates in addition to its license to operate and provide regulated financial services in Hong Kong. That will help it to become a key player in building a truly global “Internet of Things.”
In June, Mantra’s (OM) tokens achieved an all-time high of $1.09. Moreover, this was a remarkable milestone because the rest of the cryptocurrency market was in a slump at the time.
That milestone came as a result of a partnership between Mantra and the UAE’s Zand Bank. The two are collaborating to define clear frameworks for RWA tokenization that comply with the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority of Dubai.
After that, OM hit another all-time record high in October. That came after Mantra’s price surged more than 60% in under 30 days to nearly $1.50 with a total market cap of $1.2 billion.
Overall, Mantra (OM)’s price gained 8,776% on crypto markets from Jan. to Dec. this year.
3. Virtuals Protocol Wins Crypto AI Meta
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) is a new Layer-2 decentralized protocol that works across blockchain L1s and the Web 1.0 and 2.0 layers. But its main feature is the tokenized, decentralized creation and management of “AI agents.”
These artificially intelligent agents can be deployed from the blockchain to social media apps like Telegram and to online games and metaverses—hence the name Virtuals.
As a result of its enormous increases, the token for Virtuals Protocol was the third biggest gainer in 2024. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 24, VIRTUAL grew in price by 6,068%.
4. Ondo, Another Sweep for RWA Tokenization
Markets heavily rewarded real-world asset tokenization in 2024. They also liked currency platforms with other specific, unique, and valuable use cases (think Render token and AIOZ Network).
The appearance, however, of not one but two different RWA tokens in the six leading cryptos by ROI in 2024 underscores the promise of this segment. Ondo is another RWA token that saw posted big gains.
Ondo tokens allow users to participate in its decentralized autonomous organization and have special perks for users of Flux Finance, which is governed by Ondo DAO.
Altcoin traders know that winners tend to win again. Ondo hit new all-time high exchange rates in April, March, and May before doing so again in December. That supported its class-leading gains this year.
Ondo’s price increased from Jan. 1 to Dec. 24 by 1,758%.
5. Aerodome Chalks Boon For Decentralized Exchanges
Utility and memes hauled the most annual ROI in 2024. Utility strikes again with Aerodome, an automated market maker (AMM) for Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 platform, Base.
Aerodrome works by serving Base’s central liquidity hub with a clever liquidity incentive engine governed by a decentralized consensus model. Exchange rates for its AERO tokens took flight this year.
Listed on crypto exchanges starting in Aug. 2023, Aerodome (AERO) hit soaring ATHs in Mar. and Apr. this year. The AMM altcoin did it again in Dec.. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 24, AERO notched 1,672%.
6. Pepe Memes Still Hot Coin In 2024
The original and leading Pepe economy brings up the rear on this list of top gainers this year.
What can you really say about Pepe? Memeing Web3 feels good, man.
Pepe gained 1,249% from Jan. 1. to Dec. 24 this year.
Top 100 Market Cap Cryptos Ranked By 2024 ROI
COIN: (Dec. 24 Price)/(Jan. 1 Price) = ROI %age
Top 50
Fartcoin: 1.09/0.000059 = +1,847,357%
MANTRA: 3.71/0.0418 = +8,776%
Virtuals Protocol: 3.07/0.04977 = +6,068%
Ondo: 1.67/0.08986 = +1,758%
Aerodome Finance: 1.63/0.092 = +1,672%
Pepe: 0.00001895/0.000001404 = +1,249%
Pudgy Penguins: 0.03548/0.003375 = +951%
dogwifhat: 2.01/0.197 = +920%
Hyperliquid: 29.22/3.3178 = +781%
Bitget Token: 4.93/0.5966 = +726%
AIOZ Network: 0.9484/0.1356 = +599%
Sui: 4.56/0.8425 = +441%
JasmyCoin: 0.0382/0.00727 = +425%
FLOKI: 0.0001782/0.00003738 = +377%
Ethereum Name Service: 37/9.82 = +277%
Brett (Based): 0.1413/0.0385 = +267%
XRP: 2.30/0.63 = +265%
Hedera: 0.33/0.09161 = +260%
Dogecoin: 0.33/0.092 = +258%
Aave: 374/116.05 = +222%
Stellar: 0.396/0.1319 = +200%
Raydium: 4.94/1.8073 = +173%
GateToken: 13.58/5.20 = +161%
Toncoin: 5.73/2.34 = +145%
TRON: 0.26/0.1078 = +141%
UNUS SED LEO: 9.47/3.97 = +139%
Bitcoin: 97,866/44,187 = +121%
Zcash: 68.02/31.27 = +118%
Shiba Inu: 0.00002291/0.00001068 = +114%
BNB: 692/314 = +120%
Core: 1.14/0.5521 = +106%
Uniswap: 14.47/7.60 = +90%
Mantle: 1.22/0.6446 = +89%
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance: 1.36/0.7316 = +86%
Bittensor: 490/270.74 = +81%
Solana: 194/109.54 = +77%
Bonk: 0.000033/0.00001873 = +76%
Bitcoin Cash: 467.50/266.67 = +75%
Fantom: 0.976/0.5563 = +75%
XDC Network: 0.08182/0.0482 = +70%
Algorand: 0.393/0.2389 = +65%
Theta Network: 2.34/1.4181 = +65%
Arweave: 17.44/10.57 = +65%
Render: 7.72/4.7462 = +63%
Chainlink: 25.25/15.53 = +62%
Curve DAO Token: 1.04/0.6449 = +61%
Cronos: 0.1624/0.1005 = +61%
Flare: 0.02729/0.01712 = +59%
Ethena: 1.03/0.6522 = +58%
Cardano: 0.92/0.6231 = +47%
Next 50
ETH: 3,455/2,352 = +46%
NEAR Protocol: 5.49/3.80 = +44%
VeChain: 0.05251/0.03656 = +43%
Litecoin: 107.47/74.72 = +43%
Beam: 0.0297/0.02095 = +42%
Tezos: 1.42/1.0419 = +36%
Ethereum Classic: 27.74/22.50 = +23%
Movement: 0.8675/0.714 = +22%
Jupiter: 0.8842/0.73 = +21%
IOTA: 0.3388/0.2903 = +17%
Sei: 0.4613/0.3948 = +17%
Maker: 1,636/1,408 = +16%
Stacks: 1.73/1.52 = +14%
The Graph: 0.2248/0.1969 = +14%
Bitcoin SV: 56.46/50.98 = +11%
Monero: 186.27/169.63 = +10%
Pyth Network: 0.40/0.3694 = +8%
Gala: 0.03851/0.03571 = +8%
Kaspa: 0.1175/0.1088 = +8%
Neo: 15.31/14.57 = +5%
KuCoin Token: 11.36/10.91 = +4%
Helium: 7.58/7.42 = +2%
The Sandbox: 0.6134/0.6065 = +1%
EOS: 0.8627/0.88 = -2%
Avalanche: 40.66/41.86 = -3%
BitTorrent: 0.000001167/0.000001224 = -5%
Decentraland: 0.5338/0.561 = -5%
Kaia: 0.2287/0.2429 = -6%
Filecoin: 5.39/5.7993 = -7%
THORChain: 5.33/5.8671 = -9%
FTX Token: 3.30/3.65 = -10%
Polkadot: 7.44/8.60 = -13.5%
Quant: 118/137.29 = -14%
OKB: 46.88/54.27 = -14%
Internet Computer: 11.06/12.95 = -14%
Flow: 0.7878/0.9959 = -21%
Lido DAO: 1.93/2.5543 = -24%
Axie Infinity: 6.81/10.20 = -33%
Immutable: 1.46/2.4068 = -39%
Worldcoin: 2.30/3.755 = -39%
Cosmos: 6.96/11.93 = -42%
Optimism: 1.92/3.3855 = -43%
Injective: 22.77/43.2967 = -47%
dYdX (Native): 1.56/3.01 = -48%
MultiversX: 36.93/72.84 = -49%
POL MATIC: 0.5174/1.0334 = -50%
Arbitrum: 0.80/1.7352 = -54%
Celestia: 5.27/13.7347 = -62%
Starknet: 0.5008/2.70 = -81%
Aptos: 9.61/116 = -92%
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