As a seasoned crypto investor with over a decade of experience navigating the ever-changing landscape of digital assets, I must admit that 2024 has been an intriguing year to say the least. The market’s volatility is akin to riding a roller coaster without seatbelts – exhilarating, nerve-wracking, and downright unpredictable.

The past month has been particularly enlightening, with AI-driven technologies emerging as clear winners, as shown by the impressive returns generated by AI agents. This shift in focus from meme coins to more practical applications is a welcome change for those of us who have long advocated for the potential of AI in transforming the crypto space.

However, it’s important not to overlook the resilience of other categories like centralized exchange tokens and the “sweat-spot” sector, which continue to perform well despite the market’s ups and downs. On the flip side, it’s disheartening to see the declines in modularity projects, meme coins, and other traditionally strong sectors like GameFi, privacy tokens, and DePIN.

Looking at the market capitalization data, L1 blockchains remain the giants of the crypto world, with Bitcoin leading the charge. Yet, it’s interesting to see that meme coins, despite their poor performance in December, still hold significant value. It just goes to show that the power of a good meme (and a little luck) can take you far in this wild world of cryptocurrencies!

To wrap up, 2024 has been a roller coaster ride, but as an investor, I’m always reminded of the old adage: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” As we move forward, I’ll continue to adapt, learn, and ride the waves – because in crypto, it’s never dull, that’s for sure!

And as a final thought, if you can’t afford to lose it, don’t invest it in meme coins. Or better yet, buy the domain name “moon” – it’s bound to be worth a fortune someday!

In late 2024, there were significant changes in the storyline of the cryptocurrency market, as artificial intelligence-based technologies clearly outperformed other contenders during this period.

Instead, it’s worth noting that meme coins and modularity projects have seen substantial drops over the past month.

Winners and Losers

According to recent figures from Dexu AI’s Web3 analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) agents have yielded a remarkable 72.2% increase in returns over the past month. This growth is primarily driven by AI16Z and the PHALA token of Phala Network.

In that specific period, AI16Z experienced a remarkable increase of approximately 295%, and PHALA followed closely with an addition of nearly 209% to its cost. Notably, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) also showed impressive growth, gaining about 132% within just one month, and the crypto market intelligence token AiXBT saw a rise of around 125%.

Lately, it’s been suggested that Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents could transform the world of cryptocurrency by taking on duties such as executing transactions, overseeing digital wallets, and devising investment plans.

Yet, December wasn’t just about one category shining. Centralized exchange (CEX) tokens also had their moment in the spotlight, increasing by 41.37% throughout the month. Additionally, the “sweet-spot” sector, dedicated to projects integrating blockchain technology with user-friendly applications, experienced a notable rise of 24.4%.

In simpler terms, areas like Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and derivative markets saw moderate, consistent growth with rates of approximately 13.2% and 12.3%, respectively. Real-world asset categories also performed well, increasing by about 7.21%.

Despite a less successful month for the remaining stories, it was the modularity sector that saw the most significant drop at 32.1%, followed closely by low-risk tokens with a decrease of 30.8%.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed a significant 28.7% drop in the value of meme coins recently, which could be due to investors feeling burnt out. Interestingly, this decline occurred despite a recent report from Binance suggesting that these tokens are now more popularly owned than Bitcoin and Ethereum.

According to CoinGecko’s data, several well-valued assets such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), and Bonk (BONK) experienced a decline in their prices by double digits over the past 30 days. The asset that suffered the most during this period was dogwifhat (WIF), losing approximately 41% of its worth.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that sectors such as GameFi, privacy tokens, and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), saw declines. Specifically, GameFi dipped by 21.78%, while the value of privacy coins decreased by 12.46%.

L1s Top Market Cap

Currently, the total value of Layer 1 blockchain networks is predominantly high at approximately $2.75 trillion. This significant figure is primarily influenced by the impressive market capitalization of Bitcoin, which stands at around $1.85 trillion.

Tokenized assets traded on centralized exchanges hold the second-largest market cap, totaling approximately $129 billion, with meme coins trailing closely, currently valued at nearly $86 billion according to Dexu AI. Areas such as DeFi and Artificial Intelligence lag slightly behind, with DeFi’s market cap hovering around $39 billion and AI’s valuation slightly exceeding $23 billion.

In simpler terms, among the various types of narratives in the market, those related to privacy coins, LRTs (whatever ‘LRT’ stands for isn’t clear from your text), and Decentralized Science (DeSci) are less dominant. As of December 30, the total value of privacy coins was approximately $2.72 billion, while the DeSci sector is currently a smaller segment worth around $284 million.

Read More

2024-12-30 23:31