In 2024, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) emerged as the most impressive name, boasting a staggering growth of 23,079%. Starting the year at $0.013, VIRTUAL made a spectacular leap in Q4, reaching $3.04 on December 25. This success was driven by its AI agent creation platform, which skillfully tapped into the two hottest trends of the year: AI and memecoins. To put it into perspective, an investment of $100 in VIRTUAL at the start of the year could have returned $23,079 by year-end.
Related: What is an AI Agent? Top 5 Notable AI Agent Projects
Ranking second in the growth race was the memecoin Brett (BRETT), with an increase of 14,784%. Despite a correction from its all-time high of $0.23 (December 1), BRETT remained remarkable as the only memecoin on the Base platform to reach a $1 billion market cap, surging from $0.00097 (February 29) to $0.145 (December 25).
The third spot went to another memecoin, Popcat (POPCAT), which climbed 10,459% from $0.007 to $0.806. Launched at the end of 2023, Popcat quickly became a phenomenon on Solana and made history as the first cat-themed memecoin to hit a $1 billion market cap in September.
Memecoins truly dominated the rankings, taking 7 out of the top 10 spots. In addition to Brett and Popcat, other notable entries included:
- Mog Coin: A cat-themed token up 6,051%.
- Turbo: An AI-powered frog memecoin, which grew 3,036%.
- Fartcoin, a newcomer from Pump.fun, surged 2,890%.
- AI Fund ai16z: Increased 1,409%.
- Pepe: Rose 1,400%, surpassing its remarkable performance during the 2023 memecoin craze.
Outside the memecoin segment, MANTRA (OM) claimed fourth place with a 6,418% rise, going from $0.058 to $3.81, leading the real-world asset (RWA) sector and far outpacing the second-place RWA project, Ondo Finance (+682.8%).
Aerodrome Finance (AERO) secured the sixth spot, with a 3,139% increase, from $0.05 to $1.66. This growth was fueled by the Base ecosystem’s explosion and the memecoin wave.
