CoinGecko has published a report revealing that real-world assets led gains in 2025, outperforming the volatility of memecoins and artificial intelligence.
The 2025 financial cycle has set a clear trend in the cryptocurrency market, sharply differentiating between media popularity and actual return on investment. According to data from a recent CoinGecko report, the Real World Assets, known by their English acronym as RWAThey have established themselves as the most profitable narrative of the year in the crypto industry.
While much of the retail attention was focused on viral social media trends, investors who bet on tokenizing tangible assets on the blockchain achieved a average return of 185,8% from the beginning of the year until the end of December.
Create your account and trade cryptocurrenciesRWA: the strongest pillar in the market in 2025
According to the report, titled Major Crypto Narratives Record -77% to +186% Returns in 2025, The superior performance of RWAs was not evenly distributed across the sector, but was driven by specific projects that successfully capitalized on the integration between traditional finance and blockchain technology.
The most notable case was that of Keeta Networkwhose annual return reached an astonishing 1.794,9%, acting as the main statistical driver of the category. This exceptional growth was complemented by other protocols such as Zebec Network y maple finance, which registered triple-digit increases, validating the thesis that financial utility is beginning to outweigh pure speculation in the portfolios of institutional and individual investors.
Source: CoinGecko Research
It is worth noting that, while real-world assets maintained their lead, the intensity of their gains showed a natural slowdown compared to the previous year. In 2024, this same sector had recorded returns exceeding 800%, suggesting that the market may be entering a phase of maturation and stabilization following the initial price discovery.
Even so, the RWA's ability to remain in the green for two consecutive years is a sign of fundamental strength that few other narratives have managed to replicate in such a volatile environment.
Join Bit2Me: access crypto nowPrivacy and infrastructure outweigh technological hype
Behind the dominance of RWAs, blockchains Layer 1 or Layer 1 They emerged as the second safest and most profitable haven for capital. This sector closed the year with an average increase of 80,3%, defying predictions that pointed to a stagnation of baseband networks compared to scaling solutions. Data analysis shows that this rebound was not solely due to the usual market leaders, but to a notable resurgence of interest in the financial privacy.
Veteran protocols such as Zcash y Monero They experienced a significant revaluation, with the former soaring by almost 700% during the analyzed period. This phenomenon suggests that market participants are once again valuing the fundamental characteristics of censorship resistance and anonymity that gave rise to the industry.
At the same time, consolidated networks such as BNB Faucet y Tron, Together with Bitcoin CashThey managed to sustain their valuations, providing the necessary stability for the sector average to remain positive.
Source: CoinGecko Research
Interestingly, the narrative known as "Made in USA" It managed to sneak into third place in profitability with a modest but positive 30,6%. However, when breaking down the figures, it becomes clear that this positive performance is almost entirely attributable to Zcash's stellar performance, which offset the moderate losses suffered by the other representative tokens in this category.
Buy cryptocurrencies today: click hereWhen virality doesn't translate into profits
The other side of the coin in 2025 was characterized by narratives that dominated the public conversation but failed to protect investors' capital. memecoins and the projects linked to the Artificial IntelligenceDespite being the most popular and discussed categories in forums and social media, they ended the year in the red. CoinGecko's data is conclusive, showing that the memecoin sector declined by an average of 31,6%, while AI cryptocurrencies fell by 50,2%.
This disconnect between media hype and financial performance serves as a critical reminder of the risks of investing based solely on social trends. The vast majority of the largest meme tokens by market capitalization suffered severe corrections ranging from 44% to 82%, with very few exceptions such as Ribbita of virtualsA similar situation occurred in the field of artificial intelligence, where, except for projects such as Alchemist AI y KiteMost assets failed to sustain the inflated valuations with which they began the year.
The Solana ecosystem also illustrates this paradox of popularity without immediate profitability for the average holder. Although the network remained the most used and received the most attention from users, its representative tokens suffered a combined drop of 64,2%. Only the token Jupiter's JLP It managed to close the period with marginal gains, while the rest of the ecosystem faced a harsh price correction.
Furthermore, sectors such as game fi y DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) performed even worse, losing more than three-quarters of their average value and ranking as the worst performing categories this year.
Access your wallet and trade cryptocurrencies2025: The year the crypto market rewarded utility
Looking at the full picture for 2025, a market cleansing is evident, where utility and underlying infrastructure have rewarded the most patient investors.
Only the RWA and Layer 1 sectors managed to string together two consecutive years of profitability, demonstrating that smart money tends to flow to where there is a sustainable business model or real demand for use. Decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) also followed the general downward trend with losses in line with those of memecoins, reinforcing the idea that the market has been highly selective.
The lesson from this cycle is that narrative-based diversification requires a deep analysis of the individual components of each sector. While in previous years the bull market tended to lift all the companies in a given category, in 2025 we've seen how individual assets like Zcash or Keeta Network can be solely responsible for keeping an entire sector afloat.
For cryptocurrency investors, the difference between success and loss in 2025 lay in identifying which assets generate real value and which are merely driven by fleeting popularity. This ability to separate genuine utility from speculation was undoubtedly the key to achieving sustainable profits in an increasingly competitive market.
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