A new CoinGecko 2025 report has revealed a surprising winner in crypto this year. Despite a tough market, Real World Assets (RWA) emerged as the most profitable crypto narrative of 2025.
The report analyzed major crypto narratives from January to December 2025 and found that returns ranged from deep losses of -77% to gains as high as +186%. While many popular sectors struggled, a few stood out, especially RWA.
RWA Leads Crypto Returns in 2025
According to CoinGecko, the RWA narrative recorded an average gain of 185.8% year-to-date (YTD) across its largest tokens. This made it the top-performing crypto narrative in 2025.
The strong performance was driven by a few standout projects. Keeta Network posted massive gains of over 1,700%, while Zebec Network and Maple Finance also delivered solid triple-digit returns.
That said, RWA’s performance in 2025 was still lower than last year. In 2024, the same narrative delivered average gains of over 800%, showing how much market conditions have cooled.
Layer 1 Comes in Second
The second-best performing narrative was Layer 1 blockchains, with average gains of 80.3% YTD. Privacy-focused blockchains played a major role here. Zcash and Monero surged strongly during the year, placing them among the top gainers in crypto.
Other large networks like BNB, Tron, and Bitcoin Cash also helped keep the Layer 1 narrative profitable. Notably, RWA and Layer 1 are the only narratives that recorded profits for two years in a row.
Meme Coins and AI Struggle Despite Hype
Even though meme coins and AI were among the most talked-about crypto narratives, they performed poorly. Meme coins recorded average losses of -31.6%. AI tokens fell even harder at -50.2% YTD.
Most large tokens in both sectors ended the year deep in the red, showing that popularity did not translate to profits. DeFi and DEX narratives also posted losses, while Layer 2 recorded its second straight unprofitable year.
Gaming and DePIN Perform the Worst
The weakest performers were Gaming (GameFi) and DePIN. Both narratives saw losses of over 75% YTD, making them the worst-performing sectors in 2025. Even the popular Solana ecosystem ended the year down, despite maintaining strong attention and usage.
What This Means for Crypto Investors
The CoinGecko report highlights a clear shift. In 2025, fundamentals beat hype. Narratives tied to real-world value and infrastructure performed better than trend-driven sectors.
For a deeper breakdown, readers can explore CoinGecko’s full crypto narrative report and related market research, which provides additional insights into how different sectors performed across spot and derivatives markets.
As always, this data is informational and not financial advice.
Disclaimer
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