Only 3 Segments of the Crypto Market Delivered Gains in 2025
By the end of 2025, only 3 segments of the crypto market proved profitable: real-world asset tokenization, layer 1 networks, and U.S.-based crypto projects, while all other asset categories delivered losses to investors.
a CoinGecko study covering the period from January 1 to December 22, 2025, performance across the largest segments of the crypto market varied widely, ranging from average price declines of 77% to gains of nearly 186%. Real-world asset token projects emerged as the year’s top-performing segment, while most widely followed categories ended the year in negative territory.
The analysis was based on CoinGecko data and tracked the price performance of the 10 largest tokens in each segment by market capitalization. It reflects realized market performance across crypto assets in 2025.
The RWA segment’s performance was driven primarily by 3 projects:
- Keeta Network, up 1,794.9%,
- Zebec Network, which gained 217.3%, and
- Maple Finance, with an increase of 123%.
On average, the segment delivered returns of 185.8%, nearly four times lower than in 2024, when RWA tokens posted average gains of 819.5%.
It is important to note that the study refers specifically to crypto tokens issued by RWA protocols and tokenization-related projects, rather than tokenized real-world assets themselves.
Layer 1 blockchain networks ranked second by profitability, with average gains of 80.3%. The segment was driven primarily by Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR), which climbed 691.3% and 143.6%, respectively. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), BNB Chain (BNB), and TRON (TRX) also posted positive results, managing to retain part of their earlier gains.
U.S.-based crypto projects, categorized as Made in USA, ranked third and were the final segment to end the year in positive territory. Average returns reached 30.6%, though the outcome was almost entirely attributable to Zcash’s strong performance. Most other tokens in the category closed the year with moderate losses.
Meanwhile, the segments most popular among retail investors posted negative results. Meme coins declined by an average of 31.6%, while artificial intelligence related projects fell 50.2%. The largest meme coins dropped between 44.6% and 82.5%, and most AI tokens declined in the range of 49.8% to 84.3%.
The steepest losses were recorded in gaming and DePIN projects, with average declines of 75.2% and 76.7%, respectively. The Solana ecosystem also suffered a sharp downturn, falling 64.2% over the year, despite maintaining strong community interest.
For context, in 2024, meme coin narratives accounted for more than one-third of total traffic on the CoinGecko platform. Artificial intelligence ranked second in popularity among crypto users that year.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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