How These 4 Key Cryptocurrencies Beat the Nasdaq Composite in 2024

Additionally, even in a year in which many stocks doubled and tripled their historical average annual returns, major cryptocurrencies delivered gains of more than 100% for the year.

With several years of activity behind them, historic victories against SEC regulators in US courts, and even Wall Street ETFs for two of them, the crypto assets on this list are less risky than ever for investors. investors.

This does not mean that purchasing these digital assets is risk-free any more than purchasing stocks like Apple or Amazon is risk-free. But gone are the days when savvy investors had to scratch their heads looking at the staggering reports of price increases in these currencies and wondering if it could be real.

They are currently caught in the bullish portion of a multi-year boom-bust cycle. This means that their exchange rates against the dollar have been rising for months and could continue to rise until all market demand is exhausted. Then, prices are expected to correct again for the remainder of this market cycle.

Four big cryptos that are beating Wall Street

Below you’ll find each asset, with a note on how it beat the returns of tech stocks in the Nasdaq Composite this year. For reference, the NASDAQ, a broad benchmark for the performance of U.S. technology stocks, gained 33% for the year ending Thursday, December 26.

Meanwhile, the four cryptocurrencies featured here have gained accordingly:

• Bitcoin: 126%
• Ethereum: 49%
• Solana: 75%
• Ripple: 247%

Throughout its history, Nasdaq has taken up to ten years or more to reflect these types of gains in the market value of its shares. These crypto assets have done it in just a year, and this is by far not the first time they have performed so well in a year.

1. Annual performance of Bitcoin (BTC) 2024: +126%

Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency and the first of its kind. It invented the entire segment with its debut in 2009. On Thursday, the total market capitalization of the Bitcoin economy surpassed $1.9 trillion.

For the year through December 26, Bitcoin is up 126% from its January 1 average price on crypto exchanges. It is the most traded and liquid cryptocurrency, as well as the most established, with a hands-off approach from US regulators and several ETF (exchange-traded fund) products available on Wall Street for Regulated investors can purchase with lower risk than using crypto exchanges or custodial to purchase and secure.

In addition to its unique and ongoing value proposition, Bitcoin has beaten the Nasdaq this year for three other immediate reasons:

• SEC approval of Wall Street ETF for Bitcoin on January 10
• The four-year supply of BTC was cut in half on April 20.
• Former President Donald Trump’s re-election on November 5

Bitcoin’s unique value proposition lies in the highly secure maintenance of a valuable reserve of unique, serialized digital notes on its network. Economists who understand how it works compare Bitcoin to digital gold, which you can send to anyone in the world as easily as sending an email.

2. Annual performance of Ethereum (ETH) 2024: +49%

Inspired by the ideas and design behind Bitcoin, Ethereum was the first blockchain smart contract platform to scale to a mass market of users. Smart contracts are like currency on the Bitcoin network, but they can do more than basic accounting.

The idea is powerful and the possibilities are endless: smart contracts or decentralized finance (DeFi) networks like Ethereum host programmable money.

Imagine you could write a note on a $100 bill stating that the first person who meets the bill’s requirements will receive the $100 bill.

Additionally, you could just leave that note posted on a cork board in an office park, and it wouldn’t go anywhere until someone did what the note requires (e.g., leave a note in its place with the solution to a complex problem). this would cost you over $100 to resolve yourself).

This technology is still new, but it promises to revolutionize finance, law, accounting, insurance, and supply chain management in a way comparable to how the Internet has revolutionized book publishing and commerce. detail.

Ethereum has beaten the Nasdaq this year for the following reasons:

• SEC approval of Wall Street ETF for Ether on July 22.
• Federal Reserve pivot to cut interest rates on September 18
• Former President Donald Trump’s re-election on November 5

Blockchain insight and analysis team CryptoQuant recently noted that Ethereum’s key indicators portend a still bullish market outlook for ETH tokens at the moment.

3. Annual performance of Solana (SOL) 2024: +75%

Inspired by the success of Ethereum, Solana is another smart contract DeFi platform built with the second-mover advantage: greater network speed and lower fees. While Ether remains the leading DeFi cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Solana has made huge strides in closing the gap.

It still has a way to go, with a market cap of around $90 billion as of Thursday, compared to Ethereum’s $400 billion. But cryptocurrency market watchers are watching them closely to gauge the future of the blockchain economy and cryptocurrency exchange markets.

Solana lagged behind Bitcoin in ROI growth this year compared to the average crypto exchange price on January 1, but it beat Ethereum by a wide margin. Additionally, it was one of the Nasdaq’s best growth years, with gains of 33% for the year ending Thursday, December 26.

Solana has beaten the Nasdaq this year for the following reasons:

• High network throughput and low fees compared to DeFi competitors
• The Federal Reserve’s shift to low interest rates and Trump’s re-election
• The exceptional success of Solana meme pieces compared to its competitors

Some of the best Solana memes that stood out this year include Bonk, Pudgy Penguins, Dogwifhat, Fartcoin, Popcat, Gigachad, Goatseus Maximus, and Baby Doge Coin. But newbie crypto investors who aren’t familiar with memes are probably safer with base layer SOL tokens.

4. Annual performance Ripple (XRP) 2024: +247%

One of the first altcoins inspired by Bitcoin, Ripple’s XRP is a decentralized and automated platform for large cross-border payments between financial institutions.

Ripple’s XRP tokens are the top earners on this shortlist for the year due to pent-up demand as the market hopes for a resolution to the SEC lawsuit. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Ripple over allegations of selling unregistered securities (i.e., XRP tokens for its decentralized payments network).

Three US court rulings in favor of Ripple last year and another last November paved the way for XRP to be overindexed among major cryptocurrencies this year.

Ripple beat the Nasdaq for the following reasons:

• Several landmark victories against the SEC in court and hype surrounding a potential resolution
• The Fed’s Low Rate Pivot and Donald Trump’s Reelection
• Ripple’s aggressive efforts to establish business partnerships around the world

Recent technical analysis of XRP price indicates that the uptrend will continue as long as average exchange rates remain above this key support level.