In a recent report, the data aggregator CoinGecko has unveiled the leading crypto narratives of the year, with the Real-World Asset (RWA) sector emerging as a major contender with notable returns

The report highlights that RWA has become the standout narrative in 2025, boasting an impressive average price return of 185.8% year-to-date (YTD) across key tokens, such as Figure Heloc, Chainlink (LINK), Stellar (XLM), Tether Gold (XAUT), and BlackRock’s BUIDL. 

This surge in the RWA sector can largely be attributed to the performance of specific platforms. Notably, Keeta Network has skyrocketed by 1,794.9% YTD, while Zebec Network and Maple Finance have recorded gains of 217.3% and 123.0% respectively. 

Current statistics show that the crypto RWA sector boasts a Distributed Asset Value of $18.88 billion, reflecting a 2.56% increase over the past month. However, the Represented Asset Value has seen a slight decline, standing at $407.93 billion, down 2.36%.

For context, RWA’s approach facilitates asset managers and projects the digital transformation of tangible assets, such as real estate and commodities, creating a solid foundation for trading, managing, and securing these assets.

Layer-1 (L1) solutions have emerged as the second most profitable narrative this year, achieving an average price gain of 80.3% YTD. The success of this narrative can be attributed to the performance of privacy-focused blockchains such as Zcash and Monero, which have seen rallies of 691.3% and 143.6%, respectively. 

Another noteworthy crypto narrative, “Made in USA,” is also on track to end the year positively, with average gains of 30.6% YTD, primarily driven by Zcash’s performance that mitigated the moderate losses of other tokens in that category.

Despite their popularity, narratives such as memecoins and artificial intelligence (AI) have struggled this year, with average returns of -31.6% and -50.2% year-to-date, respectively. 

Leading memecoins in the crypto space, such as Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), have demonstrated the volatility of this sector by suffering significant losses of over 60% year-to-date. 

Similarly, the report notes that many artificial intelligence-focused crypto assets have recorded declines between 49.8% and 84.3%, with only Alchemist AI and Kite performing relatively better.

Lastly, the decentralized finance narrative faced a challenging year, experiencing average returns of -34.8%, which is consistent with the returns seen in the memecoins segment. 

The decentralized exchange (DEX) narrative has mirrored this decline with average losses of -55.5%, while layer-2 (L2) solutions have also struggled, recording average returns of -40.6% for the second year in a row.

At the time of writing, the market’s leading crypto, Bitcoin (BTC), was trading at $88,960, having recorded losses of 10% year-to-date. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

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