AI, RWA, GameFi: 2024's Three Major Narrative Trends and Analysis of Key Projects
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
AI, RWA, GameFi: 2024's Three Major Narrative Trends and Analysis of Key Projects
Narratives typically unfold in a time-based pattern, and it is crucial to determine whether a narrative is short, medium, or long based on different characteristics.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Crypto Ramesses
Translation: TechFlow
In cryptocurrency, narratives help market participants understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what to expect in the future.
Getting ahead of popular narratives can yield massive returns. As we enter 2024, several narratives are showing promise for outperforming the market. This article will detail the top three narratives for 2024: AI, RWA, and GameFi.
But first, let’s explore how to identify narratives early.
How to Discover Crypto Narratives
Narratives typically unfold in time-based patterns. It's crucial to determine whether a narrative is short-, mid-, or long-term based on its characteristics.
There are several ways to catch a narrative earlier:
-
Analyze the dynamics of specific sectors over time using platforms like CoinGecko. These movements signal capital inflows into projects within that sector. After spotting significant gains, conduct research to understand the specific catalysts behind the narrative.
-
Measuring social media sentiment reasonably plays a major role in identifying narratives. Twitter is one of the best platforms for early detection. Simply put, when people start talking about something, marketing and exposure can trigger a snowball effect, driving capital into a particular sector. Tools like LunarCrush can help aggregate vast amounts of social data into actionable insights.
-
Some narratives are triggered by events outside the crypto space. Macroeconomic and regulatory factors are relatively important in determining short-term market direction. Stay closely informed, as they can provide valuable insights into market trends.
After identifying a potential narrative, the next step is researching specific projects within it. Platforms like CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap come in handy again. Use analytical tools such as DefiLlama, Dune Analytics, and Footprint Analytics for deeper analysis.
Key metrics to track include market cap and fully diluted valuation (FDV).
Market cap is calculated by multiplying the total circulating supply of a coin by its price per unit. Projects with lower market caps are generally riskier but have higher upside potential. Choose projects based on their potential and your risk tolerance.
FDV represents the total value of a crypto asset assuming all tokens were in circulation. While market cap only considers circulating tokens, it does not account for token inflation. Token inflation affects a coin's value, making understanding this metric critical.
With that in mind, let’s explore the key narratives to watch in 2024.
Key Narratives in 2024: A Comprehensive Analysis
Entering 2024, the cryptocurrency landscape is unfolding with transformative breakthroughs and market shifts expected during the upcoming bull run. Three distinct narratives may emerge as dominant forces attracting massive capital inflows.
Let’s dive into the three narratives set to lead markets in 2024.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
No technology holds more transformative potential for human life than AI. 2023 demonstrated the growing symbiosis between humans and AI. The emergence of ChatGPT and Bard sparked a mini-bull run in AI tokens, and the AI trend continues amid ongoing hype.
So far, no narrative has received as much attention during a bear market while delivering strong performance across multiple tokens. This outstanding performance reflects investor bullishness toward the AI narrative.
The total market cap of the AI sector stands at around $6 billion. Considering the widespread adoption expected for AI in the coming years, this figure is negligible. As more companies consider integrating AI and Web3 solutions, the AI narrative is poised to be one of the best-performing themes over time.
Promising AI projects to watch:
Bittensor (TAO)
Market Cap: $1.7 billion
Bittensor (TAO) is a decentralized network connecting global machine learning models, operating like a collective brain with distributed "neurons." These models collaborate to process information, similar to how neurons work together in the human brain.
Bittensor uses a unique blockchain architecture built on the Substrate framework—the same framework supporting Polkadot. Bittensor establishes a decentralized machine learning protocol capable of creating dedicated blockchains for seamless connectivity.
Render (RNDR)
Market Cap: $1.7 billion
Render (RNDR) pioneers the integration of AI, blockchain, and graphics rendering. Render is a decentralized GPU rendering network built on Ethereum, giving users access to a global marketplace of GPU resources.
Render positions itself as the blockchain counterpart to industry leaders like NVIDIA.
SingularityNET (AGIX)
Market Cap: $421 million
SingularityNET (AGIX) is a decentralized AI services marketplace enabling developers to create and sell AI applications. It leverages blockchain and smart contracts to ensure secure and transparent transactions for AI services.
AGIX, its native token, facilitates transactions, incentivizes network participation, and rewards contributors, enhancing the platform and its core AI functionalities.
Ocean Protocol (OCEAN)
Market Cap: $300 million
Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) is a decentralized, secure, and transparent data exchange platform. Businesses and individuals can securely share data, with AI integration enabling AI-driven data services.
OCEAN, the native token, serves as the central incentive and payment mechanism, rewarding active network participation and facilitating transactions of data and AI services.
Autonolas (OLAS)
Market Cap: $319 million
Autonolas is an integrated network for off-chain services including automation, oracles, and collectively owned AI. It provides a modular stack for building such services along with protocols to incentivize their development.
Autonolas' services are well-suited for combining crypto and AI, executing complex logic in a decentralized manner, and autonomously interacting continuously with both on-chain and off-chain data.
Other AI Tokens:
-
PAAL AI (PAAL): An AI-powered chatbot enhancing user experience on platforms like Discord and Telegram. Market Cap: $124 million
-
OctaSpace (OCTA): A cutting-edge distributed computing platform. Market Cap: $20 million
-
Akash Network (AKT): A decentralized computing marketplace. Market Cap: $514 million
2. Real World Assets (RWA)
RWA refers to tokens representing traditional financial assets on the blockchain, whether fungible or non-fungible. These tokens are linked to tangible or intangible assets such as real estate, treasury bonds, or carbon credits. Through tokenization, RWAs leverage blockchain technology to increase efficiency in transactions involving valuable assets.
RWA is one of the most important long-term narratives, and the reasons are clear.
The global RWA valuation exceeds $600 trillion. Today, the market cap of tokenized RWAs accessible on-chain is only about $2 billion. Placing just 1% of RWAs on-chain would result in a $6 trillion valuation—far exceeding the current total crypto market cap. BlackRock estimates that the tokenized RWA market could grow to $16 trillion by 2030.
If you're looking to gain exposure to RWA, here are some top projects worth considering:
Maple Finance (MPL)
Market Cap: $117 million
Maple Finance offers capital-efficient, DeFi-powered solutions for institutional borrowing and fixed-income lending. Unlike platforms offering collateralized loans with floating rates, Maple provides low-collateral loans to borrowers and offers transparent fixed-income opportunities for on-chain lenders.
Lenders can earn sustainable yields by providing loans to thoroughly vetted institutional borrowers, while pool delegates launch, manage, attract capital, and commit loans within lending pools.
Centrifuge (CFG)
Market Cap: $310 million
Centrifuge is a DeFi lending protocol designed to improve credit accessibility for small businesses. Centrifuge leverages open-source infrastructure to cut costs associated with traditional off-chain securitization, reducing intermediation costs and complexity in TradFi.
The platform’s native token CFG plays a key role in securing the platform, providing transaction fee incentives for users, and enabling network governance and asset staking.
Pendle (PENDLE)
Market Cap: $278 million
Pendle is a DeFi protocol that enables tokenization and trading of future yield. Its primary goal is to give users control over future earnings through optionality.
Pendle’s core technology is yield tokenization—a process that splits any yield-generating asset into separate yield and principal components, thereby offering greater control. Pendle supports multiple networks including Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Optimism.
Landshare (LAND)
Market Cap: $837 million
Landshare is a tokenized real estate investment platform on Binance Smart Chain. Landshare simplifies the creation of virtual real estate portfolios, allowing users easy fractional ownership of properties.
Within the network, assets are tokenized, enabling users to buy or trade these assets using cryptocurrency.
Realio (RIO)
Market Cap: $4.7 million
Realio is an interoperable Layer 1 multi-chain Web3 ecosystem for issuing and managing digital-native RWAs.
Realio aims to combine the accessibility of fully on-chain, decentralized peer-to-peer trading with the functionality of issuance and investment platforms.
Other RWA Tokens:
-
Goldfinch (GFI): A decentralized global credit protocol. Market Cap: $96 million
-
Propchain (PROPC): A consumer-facing tokenized real estate investment platform. Market Cap: $23 million
-
Galileo Protocol (LEOX): A luxury goods tokenization platform. Market Cap: $13 million
-
Clearpool (CPOOL): A decentralized lending protocol for institutions. Market Cap: $30 million
-
Credefi (CREDI): A peer-to-peer lending platform combining best practices from DeFi and TradFi. Market Cap: $5 million
GameFi
GameFi is another hot narrative expected to perform well in the coming years. Web3 infrastructure provides one of the best methods for distributing value within gaming ecosystems, potentially leading to massive impact.
The gaming industry has over 2 billion users globally. Most gamers are highly tech-savvy, making them easier to onboard into Web3. Bringing one-third of regular gamers onto the blockchain means over 600 million users—a huge market for GameFi projects.
So far, GameFi projects have performed well during the bear market. Growing numbers of users are attracted by the favorable economic models offered by GameFi. Here are some top GameFi projects to consider:
Nakamoto Games (NAKA)
Market Cap: $155 million
Nakamoto Games is a decentralized platform offering diverse games to engage users globally. Its main objective is to enable users to enjoy gaming in a blockchain environment while generating modest, sustainable income.
Nakamoto Games has achieved several milestones:
-
Hosted over 300 live P2E games
-
Over 165,000 registered users
-
Won the “Best Play-to-Earn Gaming Project 2023” award
-
Developed a multi-currency, multi-chain wallet on Telegram
-
Mobile app currently in development
NAKA will be one of the best-performing gaming tokens in 2023, and this trend is expected to continue given its impressive roadmap.
Shrapnel (SHRAP)
Market Cap: $87 million
Shrapnel is the first AAA shooter game fully built on the Avalanche blockchain. Shrapnel adopts a first-person shooter (FPS) style, featuring environments and gameplay reminiscent of popular titles like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Frontlines.
Considering the global impact of Minecraft and Roblox on millions of players, Shrapnel aims to become the next major FPS franchise for the next generation of gamers, offering enhanced content creation tools and monetization opportunities.
Big Time (BIGTIME)
Market Cap: $105 million
Big Time is a free-to-play multiplayer action RPG combining fast-paced combat with time-travel adventures.
Big Time has already made significant strides in GameFi, attracting millions of players and fans through NFT rewards and the BIGTIME token. Achievements include over $100 million in NFT sales, being named the most-streamed Web3 game on Twitch, and winning multiple awards.
Star Atlas ($ATLAS)
Market Cap: $93 million
Star Atlas is a next-generation gaming metaverse combining blockchain technology, real-time graphics, multiplayer video games, and DeFi.
As players adventure across galaxies, they earn ATLAS tokens as rewards, which can be used to purchase in-game assets such as weapons, spaceships, land, and mining equipment—all represented as NFTs.
Dubbz (DUBBZ)
Market Cap: $54 million
Dubbz enables game developers to tap into the potential of Web3 without prior blockchain knowledge. Dubbz’s vision is to merge traditional gaming with tokenized Web3 ecosystems.
Through their SDK, Dubbz brings blockchain-based betting to games like Call of Duty, FIFA, and Fortnite. As many users adopt GameFi products, Dubbz will significantly integrate existing games with tokenized environments.
Conclusion
Staying ahead of market narratives is one of the best ways to profit from the crypto market. Beyond charts and technical details, narratives shape the broader performance of the cryptocurrency market.
As we move into 2024, the AI, RWA, and GameFi narratives are likely to stand out prominently during the bull market. Given their unique problem-solving capabilities and market scale, these sectors hold immense potential. A deep understanding of these ecosystems is essential to maximize gains from the upcoming bull run.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@cryptoprag
