Largest Gainers of Q3 2024
The largest gainers of the third quarter of 2024 are memecoins SPX6900 with 565.9% growth and Gigachad with (445.8%), followed by Verus (VRSC) with 200.6% and Ultima (147.4%). DePIN project Helium (HNT) rounds up the top five with a 120.6% price increase in Q3. Other top gainers include Sui (115.1%), Bittensor (106.9%), Saga (92.1%), Aerodrome Finance (81.4%), and SATS Ordinals (76.9%).
Key Takeaways
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The crypto market's total valuation peaked at above $2.6 trillion in Q3 2024.
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Memecoins were some of the best-performing assets during the third quarter thanks to the ongoing memecoin season.
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Some trends present in the top 10 largest Q3 gainers among CoinGecko’s Top 300 coins by market capitalization include memecoins (SPX and GIGA), AI (TAO) and DePIN (HNT).
This article was updated in October 2024 to reflect price movements of Q3 2024 by Joel Agbo.
It was a tumultuous third quarter for crypto, with Bitcoin climbing from $57K to almost touching $70K before taking a nosedive to $49K on August 5. This could have been the result of escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, but more likely due to the Bank of Japan interest hike, resulting in traders unwinding their JPY carry trade, resulting in global market turmoil.
Source: Crypto Market Cap Q3 | CoinGecko
Towards the end of the quarter, we saw the market pick up after the Fed’s rate cut on September 17, along with the Chinese government announcing economic stimulus measures on September 24.
Despite the challenging quarter, several crypto assets managed a significantly positive price development. Projects in the memecoin space were some of the biggest movers with SPX6900 growing over 560% and Gigachad increasing by 445.8% in value as the memecoin wave continues. Now, let’s take a look at the best-performing assets in Q3 among the top 300 cryptocurrencies by market cap on CoinGecko.
SPX6900 (SPX) – 565.9%
Memecoin project SPX6900 is the best-performing crypto asset in the third quarter of 2024 (among the top 300 ranked assets), receiving a good lift from the ongoing memecoin season. SPX6900 is parody of the S&P 500 – the stock market index that tracks the stock performance of the 500 largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the U.S – claiming to be bigger than its namesake because 6900 is a larger number than 500 (while being a classic meme number), with the ambitious goal of flipping the stock market.
our video analysis concludes that 6900 is both a superior and bigger number than 500.$SPX pic.twitter.com/PyN2YlRFES
— SPX6900💹🧲 (@spx6900) September 23, 2024
SPX6900 was created on August 16 via a fair launch on Uniswap. The memecoin project is a satire of the mainstream investment market with the ultimate goal of reaching a market cap of $69 trillion. According to the project, “It rewrites the rules of finance, proving that the power of community belief and the allure of large numbers can indeed reshape the world. In its wake, the S&P 500 looks quaint, a relic of a bygone era where traditional metrics of value reigned supreme.”
SPX6900 started the quarter slow, hovering between $0.01 and $0.03, but picked up momentum when Murad, a popular memecoin trader, shared on X that he acquired 2.8% of the supply of SPX6900 on September 13, which was potentially the spark that set off the growth of SPX6900.
The Final Cult on my Top 10 Highest Conviction list is @SPX6900
— Murad 💹🧲 (@MustStopMurad) September 12, 2024
I acquired 2.8% of the Supply.
This isn’t just a Meme, or a Cult — it’s a Movement, with a ridiculously ambitious goal — To Flip the Stock Market.
How utterly batshit insane that sounds is Inspiring.
This is next… pic.twitter.com/59X39EXlOF
It continued its uptrend for the rest of September and closed for the quarter above $0.11. On September 27, the memecoin was listed on centralized exchange – AscendX. At time of writing, SPX6900 has since hit an all-time high of $0.96 on October 13 2024.
Gigachad (GIGA) – 445.8%
GigaChads are supposed to be people with the ultimate male form – a stereotypical alpha male. Gigachad (GIGA) is a memecoin on Solana that pays tribute to the GigaChad meme, and was launched on the Solana blockchain on January 4 2024. It has also launched a fitness apparel brand – GIGA Fitness. The main Gigachad channel on X has also posted GIGA Fitness related content.
GIGA is also riding the memecoin wave,, with the memecoin’s X account featuring content endorsing masculinity, fitness, and self-confidence – including a video featuring Meow, one of the leading members of Jupiter, in a push-up competition.
— meow (@weremeow) September 20, 2024
GIGA opened for trading on the first day of Q3 at just above $0.005, and after fluctuating prices, it finally closed at a quarterly high of over $0.028 on September 30. With a 445.8% growth, GIGA is the second best-performing cryptocurrency in CoinGecko’s top 300 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Verus (VRSC) – 200.6%
Verus is a Layer 0/Layer 1 blockchain protocol, and it claims third place among the best performing cryptocurrencies for Q3 with a 200.6% gain between July and September in 2024. Verus runs the Proof of Power (POP) consensus algorithm – a hybrid of Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus algorithms, where 50% of all blocks are validated by miners, while 50% are validated by stakers. This means that if any malicious actors want to attack the Verus blockchain, they’ll need over 50% of the chain’s hashpower and its coin supply.
Verus is focused on privacy, utilizing zero knowledge technology to encrypt private transactions. It also offers Public Blockchains as a Service (PBaaS) to enable anyone to launch scalable, customizable, and independent blockchains, where all PBaaS chains are interoperable and interconnected. Other features of Verus includes VerusID and Verus Data Exchange Format (VDXF).
Verus endured a relatively stable third quarter of the year. It opened for trading on the first day of the quarter at $1.18 and stayed within this range for the first 6 weeks of the quarter. It began a gradual uptrend on August 17 and climbed to levels over $1.75 on August 26. It continued to consolidate at this level for the rest of the month and the first two weeks of September. Following an increase in DeFi activities on the network, the token enjoyed an eventful end to the third quarter, going from $1.47 on September 19 to a quarterly high of over $3.98 on September 28. It closed for the third quarter at around $3.56 on September 30.
Catalysts for Verus’ growth in the third quarter are mainly activities related to the project's development. DeFi activities on the network spiked during this period, with daily DeFi on-chain volume on the network surpassing $60 million on September 23.
An absolute protocol highlight. 24h protocol-wide volume surpasses $60M.
— Verus - The Internet of Value (@VerusCoin) September 23, 2024
With block rewards as high as 27 $VRSC (6 VRSC normal coinbase reward) only through on-chain conversions.
Verus is just getting started. pic.twitter.com/9PkT3Ih614
Ultima (ULTIMA) –147.4%
Crypto-financial solution project Ultima is the fourth-best performer in Q3, with its token ULTIMA recording gains of 147.4%. Ultima defines itself as an ecosystem of financial solutions that improve the experience of cryptocurrency investors, merchants, and developers built around the ULTIMA token.
Products in the Ultima ecosystem include the Ultima Crypto debit card, Ultima Store Marketplace, crypto self-custody applications, and a crowdfunding platform. The Ultima crypto debit card allows users to pay with crypto at checkout stores in over 100 countries worldwide including regions in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
The Ultima Card processes deposits of up to 10,000 euros per day and up to 100,000 euros per month, along with a withdrawal limit worldwide of up to 2,000 euros per day. Users can also link their cards to Google and Apple Pay. The Ultima Crowdfunding platform allows projects and individuals to raise funds to develop their ideas. It is also used for fundraisers for charitable events. Other projects in the ecosystem include the Ultima exchange, a store and ad platform, and the Ultima Travel Club.
ULTIMA opened for trading on the first day of the third quarter at just above $2,700. While it reached a quarterly high of over $8,500 on July 25, ULTIMA ended the quarter at around $6,650.
Following the project’s outlets, a major event during this period is the launch of the project’s Telegram-based P2E game, Battle of Bulls. According to Ultima, the game reached over a million players in just 10 days of release. Other launches during this time like Splitting 2.0 – a special buyback pool that allows users to reclaim liquidity provided to the pool in ULTIMA – also contributed to the growth the project experienced in the third quarter of the year.
Helium (HNT) – 120.6%
Helium is a DePIN project establishing itself as an ecosystem of decentralized wireless networks. Currently it contains telecommunications and Internet of Things (IoT) networks. Helium is powered by hotspots and the LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) technology. Providers on the network run hotspots and provide wireless coverage by transferring data from nearby devices. Helium hotspots are connectivity gateways built on the Helium network; they create and broadcast a wireless network, enabling cost-efficient connectivity for IoT and mobile devices.
In Q3, Helium’s rise is likely attributable to growing adoption of the wireless phone service Helium Mobile that provides 5G connectivity to users’ mobile devices for $20 for a monthly plan. Helium Mobile uses the Helium network by connecting to hotspots, which are paid $0.50 per GB of data transferred through a hotspot.
According to Helium Mobile, the number of signups and hotspots deployed are steadily on the rise: over 19,000 users signed up for Helium Mobile while 5,000 new hotspots were deployed in Q3 alone.
HNT started the quarter at $3.46 and in spite of some swings, finally closed out the third quarter at above $7.60, netting a 120.6% gain in value, rounding up the top five best-performing tokens for Q3 among the top 300 cryptocurrencies on CoinGecko by market cap.
Sui (SUI) – 115.1%
Sui is a fast and scalable Layer 1 that utilizes parallel transaction execution for faster processing. It is built on the Move programming language, which was originally developed by Meta for the proposed Diem blockchain. In Q3 2024, Sui reached a new TVL high of $955.57 million after recovering from the market dip in early August.
The SUI price chart has also followed the rise in TVL, recovering from the market dip to reach a quarterly high of $1.76 on September 30, making it the sixth largest gainer in our list with 115.1% gains.
SUI’s quarterly performance is fueled by events surrounding the network, the token, and the community. Sui network’s user count soared during this time – according to the network’s explorer, over 32 million wallets have interacted with the network, and over 4 million new wallets were created on the network in the third quarter. On August 7, $50 billion investment fund Grayscale announced that it is adding SUI, along with Bittensor, as new investment products.
Several new protocols were deployed on the network during this time, expanding the ecosystem and luring more users to the network. On September 17, 2024, the project announced native USDC integration on the network. Thanks to its speed and low gas fee, Sui network also grew popular among memecoin traders, with multiple community-driven projects launched on the network in the third quarter.
Bittensor (TAO) – 106.9%
Bittensor’s TAO is ranked seventh of the highest gainers among the top 300 crypto assets in Q3 2024 with a 106% gain in this period. The presence of TAO in this list illustrates the continued interest in AI and DePIN projects. Notable events related to the project include new subnets created on the network, integration into other protocols and applications, and appearance in crypto summits and discussions.
TAO opened for the third quarter trading at just above $272, and it spent most of the quarter hovering around the $200 to $350 price range. Come the second half of September, TAO saw a steep increase in value, and finally closed for Q3 at a quarterly high of $562.83.
Bittensor enables the development of commodities and the crowd-sourcing of computing resources through a peer-based decentralized network. It creates a marketplace for computing resources like storage space, GPU, and CPU power, and a task-driven network for the development of AI and Machine Learning models. To ensure the development of high-quality AI models, commodities, and computing resources, Bittensor adopts a strategy based on competitive delivery by autonomous parties.
Bittensor operates a network of subnets, which are created to solve a given task. The subnet owner acts as the administrator, and defines the incentive mechanisms for miners and validators. Bittensor works with the Yuma Consensus, a hybrid consensus mechanism that combines PoW and PoS. Subnet validators are rewarded with dividends for producing evaluations of miner solutions that agree with the subjective evaluations produced by other subnet validators.
Saga (SAGA) – 92.1%
Multichain solution Saga claims the eighth position on the top gainers list for projects in the top 300 ranks, closing for the quarter at $2.60 at a quarterly high with 92.1% gains. Saga is a multichain solution, it enables developers to create high-performance blockchains with a suite of tools that handles performance and interoperability. By handling the core operations of the blockchain layer, Saga empowers developers to build high-throughput applications by allowing them to focus on other aspects of the main application development.
As a project, SAGA had an eventful third quarter of the year. Discussions around the Saga liquidity integration layer were a major topic for the project during this time and possibly a major catalyst for the growth experience during this time. The Liquidity Integration Layer is designed to fix the liquidity fragmentation issue for blockchain networks by enabling seamless movement of assets across autonomous blockchain networks. Saga also had three airdrops during Q3 to reward loyal SAGA stakers who continue to accrue their SAGA stake, with extra loyalty bonuses going to those who staked 100% of the previous vault airdrop.
Aerodrome Finance (AERO) – 81.4%
Aerodrome Finance is a leading AMM exchange on the Base Layer 2 network, and is the largest protocol on Base with over 50% of the network’s TVL. September saw an increase in Aerodrome Finance’s TVL, reflecting the increase in interest on the chain, as daily active addresses on Base from 534.2K on July 1 to 1.4 million on September 30. Other potential catalysts for AERO’s growth include the introduction of cbBTC (Coinbase Backed Bitcoin) on the platform on September 12.
With this increase in interest, AERO grew by 81.4% in Q3, placing it as the ninth largest gainer among the top 300 cryptocurrencies by market cap on CoinGecko. It started the quarter at $0.68, and ended the quarter strong at $1.25 on September 30.
Aerodrome offers users self-custody financial services like direct asset swaps and yield programs. Users can swap tokens on the Base network and provide liquidity for new and existing tokens on the platform. Aerodrome introduced Slipstream, a modification of the concentrated liquidity on Uniswap V3, which enables liquidity providers to enhance their earnings from liquidity farming by defining the price levels where their assets will be available to the market maker.
SATS Ordinals (SATS) – 76.9%
SATS claims the tenth position on the top performers list for Q3 with a 77% gain. The Bitcoin Ordinals project is one of the largest tokens on the Bitcoin network created via the BRC-20 inscription technology. As SATS is a memecoin, its 77% rally in the third quarter of the year was partly influenced by the ongoing memecoin wave.
SATs references Satoshi, the smallest denomination in Bitcoin and the Bitcoin creator’s pseudonym. The asset’s community creates memes related to Bitcoin, notable figures, and more to attract new holders and raise the token’s profile.
Conclusion and Methodology
It was a rather volatile quarter for the crypto market, with multiple physical world events impacting the crypto space. Assets like Bitcoin and Solana saw their value swing, while others, like Ethereum, saw slow price movement after August’s dip. In spite of this, the above cryptocurrencies have enjoyed significant price gains – especially memecoins. Some other narratives with a presence in this list includes DePIN/AI projects, as well as Layer 0s and Layer 1s.
That said, there may be other cryptocurrencies with impressive price gains in this quarter, such as MOODENG, which did not make the list as we only considered cryptocurrencies that were created before July 1 2024. This list is also restricted to cryptocurrencies within the top 300 by market capitalization.
This article is only for informational purposes and should not be taken as financial advice. Always do your own research before investing in any cryptocurrencies.
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