The victory of Ripple, the rise of memecoins, the growth of RWA

Bitcoin's historic rally to the $100,000 milestone took place in one year amid several notable crypto-redemption stories, legitimizing the industry standard.

The events of the year brought the revival of many famous crypto projects that have faced many problems, including Ripple Labs, which scored a major legal victory against the United States securities regulator, while the memecoin and asset token sectors were revived, driven by retail demand and strong growth forecasts.

Beyond new all-time highs, 2024 brought renewed institutional interest in blockchain from some of the world's biggest institutions, such as BlackRock, which launched several crypto-based products.

In addition, President-elect Donald Trump's election victory in 2024 is expected to lead to an improved environment, especially for more regulatory transparency for tokens such as XRP, prompting investors to increase exposure to riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies.

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Ripple Labs and the XRP token have won in 2024

Despite a four-year-long regulatory battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the XRP token has proven its strength among a strong proprietary community.

In the past year, the XRP token has risen more than 251%, which is more than double the 117% returns of Bitcoin (BTC), according to Cointelegraph data. This makes XRP the second-best in the top 10 cryptocurrencies, according to data from Cryptobubbles.

Alvin Kahn, chief executive officer of Bitgate Wallet, said that beyond the XRP token's financial returns, Ripple Labs has seen a “significant arc of redemptions” over the past year.

He told Cointelegraph.

“In 2024, Ripple and XRP have emerged as a significant redemptive arc in the crypto space. After navigating legal challenges, Ripple has strengthened its position in cross-border payments, partnering with over 300 financial institutions and achieving a market capitalization of over $30 billion.

Ripple scored a significant legal victory in July 2023 when a federal judge ruled that XRP was not a security regarding programmatic sales on a digital asset exchange.

The SEC's lawsuit to force Ripple to stop offering its XRP token service on the grounds that it is secure represents a major victory for Ripple and requires more regulation.

However, the SEC was also able to score its own victory, as a federal judge ruled that XRP is safe when sold to institutional investors by meeting the conditions set forth in the Hawaii test.

The SEC filed suit against Ripple in December 2020. In August 2024, a judge held the company responsible for a $125 million civil penalty. The Commission has appealed the decision, and Ripple has filed an appeal, the civil case is ongoing at the time of publication.

On October 16, the SEC filed a Form C civil appeal to review its decision regarding sales of Ripple's XRP by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larson.

Trump's upcoming inauguration, along with his pick for SEC chairman, Paul Atkins, has raised hopes among investors that the SEC may drop its legal case against Ripple Labs amid more innovation-friendly crypto regulations.

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Memecoin's Resurgence: 1,600% PEPE and 1,400% WIF rally attracts many retail investors.

Memecoins have seen a significant boom, becoming some of the best performing cryptocurrencies of the year and creating new crypto millionaires in the process.

Year-to-date, the Solana-based Dogwifhat (WIF) meme token is the second best performer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, up more than 1,273%. It was followed by PEPE, which was the third best performer at 1,229%.

A savvy memecoin trader who benefited from Pepe's rally turned a $27 investment into $52 million after holding the coins for 600 days, Cointelegraph reported on December 14.

In the year While 2024 is shaping up to be a turning point for the entire crypto industry, memecoin's redemption arc remains a significant development, says author and blockchain expert Andy Lean.

He told Cointelegraph.

“Memecoins, often dismissed as speculative and absurd, have taken on new significance in 2024 by combining humor, culture and financial innovation. Tokens such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Neiro have been heavily influenced by Elon Musk's appointment of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to influence American politics.

The redemption arc behind memecoins is a testament to community-driven projects, Lian added.

Some crypto traders see Pepe as the Dogecoin (DOGE) of this cycle, which is gaining traction thanks to Musk's continued social posts, writes Ryan Lee, principal analyst at Bitget Research.

Dogecoin may be poised for a crash as Elon Musk's continued influence puts DOGE in the spotlight. The positive sentiment in the broader crypto market, especially among meme coins, provides additional impetus.

In the year On November 27, Dogecoin overturned the market capitalization of Porsche, following Musk's involvement in creating a new government efficiency, which further fueled demand.

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The RWA token is poised to record trillion-dollar growth by 2030.

The real-world asset (RWA) token sector has also shown great redemption, with the promise of bringing traditional finance onchain to create more liquidity and access to investment products.

The RWA token represents financial and other tangible assets produced on an immutable blockchain ledger, increasing investor access and trading opportunities around these assets.

The launch of BlackRock's Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) was an important moment for the RWA tokenization sector, Edwin Matta, co-founder and CEO of BRICK, told Cointelegraph:

“BlackRock's launch of BUIDL on Ethereum was a pivotal moment in how blockchain can deliver real and tangible value to the financial world. It was more than a technology experiment – ​​it restored faith and trust in the blockchain ecosystem.

BlackRock's tokenized treasury fund became the first fund to reach this milestone in July 2024, surpassing $500 million in market capitalization.

BlackRock's BUIDL surpassed Franklin OnChain (BENJI), the world's largest tokenized treasury fund, in late April — less than six weeks after its March 15 launch. BUIDL has held the top spot ever since.

BUIDL's price is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and daily accumulated dividends are paid out to investors monthly through a partnership with a real-world asset token platform.

The tokenized fund has brought greater transparency, liquidity and accessibility to already trusted financial products, Mata added.

“The crypto industry has faced criticism for its speculative nature and lack of integration with traditional financial systems. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has confirmed that blockchain can augment traditional finance.”

In other significant developments in the RWA sector, Tezos launched the world's first uranium marketplace on the blockchain, allowing retail investors access to tokenized uranium for the first time in history.

Additionally, RWAs are opening new investor opportunities in the $700 billion reinsurance sector Nayms, a crypto-native (re)insurance marketplace leveraging RWA tokenization tokenized investors' access to insurance risks.

Related: BlackRock's BUIDL Goes Multichain

The RWA sector may grow more than 50 times by 2030, according to forecasts from some of the largest financial institutions and business consulting firms compiled by Train Financial Research.

Most companies predict that the RWA sector could reach a market size of between $4 trillion and $30 trillion.

If the sector achieves the median forecast of around $10 trillion, it would represent growth of more than 54 times its current value.

In the year 2024 marked a significant resurgence in valuation and core belief for the crypto industry. Ripple's legal victory and increased demand for memecoins and RWAs demonstrate the growing legitimacy of the industry to retail participants and regulators around the world.

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