Forget Meme Coins: Tokenized Stocks and RWAs Are Becoming Fastest-Growing Categories

Cryptopotato2026/06/19 03:45

By:Cryptopotato

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Tokenized stocks emerged as the fastest-growing crypto coin category between January 2024 and May 2026, according to a new CoinGecko report tracking the number of coins listed across major sectors.

The category expanded by a whopping 3,314.3% during the period, after rising from just 14 listed coins to 478.

Crypto’s Fastest-Growing Category

Real World Assets (RWA) followed closely as another major growth area, as it increased by 1,903.1% from 64 coins to 1,282. The sharp rise in both categories highlights growing interest in bringing traditional financial assets onto blockchain networks. CoinGecko said that the shift toward real-world asset tokenization accelerated significantly from late 2024 onward.

Despite these emerging trends, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) remained the largest non-meme crypto category by the end of the study period. The number of DeFi-related coins climbed from 549 in January 2024 to 2,328 by May 2026, which represented growth of 324.0%.

Another major theme during the period was the rapid expansion of AI-related coin listings. CoinGecko found that AI became the second-largest listed category on its platform after surging from 145 coins at the start of 2024 to 1,798 by May 2026, a rise of 1,140.0%.

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In the process, AI overtook Gaming (GameFi), which had occupied the second spot for much of 2024. GameFi grew by almost 263% and ended the period with 1,379 listed coins. CoinGecko said the AI category gained momentum in October 2024 alongside the launch of the AI-themed meme coin Goatseus Maximus (GOAT).

Growth continued as artificial intelligence became a mainstream topic, further fueled by the rapid expansion of companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia. Within crypto, the trend was driven by two key developments: a growing number of AI-branded meme coins and the emergence of on-chain AI agents, which attracted significant speculative attention and developer activity toward the end of 2024.

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