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The selection deliberately leaves out Tether (USDT), a stablecoin, to focus on volatile assets. That choice matters: CoinMarketCap ranked Tether third by market capitalization on December 31, 2024, so a strict top-five list by market cap would include USDT and exclude Solana.
How the five compare at the end of 2024
CoinMarketCap’s December 31, 2024 snapshot provides the historical prices, market capitalizations, and ranks below. The 2024 returns and annualized volatility figures come from WisdomTree’s 2025 report using data through December 31, 2024. WisdomTree calculated volatility from three-month daily U.S.-dollar returns and annualized it; those figures are not full-year realized volatility. BNB was not included in its cited single-coin table.
| Asset | Market-cap rank, Dec. 31, 2024 | Price, Dec. 31, 2024 | Market cap, Dec. 31, 2024 | 2024 return | Annualized volatility at year-end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | 1 | $93,429.20 | $1,850,264,551,569.93 | +124% | 45% |
| Ethereum (ETH) | 2 | $3,332.53 | $401,479,034,540.14 | +48% | 61% |
| XRP | 4 | $2.0801 | $119,420,603,990.73 | +237% | 121% |
| BNB | 5 | $700.99 | $100,947,038,231.85 | not stated in WisdomTree’s cited single-coin table | not stated in WisdomTree’s cited single-coin table |
| Solana (SOL) | 6 | $189.26 | $91,382,941,466.73 | +92% | 71% |
These are historical observations, not live prices. The return and volatility figures are retrospective measures, not indications of what an asset will do next. CoinMarketCap’s separate snapshot put Tether third at $0.9981, with a market capitalization of $137,178,559,146.95; that is why this five-asset shortlist is not the same as the five largest assets by market cap.
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Why each asset drew attention
Bitcoin (BTC): the largest asset in the comparison
Bitcoin ranked first by market capitalization in CoinMarketCap’s December 31 snapshot. HKEX describes it as a peer-to-peer electronic payment system designed to operate without intermediaries. That design description is separate from any claim about price performance or future monetary value.
WisdomTree reported a 124% 2024 return and 45% annualized volatility at year-end, the lowest volatility among the assets in its cited comparison. “Lowest” is relative to that table; it does not mean Bitcoin is low-risk. The report describes crypto as high-risk and cautions that historical performance does not indicate future performance.
Ethereum (ETH): a token tied to a smart-contract platform
Ethereum is the blockchain platform; Ether (ETH) is its native token. HKEX describes Ether as the token used with the Ethereum blockchain service, decentralized applications, and smart-contract platform. The network and its token are closely connected, but they are not interchangeable terms.
Ethereum ranked second by market capitalization on December 31, 2024. WisdomTree recorded a 48% 2024 return and 61% annualized volatility at year-end.
XRP: the strongest 2024 return in WisdomTree’s comparison
Among the six individual coins shown in WisdomTree’s comparison, XRP had the largest reported 2024 return, at 237%. Its year-end annualized volatility was 121%, also the highest of the five shortlisted assets with reported figures. The return and volatility should be read together: the strong historical gain came with substantial price fluctuation.
CoinGecko reported that XRP’s share of the crypto market rose by two percentage points to 3.5% in Q4 2024, moving from seventh to fourth and overtaking BNB and Solana during that quarter. Binance Research’s December 2024 retrospective reported a 362.3% XRP gain in November and discussed market and regulatory narratives of the time. Those reports describe contemporaneous activity; they do not establish that any one factor caused the gains or predict future demand.
BNB: included for its year-end scale
BNB ranked fifth by market capitalization on December 31, 2024, at $700.99 and roughly $100.95 billion in market value. Its place in this shortlist reflects that end-of-year scale. WisdomTree’s cited single-coin table does not provide a matching 2024 return or volatility figure for BNB, so this comparison does not assign it either number.
Solana (SOL): a notable share of Q4 decentralized-exchange trading
Solana ranked sixth by market capitalization in CoinMarketCap’s December 31 snapshot. CoinGecko reported that it led chains in decentralized-exchange trading in Q4 2024, accounting for more than 30% of DEX trades. That is a measure of activity on decentralized exchanges, not a measure of all crypto use, network reliability, or likely future returns.
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What “best” can—and cannot—mean here
There is no single objective winner in this comparison. Market capitalization measures the market value of an asset’s circulating supply; it does not establish quality, usefulness, suitability, or a likely future return. Past return shows what happened over a defined period, while volatility describes price movement over a particular measurement window. Neither answers which asset fits an individual reader’s finances or tolerance for loss.
The evidence supports different kinds of comparison: Bitcoin and Ethereum have the largest market values in this shortlist; XRP had the highest reported 2024 return among the listed assets with comparable WisdomTree figures; and Solana had a notable share of Q4 DEX trading. BNB’s inclusion is supported by its year-end market-cap rank, not a return or volatility figure from that same comparison. These are distinct attributes, not an overall score.
Bitcoin’s reported 2024 return also varies by source: WisdomTree gives 124%, while CoinGecko’s 2025 annual report gives 121.5%. CoinGecko separately reported an intraday Bitcoin high of $108,135 on December 17, 2024, and a year-end price of $93,508. Those figures should not be blended with CoinMarketCap’s $93,429.20 snapshot price or treated as though the sources used identical methods; the cited reports do not reconcile their differences.
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Custody is a separate decision from choosing an asset
A crypto wallet generally holds the keys that let someone access or authorize transactions; it does not contain the blockchain assets themselves. The SEC Office of Investor Education and Assistance’s December 12, 2025 bulletin explains that self-custody gives the holder control of the keys and responsibility for managing them. If a self-custody wallet is lost, stolen, damaged, or hacked, access may be permanently lost. Protect recovery phrases and never share them.
A cryptocurrency hardware wallet is one option for someone who has already chosen self-custody, but it does not remove the responsibility to secure recovery credentials. The SEC bulletin is investor education, not a rule or regulation, and it does not recommend a particular wallet or brand.
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