2025 was almost an antic year for the crypto market. However, within the top 100 by market capitalization, several projects showed strength and generally managed to distance themselves from negative trends.
In this context, PIPPIN, a meme coin running on the Solana network, tops the ranking of highest annual increase. One place below them was AB token and zcash (ZEC), which took the podium of best performing assets.
The following graph provided by the Crypto Bubbles portal shows the annual performance of the top 100 cryptocurrencies and tokens by market capitalization.
So, what is behind these growths and has been able to stand out in a largely unfavorable market and capture the attention of investors?
As mentioned earlier, PIPPIN comes first. Asset that just entered the top 100 market capitalization with an annual increase of 6,143%.
The token emerged as a creative experiment by venture capital investor Yohei Nakajima. As reported by CriptoNoticias, the creation used ChatGPT-4 to develop a unicorn named Pippin, along with revealing his personality and backstory.
The community launched a meme coin on Pump.fun, and the creator’s public recognition gave it legitimacy within the Solana ecosystem, and it quickly grew in popularity.
However, Bubble Map researchers warned that this asset carries a high level of risk. The main arguments that fuel this suspicion are: small group of insider Controls approximately 80% of supply amount. Additionally, we detected large amounts of withdrawals from linked wallets and exchanges with suspicious funding patterns.
this activity Increased suspicion of possible price manipulation.
What about AB?
In second place is AB, the protocol’s native token focused on decentralized governance, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
During last year, Asset price went from $0.0001234 to $0.004584which corresponds to an annual increase of 3,615%.
in this case, The main novelty behind its rise is the integration of USD1 into the AB chain.a stablecoin from World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform associated with Donald Trump’s family.
This move, by associating AB with high-profile DeFi initiatives, raised the project’s profile, reignited market interest, and acted as a catalyst for its strong price performance.
A great year for Zcash
The podium was completed by zcash, a cryptocurrency with a privacy foundation, which recorded an annual increase of 738%.
In the case of ZEC, the rise was driven by a combination of corporate moves and developments within the ecosystem.
On the one hand, Cypherpunk Technologies Begin strategic transformation by starting to purchase ZEC as a financial asset. As reported by CriptoNoticias, the initial investment is $50 million, and as announced, the goal is to accumulate up to 5% of the total supply.
Added to this are advances within the ecosystem, such as the launch of Zashi CrossPay. It is a privacy-focused tool that has gained renewed interest from miners due to increased profitability.
In parallel, Grayscale, one of the most important digital asset managers on the market, has increased institutional exposure to the asset. Launch of an investment fund centered on ZECenhances the story of adoption.