First Mover Americas: This Year's Top Performers and What Comes Next

Layer-1 blockchain Solana (SOL) led the way in 2023 in terms of token price gains, with other altcoins Avalanche (AVAX), Stacks (STX) and Helium’s (HNT) following closely behind. Solana, which began its sharp increase in mid-October, has risen over 700% since the start of the year. HNT also made considerable gains, climbing 500%. Most of the advance came this month, following the company’s move into the mobile space. For Avalanche, there have been a number of institutional partnerships that helped lift the token some 300% year-to-date. Looking forward, analysts pointed to tokenization of real-world assets as a booming segment to watch. Chris Newhouse, a former derivatives trader and the founder of Infiniti Labs, said the “Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) narrative” will continue to be a hot topic, with tokens such as RNDR and HNT recently outperforming the market. DePINs use cryptocurrency tokens to incentivize building of real-world infrastructure.