If you're looking for ways to diversify your crypto portfolio, you might want to look beyond just Bitcoin and Ethereum. While these two cryptocurrencies may be getting a lot of attention from investors, there are also a number of lesser-known cryptocurrencies that could skyrocket in value in 2025.
To create a list of promising investments, I set a cut-off line of $5 billion market cap. This limits your choices to 30 cryptocurrencies. We then narrowed this list down to three based on their ability to outperform both Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2025.
Solana
Solana (SOL 1.86%) has been around for several years, but it's only now going mainstream and attracting the attention of institutional investors. Solana currently ranks in the top five cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization and is in line with Bitcoin in terms of performance this year. For the year, Bitcoin is up 143% and Solana is up 140%.
There is currently talk that Solana will be the next cryptocurrency to get a spot ETF. If that happens, Solana's price could skyrocket in 2025. As we saw with the example of the Spot Bitcoin ETF (and to a lesser extent the Spot Ethereum ETF), the creation of an ETF investment product is a wave of new capital flowing into the cryptocurrency.
Plus, Solana seems to be hitting on all cylinders right now. It has emerged as Ethereum's biggest rival and probably has better upside potential than Ethereum in the long run. Part of that is due to Solana's ultra-low transaction fees and ultra-fast transaction processing speeds that beat Ethereum.
Currently, Solana is experiencing explosive new growth in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. For the first time, Solana's decentralized cryptocurrency exchange has more trading activity than Ethereum. Additionally, Total Value Locked (TVL), a key performance metric for measuring overall DeFi strength, is growing rapidly.
bitensor
Bittensor (TAO -1.97%) is an open-source protocol that enables the creation of decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) networks. Therefore, Bittensor allows you to obtain cryptographic tokens that sit at the intersection of cryptography and AI. This could lead to explosive growth in 2025. As long as investors continue to embrace all things AI-related, Bitensor's price should continue to rise. For the year, Bitensor is currently up 154%.
Similar to Bitcoin, Bittensor's lifetime coin supply is limited to 21 million. Currently, there are only 7.4 million Bittensor coins in circulation. So you might be shocked to see Bittensor's current price (just south of $700). However, this limited supply gives Bittensor an inherent scarcity that most other cryptocurrencies lack. Over time, as the demand for AI increases, the price of Bittensor should also increase.
The only caveat here is that it is very difficult to pick winners within the emerging AI crypto space. This sector is growing very rapidly, and investor preferences can change overnight. Earlier this year, it looked like Render (CRYPTO: RENDER) would be the top AI crypto token as all the talk was about the computing power of GPUs. But now the story has shifted to decentralized AI networks, with Bittensor becoming the hot new AI crypto token.
wire mesh
Finally, there is Chainlink (LINK -1.53%), which remains the standout oracle coin in the crypto market. The current market cap is $15 billion, up 62% for the year. Longtime crypto investors will remember Chainlink from the last crypto bull market in 2020-2021, where Chainlink's value soared by more than 400% in just a few months.
Image source: Getty Images.
Of course, there is no guarantee that history will repeat itself, but there are many factors in Chainlink's favor heading into 2025. Chief among them is a planned and strategic move towards tokenizing assets. As part of this strategy, Chainlink partners with financial institutions to help convert traditional financial assets into digital assets (i.e., tokenized assets) that can be traded on the blockchain.
According to several prominent consulting firms, asset tokenization will become a multi-trillion dollar market opportunity by 2030. If Wall Street buys into this trend, Chainlink's value should skyrocket over the next five years.
There is now a growing consensus that Chainlink can be a trusted partner for financial institutions looking to explore the future of digital assets on blockchain. Part of that is due to Chainlink's recent partnerships with the likes of SWIFT, Euroclear, and UBS Asset Management.
Which cryptocurrencies have the most upside potential?
What's interesting about these three cryptocurrencies is that they each have very different investment theories. Solana is “the next Ethereum.” Bittensor is “Bitcoin for AI”. And Chainlink is a “bank coin”. Of course, it's up to you to decide if these are just empty marketing slogans or if there's actually a delicious juicy steak behind that sizzle.
If you want to diversify beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, all three cryptocurrencies are worth further consideration. Remember to do your own due diligence. All three have explosive upside potential, but they also come with additional risks.
