Metacoin

Covering Bitcoin, the Blockchain, Altcoins, and Fintech

Ethereum

The Ten Best Crypto Investments for 2025

The cryptocurrency landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, making 2025 an exciting yet challenging year for investors. With blockchain technology continuing to expand its reach into financial services, gaming, supply chain management, and even artificial intelligence, the opportunities are vast. Whether you’re a seasoned crypto investor or just entering the space, understanding where to put your money can make all the difference. Here’s a detailed look at the 10 best crypto investments for 2025.

top ten crypto investments

1. Bitcoin (BTC)

Market Outlook: Despite the emergence of thousands of altcoins, Bitcoin remains the king of cryptocurrencies. As the most widely adopted and secure digital currency, it continues to be a safe haven for both institutional and retail investors.

Why Invest:

  • Deflationary asset with a capped supply of 21 million BTC.
  • Increasing adoption as “digital gold.”
  • Hedge against inflation.

Risks:

  • Regulatory scrutiny.
  • Energy concerns related to mining.

Verdict: Bitcoin remains a cornerstone of any balanced crypto portfolio.

2. Ethereum (ETH)

Market Outlook: Ethereum is the leading smart contract platform and the backbone of decentralized finance — known widely as “DeFi” — and NFTs.

Why Invest:

  • Successful transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) in 2022 with Ethereum 2.0.
  • Expanding Layer 2 ecosystem (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism).
  • Massive developer community and continuous innovation.

Risks:

  • Competition from other smart contract platforms.
  • Scalability concerns.

Verdict: Ethereum’s dominance in DeFi and smart contracts makes it a solid long-term investment.

3. Solana (SOL)

Market Outlook: Known for its high throughput and low transaction fees, Solana has quickly risen to prominence as a top competitor to Ethereum.

Why Invest:

  • Lightning-fast transactions (65,000 TPS).
  • Strong ecosystem for DeFi and NFTs.
  • Backing from major investors and partnerships.

Risks:

  • Outages and technical vulnerabilities.
  • Centralization concerns.

Verdict: Solana’s performance improvements and growing ecosystem make it a compelling choice for 2025.

4. Polkadot (DOT)

Market Outlook: Polkadot aims to create an interconnected blockchain ecosystem where different chains can securely communicate with each other.

Why Invest:

  • Pioneering interoperability between blockchains.
  • Parachain auctions drive demand for DOT.
  • Strong backing from a passionate developer community.

Risks:

  • Complex technical design.
  • Intense competition in the interoperability space.

Verdict: If interoperability takes center stage in the crypto world, Polkadot is poised to thrive.

5. Cardano (ADA)

Market Outlook: Cardano is a peer-reviewed blockchain platform with a focus on sustainability, scalability, and security.

Why Invest:

  • Focus on academic research and rigorous testing.
  • Continuous upgrades (e.g., Hydra scaling solution).
  • Commitment to decentralization.

Risks:

  • Slower development pace compared to competitors.
  • Questions around adoption and ecosystem growth.

Verdict: Cardano is an appealing investment for those who prioritize research-backed innovation.

6. Chainlink (LINK)

Market Outlook: Chainlink is the leading decentralized oracle network, enabling smart contracts to interact with real-world data.

Why Invest:

  • Essential for DeFi, NFTs, and other blockchain applications.
  • Partnerships with industry leaders across finance and tech.
  • Expansion into staking and hybrid smart contracts.

Risks:

  • Dependence on broader blockchain adoption.
  • Increased competition in the oracle space.

Verdict: As a critical infrastructure piece, Chainlink’s role in the blockchain economy makes it indispensable.

7. Avalanche (AVAX)

Market Outlook: Avalanche has positioned itself as a fast, scalable smart contract platform with a strong emphasis on interoperability.

Why Invest:

  • High-speed transactions and low fees.
  • Subnet architecture allows for customizable blockchains.
  • Robust ecosystem growth in 2024.

Risks:

  • Competing with other Layer 1 solutions.
  • Potential regulatory challenges.

Verdict: Avalanche’s innovative approach to scalability positions it as a major contender in 2025.

8. Cosmos (ATOM)

Market Outlook: Cosmos is often referred to as the “Internet of Blockchains,” aiming to create an interconnected blockchain network.

Why Invest:

  • Unique focus on interoperability and cross-chain communication.
  • Strong developer ecosystem.
  • Introduction of liquid staking and new governance features.

Risks:

  • Competing with Polkadot for interoperability dominance.
  • Slower ecosystem growth compared to Ethereum and Solana.

Verdict: Cosmos remains a top choice for investors betting on a multi-chain future.

9. Arbitrum (ARB)

Market Outlook: As a leading Layer 2 solution for Ethereum, Arbitrum aims to improve scalability and reduce fees while maintaining Ethereum’s security.

Why Invest:

  • Rapid adoption by DeFi protocols and dApps.
  • Strong transaction volume and user growth.
  • Clear roadmap for further decentralization.

Risks:

  • Dependency on Ethereum’s performance.
  • Competition from other Layer 2 solutions.

Verdict: With its proven scalability improvements, Arbitrum is a solid bet for Ethereum believers.

10. Polygon (MATIC)

Market Outlook: Polygon has transformed from a simple Layer 2 solution to a comprehensive ecosystem for building scalable dApps.

Why Invest:

  • Strong ecosystem partnerships (e.g., Disney, Reddit).
  • zkEVM rollout enhances security and scalability.
  • Proven track record in onboarding major Web3 projects.

Risks:

  • Competition from newer Layer 2 solutions.
  • High reliance on Ethereum.

Verdict: Polygon’s consistent growth and innovation make it a top-tier investment for those looking to bet on Ethereum’s scaling solutions.

Final Thoughts

The crypto market in 2025 will likely be shaped by both technological advancements and regulatory developments. Bitcoin and Ethereum remain foundational investments, while platforms like Solana, Avalanche, and Arbitrum present high-growth opportunities. Projects focusing on interoperability, such as Polkadot and Cosmos, cater to the growing demand for seamless blockchain communication.

Before making any investments, it’s crucial to conduct thorough research, stay updated with market trends, and assess your risk tolerance. Diversifying your crypto portfolio across different use cases—from DeFi to interoperability—can help mitigate risk and maximize potential returns. As always, only invest what you can afford to lose and consider consulting with a financial advisor.

The Zipper Merge

Kid 2 is taking driver’s education — a rite of passage here in the U.S.A., though less so in these modern times, where your every everything is catered to by things like apps, mass transit, Uber, and that concept of “prolonged adolescence” exacerbated by the response to COVID — and likes to tell his parents about how much he’s learned. This also means we have to relearn some things where “The Science” used to be settled (“10 and 2!” is now “9 and 3!”).

Which brings us to “The Zipper Merge.”

Why Not A Video from the Province of Alberta?

We’ve been merging all wrong, it seems. Wait til the very last minute, use both lanes, and Bob’s Your Uncle.

Ethereum’s Zipper Merge

If you’re like me — laser-focused on ETH for months, then there was an implosion in prices and you cut your losses and moved on to other things, like making a living — then the Ethereum Merge has sneaked up on you like a construction zone on US-55. What do you do with your ETH? Do you have any ETH2? Do you know the difference? Do you care?

Understanding The Merge

Long story short, The Merge is where Ethereum moves from “Proof of Work,” or a mining environment that is similar to Bitcoin’s (but not as profitable) where miners are rewarded with coins for proving validity of transactions, to a “Proof of Stake” system, where owners are credited for staking (“parking”) their assets.

Y’all ain’t getting Web3 without Proof of Stake, so that’s where it’s headed. But not without a meandering road with a few…forks.

Once The Merge happens, rumored to be in a couple weeks but certainly in September, ETH will likely see some changes to its price — maybe mad fluctuations? — and it’s going to be bumpy.

So get yourself some tunes and buckle up for the ride. (No, we don’t know who to believe either.)

Some Thoughts THAT ARE NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE

These thoughts are not investment advice. But here are some considerations…

You Could Leave It All There*…

So yeah, there’s option one. For instance, I have some ETH parked on MegaCryptopolis. The game site is migrating to its own whole new world, so there’s not much choice I have in the matter. Whether I’ll get an airdrop there is another question: rumors abound about airdrops and whether they’ll happen, or not.

And if you *do* leave it all there, you’re looking at — thanks to calculations from Bitmex, with which we cannot trade in our region, natch — $45 per ETH.

Whales will make out like bandits. The rest of us could get a nice dinner out (after taxes, because, well, our jurisdiction will tax the airdrops like income and whatnot).

BTW, the Asterisk above means those assets you have parked in DeFi tools and other…things…like MegaCryptopolis. Or Sushi. Or a Uniswap pool.

…Or You Could Take It All Out of DeFi…

That’s another option here. Probably a pretty viable one, too, if you’ve lost any money from a rug pull. (Who among us?)

The thinking: you can’t trust anyone with your ETH so you might as well take yours out, and certainly take it out of any DeFi protocol with a high potential of rug pulls.

Sensible thoughts, but here’s option 3, which is where we’re landing:

…Something In Between

Here’s the winner.

We yanked some of our coins out of DeFi things, and we traded out of some duds to get ETH a couple weeks ago. BUT, we’ve also done that “why the heck not?” thing with a few. Holding a little in a pool of SUSHI and ETH, a little more in a couple barely there pools.

And holding tight.

We’ll All Be in One-Lane Traffic Soon

That’s the guess: from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake, some folks will head off onto side roads, others will go off-road, and we’ll stick in this lane for a little while, while holding a piece of one of those four-wheel drive things.

Hoping it’s not a Yugo.

When the Growth Portfolio Doesn’t Grow

We’re on a mission with the 2022 Growth Portfolio. We’re just not yet sure what that mission is.

When we jumped into the fray with our own mix of ten tokens to potentially invest in — and of course you should DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH — the thought was as follows: get a basket of tokens and ride out the 2022 market with it.

Up? Down? Sideways? Stalwarts like Bitcoin and Ethereum? Up-and-comers in Web3 like $ENS and $MAGIC? Yes.

So maybe the mission depends on the markets; a basket like this can help you ride the ups and downs.

And, So Far This Year, Lots of ‘Downs’

Meh Performance.

So we’re taking one on the chin so far.

That, my friends, is an understatement. Bitcoin’s doing fine when compared to the others — but still down nearly 20 percent — and Ethereum has been down and then a little back up but still down in 2022. To wit:

The roller coaster that goes down first

No time to do any touchdown dances or victory laps: this is not good performance. What gives?

We Don’t Know Why. Time to Catch the Falling Knife?

This is the question I get pretty often: have we hit bottom, or is it time to catch the falling knife? And, from the school of “IDK, DYOR,” I can posit a guess or two but invite you to study this on your own.

Guess One: Global Unease Equals Meh Performance

If I see one more post about “this is the time for Bitcoin” using the context of global geopolitical events as proof that this is the time for Bitcoin, I’ll scream.

However, you *could* guess that people in places like Canada who have had their bank accounts frozen might see a little truth to that. If you can’t even get money out of your bank then, well, this may be the time for Bitcoin.

(Also, if governments don’t understand how these things work, they may only choose to regulate them further. Will that push any and all coins into an oblivion? Will that lead to a black market for all things? Will that drive everything higher?)

Guess Two: Is There TOO Much Crypto Noise?

Is it possible that the ads from Larry David and Lebron James have rendered some of us inured to the noise around the subject? I mean, not the OGs like you and me, natch, but the rest of the world.

Nobody really knows what constitutes a good deal these days, so the newbies jumping in might not care if Bitcoin is $35K or $25K. And so on: for assets without earnings seasons and dividend payments, you’re flying blind.

Celebrating Our Only Good Pick So Far…

“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.”

We got lucky with $MAGIC. Somehow, at treasure.lol — that’s the web address! — they’re building a pretty cool…ah…uh…whatever they’re building. But trust us, it’s at the intersection of NFTs and gaming and crypto writ large, so we’re there for it.

We had mentioned it a couple times before on these pages, most recently in this post: How to Spend $1000. And we’ll ride this for as long as is feasible.

Today’s Takeaway…

We have mentioned this is not investment advice, right? And that you should do your own research?

Yes, that. Also you may or may not be better off being lucky than being good.

A Month Later: Is $ENS the Perfect* Web3 Token?

If you were lucky enough to grab some $ENS, the token from the Ethereum Name Service project, congrats! (If you haven’t but think you may be entitled to some, there’s still time. Go here: ens.mirror.xyz and take a look.) The token dropped into wallets on November 8 and it’s been nearly a month to watch it unfold, so we thought we’d examine a little further.

The price chart has been a thing to behold: if the average user got a couple hundred $ENS tokens, and those are now trading in the low $40 range, an $8000 or $9000 payday is nothing to sneeze at. Pick out your Christmas gifts — so long as they’re not negatively impacted by the supply chain — and rock on!

Not Bad for Playing on the Internet for Three Years

But, long term, is $ENS all it’s cracked up to be?

First, the Background

We actually talked about this in our post from June 2019 called “Playing the Long Game.” Back then, we didn’t really see the prospect of an airdrop coming, we were just looking for a combination of Ethereum Cybersquatting and Finding A Cool Domain Name.

You can register a bunch and they only cost about $5 a year; we registered several and use one of them as our principal registry.

In theory, we could use one of the ones in our stable, like “jamiedimon.eth,” and set it up to give and receive tokens. (Or you could try to sell it to JP Morgan Chase, which the owner of the above coin appears to be doing.) (Note that it doesn’t take an internet super sleuth to figure out that the author of this post owns jamiedimon.eth.)

If you think of these dot-eth domains as your portal to Web3, the metaverse, AND your crypto holdings…that’s a pretty good way to look at it. Now, let’s do a little analysis.

‘I Promise, It’s Perfect.’

That was the tagline from a golf club that was sold in the early 2000s. Called “The Perfect Club,” it could get you out of trouble, like tight lies, and suggested that mere mortals like me (with my handicap of…well, let’s say it’s not pretty) could use it on shots from about 190 yards out and drop the ball on the green with minimal effort.

I don’t remember seeing an asterisk — * — like the one in the headline of this blog post, but it should have come with one. Especially when the announcer himself said “I Promise, It’s Perfect.”

But the question at hand, and where the asterisk leads us, is whether or not $ENS *may* be the Perfect* Web3 token.

Here are a couple reasons — and yes, this is not financial advice and you should DYOR (Do Your Own Research) and we’re not responsible for your gains or losses — why $ENS could be the on-ramp to Web3.

The Analysts Are Taking Note

Van Eck is kindof a big deal. One of their analysts did a pretty solid analysis of what’s going on with Ethereum domain names, the bread-and-butter of the ENS entry point to the rest of the investment world.

We’ll link to Matthew Sigel’s post here, and we found it more than a little interesting (in a good way) that Sigel compares the ENS domain business to Verisign. (We also didn’t realize Verisign was such a stud.)

Van Eck’s Sigel summarizes the dot-eth trend better than we could right here:

Plus the Airdrop Means Fewer People “Heading for the Exits”

Here’s another aspect to look at: when you have projects that make people rich very early — not just crypto or Web3, but IPOs, too — you always run the risk of a “cut and run.” For instance, a Junior Software Developer signs up for a gig at a startup, is given some options, and the startup IPOs. Whenever the lockup expires, the developer gets bored, has high-six or low-seven figures in cash, and heads straight for the exit.

Because of an airdrop that didn’t end up with tons of rich people, and with no VCs taking part, the result is that nobody (aside from the founders, who are in this for the long haul) got super rich. The lack of “F*** You Money” makes this a potential winner.

AND…It’s a DAO

This would be the third reason this is so huge: governance.

DAOs are Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. Simply put, they’re designed to run with limited involvement from management, delegating votes on a variety of governance issues to a team. To collect your $ENS tokens you had to vote on a series of proposals and select a delegate to vote on your behalf.

They’ve built a black box and the management of that black box is in the hands of the team of delegates, but proposals to change the way the black box functions take a majority. And some of it is immutable — like the DAO can’t really go out of business — so they’re definitely looking at this with a decades-long time horizon.

Should You Buy at This Price?

Again, this is not financial recommendation, and do your own research.

But the token itself is right around the top 100 in market cap and it’s just north of $1B. Compare and contrast that with tokens like $SHIB (~$19B market cap as of this writing) and take a look at the functionality of $ENS in comparison with other tokens ($SHIB has a cult-like following and has rocketed upwards, but is it really THAT valuable?).

$ENS might not be a bad bet in the grand scheme.

Good luck.

A Balanced 2020 Crypto Portfolio

We struggled with this one for a little while, and you can’t really blame us: 2019 was a meh year for crypto, and our typical portfolio wouldn’t exactly be the way to go for 2020. Plus, a bunch of new entrants — both projects and categories — caught our eye last year.

Our first question: Does the BRED Portfolio makes sense anymore? Given the fact that Bitcoin had a good year and the others didn’t, does the mix of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, and Dash still give you the kind of portfolio that will propel your crypto investments into the stratosphere?

ALSO, it may not be about the “into the stratosphere” anymore for you. And that’s okay. In any event, we have to figure out if there’s another way to do this.

First Up…How Did BRED Do?

Glad you asked: weird year for sure. Let’s look at the numbers:

2019 BRED Portfolio
Down a shade, but not insane, but…

So, in the interest of consistency, here’s what the 2020 BRED Portfolio would look like.

The 2020 BRED Portfolio

However, we don’t think this is the kind of portfolio to focus on for the year(s) ahead. We’ll give a couple reasons why we *think* there’s a rebalancing ahead.

  1. Bitcoin still makes sense, but Ethereum less so.
  2. Ripple is working on a ton of partnerships, but hasn’t grown like before.
  3. Dash didn’t catch fire on the consumer-facing front.
  4. Way too much else going on.
2020 Crypto Balance Portfolio

Let’s Follow the Trends and Create a New Portfolio

Without further ado, here you go: the 2020 Crypto Balance Portfolio.

2020 Crypto Balance Portfolio
She’s a beauty…

So, what have we done here?

First Up, MOAR Bitcoin

If a stock went up 90% in a year, would you still want it in your portfolio? Or would you take profits?

Good question, and we address that at least a little by (a) keeping BTC in the portfolio and (b) ratcheting it up to 30% of the overall $10,000.

While I wouldn’t go so far as this commentator who thinks Bitcoin will go to $400,000 after its “halving” (when the mining rewards for Bitcoin are cut in half) in May, Bitcoin has cemented itself as the blue chip of cryptos during the past couple years.

You’ll also see that, in this Crypto Balance portfolio, we’ve ignored the forks. If there are notable forks this year, we can take those into account; but “forkening” isn’t that much of a deal the past couple years.

Ethereum, Still, Has a Role

We’ve done some writing on these pages about projects like Megacryptopolis; you can’t play with any of those NFTs, and you can’t trade any assets on OpenSea without ETH that’s in a Metamask wallet (or some other ETH wallet).

Ethereum is really a two-sided coin (ha!) — with quite a few bearish cases on the internet, and a few bullish ones, too. We think the bullish case outweighs the bearish case, though. We’re keeping it in, but dropping it down to 20%.

About the Other Five…

If our goal is a “balanced” portfolio…uh…what the heck does that mean?

In our case, we achieve some level of balance with the other 5 assets in this portfolio, each at ten percent:

XRP — The coin from Ripple still aims to underpin bank transfers, a la SWIFT. Also, if you still believe in the long-term prospects of the project, under a quarter per coin is not a bad deal at all.

MCO — We lurrve this coin. (That’s a technical term, like HODL.) Not just because you can get some for free just by jumping through a couple of hoops [DISCLOSURE ALERT: AFFILIATE LINKS IN THAT ARTICLE] but because they are doing the regulatory thing correctly. We’re American, and bank laws are pretty important to follow.

EOS — I’ll admit to still being really skeptical, but also see the benefits of owning some EOS as an anti-ETH.

VeChain (VET) — This has potential, thanks to the Toolchain, to be the standard corporate “Blockchain-as-a-Service” solution. Partnerships right and left throughout the world. Tremendously undervalued.

VET Website Screenshot
VET’s website tells you what they’re up to.

PAX Gold (PAXG) — One really clever idea is to tie the price of a coin to an ounce of gold — so it’s like Tether, but with gold behind it. Also helps the “gold bugs” get into crypto while helping the crypto bugs get into gold.

And…There You Go

Whether this will catch fire like the 2017 edition of BRED or stall like the 2018 edition of BRED or do nothing like the 2019 edition of BRED…all that remains to be seen. But the plan is that we’ll track both all year and see what happens from there.

Stay tuned. 2020 should be interesting.