- Grayscale added new tokens to its top 20 list.
- It cited potential US election affect, AI, and Solana’s progress as catalysts for the change.
- The tokens embody main DeFi gamers like Ethena and Hyperliquid.
Crypto gained’t simply be about Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2025.
That’s one of many takeaways from digital asset supervisor Grayscale’s newest quarterly roundup of high-upside tokens. The list options 20 digital belongings which might be primed to escape within the first quarter of subsequent yr.
Six of these — Ethena, Hyperliquid, Jupiter, Jito, Virtuals, and Grass — are new to the list, and look set to profit from a number of factors which might be seen to be bullish for the crypto {industry}, in accordance to the digital forex asset administration agency.
Grayscale mentioned it selected the brand new tokens due to the potential affect Republicans’ success within the US election may need on decentralised finance and staking, in addition to the rising use of synthetic intelligence “brokers” and the Solana blockchain.
AI brokers are software program endowed with the flexibility to publish on social media platforms and, in some instances, use crypto wallets.
Grayscale’s list
Grayscale is likely one of the largest issuers of crypto exchange-traded funds, managing greater than $24 billion in Bitcoin and Ether, the 2 largest cryptocurrencies.
Its list of 20 tokens to watch embody Bitcoin and Ether in addition to DeFi stalwarts Uniswap, Aave and Lido.
A number of the tokens added to the list might see outsize profit from the crimson sweep within the US election that noticed Republicans safe management of each chambers of Congress and the presidency, Grayscale wrote.
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The occasion has overwhelmingly taken a pro-crypto stance, which {industry} watchers anticipate will lead to extra industry-friendly laws over the subsequent 4 years.
The complete crypto market has surged over 40% for the reason that election to be price virtually $3.4 trillion as of immediately.
Solana has been one of many comeback winners from the bull market. Its worth collapsed within the aftermath of the FTX scandal. Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire propped up the worth of Solana earlier than its collapse.
Solana’s token plunged from its earlier all-time excessive of $259 to lower than $10 after FTX imploded in 2022.
However a wave of recent DeFi protocols, in addition to the growth in memecoins and AI brokers, introduced it to a brand new all-time high in November and helped it leapfrog Tron because the blockchain with the second-largest DeFi ecosystem this yr.
Its two largest DeFi protocols — Jupiter, an aggregator of decentralised exchanges, and Jito, a liquid staking protocol — are two of the six new additions to Grayscale’s list.
Jupiter is well-positioned to capitalise on Solana’s standing as the house of AI brokers and memecoin trading, in accordance to Grayscale. In the meantime, Jito is likely one of the most worthwhile protocols in DeFi, collecting greater than $500 million in charges in 2024.
AI revolution
The intersection of AI and crypto has created quite a lot of buzz in 2024, and for good cause.
Buyers have injected hundreds of millions into crypto-AI tasks, and researchers estimate that the combo will add one other $20 trillion to the worldwide financial system by 2030.
Grayscale’s list displays the hype. Two of the brand new tokens on the list function on the intersection of AI and crypto: Virtuals, which simplifies the creation of AI brokers on the Base blockchain, and Grass, which lets customers lease their unused web bandwidth to AI corporations that want it to scrape the net for information to practice AI fashions.
Grayscale additionally listed a pair of protocols which have surged to the top of DeFi: stablecoin issuer Ethena, and Hyperliquid, a blockchain with a deal with buying and selling.
Hyperliquid’s November airdrop minted dozens of recent millionaires, and prompted hypothesis a couple of DeFi resurgence.
Ethena, in the meantime, launched early this yr and its stablecoin, USDe, has already surpassed Sky’s DAI because the third-largest, in accordance to DefiLlama information.
Grayscale eliminated six tokens from its top 20 list: TON, Close to, Stacks, Sky, UMA Protocol, and Celo.
“Grayscale Analysis continues to see worth in every of those tasks,” it mentioned. “Nonetheless, we imagine the revised Top 20 list might supply extra compelling risk-adjusted returns for the approaching quarter.”
Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi Correspondent. Bought a tip? Electronic mail at aleks@dlnews.com.
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