Proper now, Bitcoin (BTC 0.43%) is in the motive force’s seat. The world’s high cryptocurrency is up 17% for the 12 months and is as soon as once more in the highlight after cruising to a brand new all-time excessive of $112,000 on Could 22.
However as we head into the second half of the 12 months, three high cryptocurrencies have the potential to outperform Bitcoin. Let’s take a more in-depth look.
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Ethereum
First up is Ethereum (ETH -1.24%). Regardless of its well-publicized issues over the previous few months, Ethereum seems to be on the verge of a comeback. It is now up 45% over the previous 30 days. By means of comparability, Bitcoin is up solely 14% over that very same interval.
Yearly, Ethereum rolls out a brand new improve of its blockchain, and this 12 months was no exception. The brand new improve (often called Pectra), which went reside in early Could, guarantees to make Ethereum quicker, cheaper, and simpler to make use of. Given how a lot competitors Ethereum faces in the Layer 1 blockchain area at this time, these efficiency enhancements are crucial.
Furthermore, Ethereum might be getting some excellent news on the regulatory entrance in the second half of the 12 months. The Securities and Change Fee (SEC) is scheduled to supply formal steerage on staking, a course of that’s on the core of a proof-of-stake blockchain equivalent to Ethereum.
In a best-case state of affairs, the SEC will rule that funding merchandise can embody staking mechanisms. That would supply an actual increase to the spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have so far been unable to supply staking rewards to clients.
Solana
Traders are already well-acquainted with how excessive Solana (SOL -1.40%) can soar when it’s firing on all cylinders. In 2023, for instance, Solana skyrocketed greater than 900%. I am not predicting the identical kind of efficiency in the second half of 2025, however Solana can undoubtedly go parabolic.
Commonplace Chartered is at the moment predicting that Solana can hit a value of $275 by the tip of 2025 and $500 by 2029. At present, Solana is buying and selling at $175, which supplies it the potential to just about triple in worth over the subsequent few years.
There’s only one caveat, nonetheless. In response to Commonplace Chartered, Solana is a “1-trick pony” as a result of a lot of its current development has been pushed by the explosion of investor curiosity round meme coins. Solana has a super-fast, super-efficient blockchain, and all that throughput capability and velocity can be higher put to work in areas equivalent to monetary companies or synthetic intelligence.
The excellent news is that Solana is prone to obtain SEC approval for brand spanking new spot ETFs someday in late 2025. Already, spot Solana ETFs commerce in Brazil, and quite a lot of exchange-traded merchandise (ETPs) commerce in Europe. So, U.S. approval of those ETFs seems to be a close to certainty. If this approval occurs as anticipated, new investor cash might stream into Solana at a speedy fee.
XRP
Lastly, there’s XRP (XRP -0.11%). Much like Solana, XRP has already proven traders what it could possibly do. Within the three-month interval following the 2024 election, XRP was the world’s top-performing cryptocurrency. At one level, it was up almost 600%.
However then got here tariffs, and the investor euphoria that when surrounded XRP dissipated. XRP is now buying and selling at simply $2.30, greater than 30% beneath its 52-week excessive of $3.40, set in January.
The investor concern about XRP as of late is comprehensible. The core use case for the XRP token is reasonable and quick cross-border funds. So, if worldwide commerce is grinding to a halt on account of tariffs, it is simple to see why XRP utilization can be grinding to a halt. A best-case state of affairs for XRP is for tariff uncertainty to finish and for world buying and selling companions to renew buying and selling.
XRP might get a lift later in the 12 months, as that is when the SEC is scheduled to rule on its spot ETF functions. A brand new spot XRP ETF began buying and selling in Brazil earlier this 12 months, so the present considering is that new U.S. spot ETF approvals are going to be coming quickly.
The large-picture view
All three of those cryptocurrencies — Ethereum, Solana, and XRP — have the potential to skyrocket on their very own. However there’s yet one more issue that might positively influence all of them: the arrival of altcoin season.
Throughout this time, dangerous altcoins soar in worth, far surpassing something Bitcoin is able to doing. It is a well-documented phenomenon that happens as traders start to rotate their cash into riskier and riskier segments of the crypto market.
There’s loads of debate proper now in the crypto neighborhood about whether or not an altcoin season is coming in 2025. Nonetheless, the rising consensus is that Bitcoin hitting a brand new all-time excessive might be the sign for its official kick-off.
Bitcoin may be getting all the thrill proper now. However a number of months from now, you may be wishing you had shifted only a tiny portion of your crypto portfolio to those three altcoins with explosive upside potential.
