10 Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies of 2025 So Far

In 2024, bitcoin more than doubled, starting the year around $40,000 and ending it around $94,000, per CNBC. In 2025, it’s fallen about 10%. That may not sound like a big drop, but bitcoin fell from around $107,000 in January to around $84,000 in mid-March.

But have all cryptocurrencies performed this badly in 2025?

Explore More: 5 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

Here are the best-performing cryptocurrencies of 2025 so far.

Also see the compelling reason to invest in crypto now.

Top-Performing Coins Overall

In 2025, the top-performing coins are as follows.

Tongtongcoin: 262,586%
PepeCat: 12,363%
StratoVM: 2,770%
Derive: 2,350%
AI meta club: 1,213%
Undeads games: 1,159%
Starter labs: 1,021%
NFT combining: 824%
OVO NFT platform: 690%
SayCoin: 688%

If you don’t recognize any of those coins, don’t feel embarrassed. They’re pretty obscure. But more “mainstream” coins with higher market caps haven’t performed nearly as well.

Check Out: Coinbase Fees: Full Breakdown of How To Minimize Costs

Top-Performing Coins With a Market Cap Over $1 Billion

When you filter for a market cap of at least $1 billion, the list changes dramatically.

Mantra: 82.2%
GateToken: 31.5%
WhiteBIT coin: 16.2%
XRP: 14.2%
Fasttoken: 13.0%
Tokenize Xchange: 10.3%
Monero: 9.4%
UNUS SED LEO: 8.5%
KuCoin token: 6.1%
OKB: 3.2%

Before you get too excited about mantra, keep its size in perspective. Its 52-week low is a mere $0.54, and it currently trades just shy of $7.

Of these top-performing cryptocurrencies, only XRP ranks in the top 10 coins by market cap.

What Coins Should You Consider in 2025?

If you have a little play money you want to put toward crypto, start with the established big dogs: bitcoin, ethereum, solana, XRP or BNB.

Alternatively, you can approach memecoins as an alternative to gambling for entertainment. “If you are looking to take on some risk and have some fun with your friends, memecoins achieve that just like sports betting,” said crypto investor and programmer Andreas Brekken. “Just don’t buy memecoins as a way to build long-term wealth.”

Is Crypto a Good Long-Term Investment?

Everyone and their mother has a story about how they almost bought bitcoin or another cryptocurrency for pennies on the dollar of its current price.

Plenty of people have, in fact, ridden the crypto wave to riches. A 2024 study by Henley & Partners found that there are 172,300 crypto millionaires around the world. And that was before the surge in crypto values late in the year.

Still, beware that crypto coins remain extremely volatile. They don’t produce revenue, so you can’t calculate intrinsic value for them the way you can a stock or real estate investment.

Cryptocurrencies are speculative. They’re worth only what the next buyer is willing to pay for them. They should make up only a small percentage of your total investment portfolio — in the single digits for most investors — if any at all.

How Should You Invest in Crypto?

If you’ve never bought cryptocurrencies before, start with investment brokerages licensed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fidelity, Robinhood, M1 Finance, Public and Interactive Brokers all allow you buy and sell coins.

Alternatively, consider buying shares in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold cryptocurrencies. For example, you can buy bitcoin or ethereum spot ETFs. You can also buy diversified ETFs that hold many cryptocurrencies if you want to keep a broad basket.

Crypto coins surge and fall in value all the time. Unless you actively trade them, it may be best to either buy and hold long term or skip them entirely.

Editor’s note: All cryptocurrency prices were sourced from CryptoRank and are accurate as of March 17, 2025.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Best-Performing Cryptocurrencies of 2025 So Far

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Source link