x
In 2025, the Fed's interest rate cuts, the Trump Administration's crypto-friendly moves, and new spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs) propelled several top cryptocurrencies to their all-time highs. But after peaking in the fourth quarter, the crypto market cooled off again in the first quarter of 2026 as concerns about fewer rate cuts, geopolitical conflicts, and other macro headwinds drove investors back to more conservative investments.
Therefore, it might seem risky to buy more cryptocurrencies in this volatile market. However, I believe investors who buy Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ether (CRYPTO: ETH), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) during the recent market swoon could reap big profits in the next bull run.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Bitcoin, the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, is still mined with the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Its supply is capped at 21 million tokens, and nearly 20 million have already been mined. Its mining rewards are halved every four years, making it harder to mine profitably. That scarcity makes it more comparable to gold, silver, and other commodities, and makes it a hedge against inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies.
Ether, the world's second-most-valuable cryptocurrency, can't be mined. It's a proof-of-stake (PoS) token that can only be staked (locked up on the Ethereum blockchain) to earn interest-like rewards. It also supports smart contracts, which are used to develop decentralized apps and other crypto assets. With 31,869 active developers at the end of 2025, Ethereum is the largest blockchain-based developer ecosystem. Ether's value should rise as that ecosystem expands, even though it doesn't have a hard supply limit like Bitcoin.
Solana, the world's seventh-most-valuable cryptocurrency, is worth buying because it runs the world's fastest PoS blockchain. It achieves those higher speeds by integrating its own proof-of-history (PoH) mechanism -- which timestamps transactions before they're validated -- into its PoS blockchain. Like Ethereum, Solana supports staking and smart contracts. It had 17,708 active developers at the end of 2025, putting it in second place after Ethereum, but it's gaining new developers at a much faster rate than Ethereum.
Over the next few years, many of the smaller altcoins will likely fade away if they don't have any long-term advantages. But Bitcoin can be valued by its scarcity, while Ether and Solana can be valued by the growth of the decentralized developer ecosystems. Ether and Solana's staking yields will also gain more attention as interest rates decline. So while these three tokens might remain volatile this year, they're all worth accumulating as the bulls look the other way.
Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $514,000!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,105,029!*
