Top Electronic Currency Assets for Q1 2025: Grayscale Reveals the Best Altcoins

Grayscale Investments has published its quarterly review, revealing the top 20 cryptocurrency assets for the first quarter of 2025. Each quarter, the Grayscale research team evaluates 'hundreds of digital assets' to guide the rebalancing of the FTSE/Grayscale Crypto Sectors index group. According to the research note, 'Our approach combines multiple factors, including the growth/adoption of the network, upcoming catalysts, sustainability of fundamental factors, token valuation, inflation of token supply, and potential risks.' The latest additions to the top 20 list are guided by three main market themes that Grayscale believes will shape the coming months: the U.S. election and the underlying regulatory implications, the rapid growth of decentralized AI, and the expanding Solana ecosystem. While Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, Uniswap, SushiSwap, Aave, Bittensor, Optimism, Lido DAO, Helium, Arweave, Aerodrome, and Akash Network still remain on the list, six new altcoins have been added compared to last quarter. "We are adding six assets to our Top 20 list for Q1 2025," the report states, highlighting the notable connections of each project to one or more of the aforementioned themes. Best (new) cryptocurrency assets for Q1 2025 Hyperliquid (HYPE): A Layer 1 blockchain aimed at financial applications on the chain, Hyperliquid's flagship product is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for perpetual futures contracts. Built around a fully on-chain order book, HYPE seeks to capture the growing demand for advanced derivative trading in a decentralized environment. Notably, HYPE has seen significant growth in recent weeks, currently ranking 19th on the list of largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Ethena (ENA): The Ethena protocol has introduced a new stablecoin, USDe, supported by positions hedged in Bitcoin and Ether. As Grayscale explains, "Specifically, the protocol holds long positions in Bitcoin and Ether and short positions in perpetual futures contracts on the same asset." A leveraged version of the token capitalizes on the price difference between the spot and futures markets, potentially offering a unique profit profile for participants. Virtual Protocol (VIRTUAL): Operates on Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, the virtual protocol enables the creation of AI agents designed to operate autonomously. Grayscale notes that "These AI agents are designed to perform tasks autonomously, simulating the human decision-making process." The platform also allows for ownership of these agents through tokens, connecting AI capabilities with blockchain infrastructure. Jupiter (JUP): Jupiter has emerged as a leading DEX aggregator on Solana, recording the highest Total Value Locked (TVL) among all Solana applications. With an expanding Solana user base and increasing speculation around memecoins and AI agent token, "we believe Jupiter is well positioned to capitalize on this growing market activity," the report noted. Jito (JTO): Jito is a liquidity staking protocol on Solana that has demonstrated strong adoption over the past year. Notably, Grayscale highlights the project's significant revenue: "Jito has seen significant growth in adoption over the past year and provides one of the best financial profiles across all cryptocurrencies, generating over $550 million in fee revenue by 2024". Grass (GRASS): Grass rewards users when they share unused internet bandwidth through the Chrome extension. "This bandwidth is used to collect online data, which is then sold to AI companies and developers for machine learning training," according to Grayscale. The project monetizes web data collection by redistributing rewards to users who contribute their spare bandwidth. Please input the text to be translated. Furthermore, Grayscale notes that they continue to be interested in "themes from previous quarters such as Ethereum scaling solutions, encryption, and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN)". Examples of these established themes include Optimism, Chainlink, and Helium, still ranked in the Top 20 for their fit with scaling, encryption, and DePIN use cases. Notably, six assets—NEAR, Stacks, Maker CELO, UMA, and TON—have been removed from the Top 20 list this quarter. 'Grayscale Research continues to see value in each of these projects, and they remain important factors in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. However, we believe that the revised Top 20 list may bring more attractive risk-adjusted returns for the next quarter,' noted Grayscale. At the time of press, HYPE was trading at $29.45.