In 2025, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has over-promised and under-delivered. After reaching $100,000 in December, Bitcoin looked like a no-brainer option to soar in value this year. Instead, it has struggled to stay above $100,000 and is only up 5% for the year.
No wonder so many investors are looking for a cryptocurrency capable of outperforming Bitcoin. But it's been slim pickings. Many top cryptocurrencies are down anywhere from 20% to 30% in 2025, and only a handful are posting positive returns.
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With that in mind, here are three coins that could be better buys than Bitcoin right now.
1. XRP
The first Bitcoin alternative is XRP (CRYPTO: XRP). It's up more than 400% since the presidential election, and a robust 30% in 2025.
XRP has already been a clear beneficiary of the Trump administration's pro-crypto regulatory approach. Ripple, the company behind the XRP crypto token, has been under dark regulatory clouds for much of the past four years, with the SEC claiming that XRP is a security.
But it finally looks like those clouds will part under the Trump administration. With the recent shakeup at the SEC, all the regulatory issues that have loomed over XRP since December 2020 could soon disappear.
Add in the fact that XRP is an oft-rumored candidate to get a new spot ETF approved this year, and you can understand why crypto investors are so bullish on it. Currently, XRP is only trading for about $2.70 (as of Feb. 20), but it's possible to find price predictions as high as $10. It all depends, of course, on how much investor appetite there is for those ETFs, if and when they launch.
2. Bittensor
This is where things get dicey, because aside from XRP and Litecoin, it's hard to find any top 50 cryptocurrency that is actually in the positive for the year. That's why Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO), up a modest 3% for the year, stands out.
With a market cap of nearly $4 billion, Bittensor now ranks as one of the top 40 cryptocurrencies in the world. Bittensor is a Layer-1 blockchain with a strong artificial intelligence (AI) focus, making it an attractive development platform for new AI projects. For example, DeepSeek, the Chinese AI upstart, is now active on the Bittensor blockchain.
There are two primary factors in Bittensor's favor, aside from the general AI halo effect. The first is a recent listing by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global. On news of the listing, Bittensor soared by 20%. And the gains could keep on coming if investor enthusiasm for all things AI-related continues in 2025.
The other key factor is a tiny circulating coin supply. Bittensor has the same maximum lifetime coin supply as Bitcoin: 21 million coins. That creates enormous scarcity for Bittensor, and helps to explain why this cryptocurrency currently has a lofty $450 price tag.
3. Mantra
Finally, if you have a significant risk appetite, you might want to consider Mantra (CRYPTO: OM). Year to date, Mantra is up 99%, and since October 2023, it's up an eye-popping 43,927%. It's now the No. 22 cryptocurrency in the world, as ranked by market cap.
No, Mantra is not some kind of meme coin that has gone parabolic. Instead, it's a Layer-1 blockchain optimized for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization projects. If you haven't heard of Mantra, it's because its primary users are financial institutions looking to transition from the world of traditional finance to the world of blockchain finance.
Image source: Getty Images.
And the way financial institutions do that is by "tokenizing" assets. Literally, they are taking real-world assets, such as stocks or bonds, and transforming them into crypto tokens that can be traded on the blockchain.
If your eyes are rolling at this point, it's understandable. That sounds incredibly useless, right? Wrong. Top consulting firms such as Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company think that asset tokenization could be a multitrillion-dollar market opportunity by 2030. And Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong thinks that as much as 10% of global GDP will be tokenized by 2030.
By investing in Mantra, you're potentially getting in early on one of the biggest trends to hit the world of finance in years. It won't just be stocks and bonds heading to the blockchain -- it will also be private equity funds, real estate projects, and just about any illiquid asset.
Is it really possible to outperform Bitcoin?
At the end of the day, Bitcoin is still one of the best investments you can make in 2025. I'm not denying that at all. But XRP, Bittensor, and Mantra could produce spectacular gains over the next five years as well. Just be aware: With the potential for more upside return also comes the potential for significantly more risk.
Should you invest $1,000 in XRP right now?
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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Coinbase Global, and XRP. The Motley Fool recommends Bittensor. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
