3 Coins That Could Be Better Buys Than Bitcoin (BTC) Right Now

By Dominic Basulto. Updated Feb 20, 2025 at 1:10 a.m. PDT.

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.

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. At least in theory, if the administration follows through on its promise to roll back Obama-era regulations, it could pave the way for the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF.

But XRP is also being threatened by the SEC, which claims that the cryptocurrency should have registered as a security.

If those legal issues threaten to stall the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF, then perhaps the SEC will be more open to approving an ETF for a different cryptocurrency. And if you're looking for a candidate for a new type of ETF, XRP is a logical choice. It's the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and it's widely used by businesses and institutions.

Finally, if you're wondering about the valuation here, note that 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

Now, if you're thinking that it's impossible to find any other top 50 cryptocurrency that is actually in the positive for the year, you'd be right. 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.

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