3 Coins to Outperform the Market in the Second Half of 2025

Let's face facts here: The crypto market is a sea of red right now. It's almost impossible to find any coin that's up for the year. And it's not just meme coins and risky

Let's face facts here: The crypto market is a sea of red right now. It's almost impossible to find any coin that's up for the year. And it's not just meme coins and risky altcoins -- even top cryptocurrencies have been hit hard by the current uncertainty over tariffs.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's still possible to find some beaten-down bargains in this sea of red. And I've found three coins that I think are going to outperform over the second half of 2025.

1. Bitcoin

First up is Bitcoin (BTC 0.96%). Yes, it's down nearly 25% from its January highs and down 10% from year-to-date. But it has held up surprisingly well since "Liberation Day" on April 2. Over the past 30 days, Bitcoin is actually up a (very) modest 1%.

Bitcoin appears to have weathered the worst of the storm. In fact, against a backdrop of dollar weakness, it suddenly looks much more attractive.

Investors around the world are looking for a safe-haven asset and a store of value and are now turning their attention to Bitcoin. That's not to say that it's a better investment than gold (NYSE:GGZ) right now. But it certainly has more upside potential, once the global economy recalibrates to the new normal.

Image source: Getty Images.

Moreover, the White House has shown a strong willingness to support crypto, and there could be some exciting new developments related to Bitcoin over the next several months. Some are even speculating that tariffs collected by the U.S. could somehow be used to buy it for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, thereby helping to push the price higher.

2. XRP

If you're willing to tolerate even more risk, you might consider XRP (XRP 0.69%), which continues to languish around the $2 mark. Year to date, it is completely flat, and all of its jaw-dropping gains from earlier in the year have been wiped out.

But XRP has several potential catalysts that could send it soaring later this year. The most important of these is the potential launch of a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). There's a high probability of this happening before the end of 2025.

A number of investment firms have already filed applications for a spot XRP ETF with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has shown a newfound willingness to support the crypto industry this year.

As a result, all of the regulatory uncertainty that surrounded XRP for more than four years -- ever since the SEC brought a lawsuit against Ripple, the company behind the XRP token-- has suddenly disappeared. The SEC has finally dropped this long-running lawsuit, and Ripple even managed to work out a deal with regulators in which it will pay less in penalties than originally thought.

3. Ondo

I've saved the best for last. At least if you consider "best" to mean "a highly speculative investment priced under $1 that could skyrocket in value but could also go to zero." After the 2024 election, Ondo (ONDO 1.56%) soared to hit an all-time high of $2.14. But it's now down 40% year to date and trades for less than a buck.

Ondo is a direct play on the trend for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization that is sweeping over Wall Street. Simply stated, this refers to the process of transforming real-world assets (such as stocks and bonds) into tokenized assets that live on the blockchain. According to some top consulting firms, RWA tokenization could be a multitrillion-dollar investment opportunity by 2030.

Admittedly, just a few months ago, I had never heard of Ondo. However, it is one of the coins held by World Liberty Financial, the crypto company affiliated with the Trump family. So, indirectly at least, Ondo appears to have the attention of the White House. Depending on your political views, that may be a good thing or a bad thing, but I generally think it's a good thing.

Given the recent implosion of Mantra -- the RWA token that lost 90% of its value in a span of mere hours -- it's important to do some extensive due diligence on any RWA coin. And thus far, I like what I see with Ondo.

The two top team members, for example, are Goldman Sachs (GS) veterans with expertise in digital assets. And the recent Ondo Summit in New York City attracted some big names from the likes of Fidelity Investments, BlackRock (BLK), and Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN) to discuss the future of "Wall Street 2.0."

The importance of portfolio diversification

Given that Bitcoin currently accounts for more than