Photography by Getty Images; Illustration by Bankrate
Cryptocurrency prices have rallied heading into 2025, leaving some investors with notable gains. But crypto is a notoriously risky investment and prices are known to fluctuate quite a bit. Keeping an eye out for the top performers every now and then can give you important context on how the market is performing.
Here are the top eight best-performing cryptocurrencies year-to-date.
Data as of Jan. 28, 2025.
Top-performing cryptocurrencies in 2025
| Cryptocurrency | Performance YTD |
|---|---|
| XRP | 52.74% |
| Solana | 25.5% |
| Stellar | 25% |
| Chainlink | 19.6% |
| Bitget Token | 17.7% |
| Hedera | 15.8% |
| Cardano | 13.6% |
| Litecoin | 11.2% |
Source: Coinmarketcap.com.
Note: The top eight cryptocurrencies featured here all have a market cap above $6 billion.
1. XRP (XRP)
XRP was created to enable faster money transactions. Its main use case is to power Ripplenet, which is a system that allows fast and efficient international money transfers. In some cases, Ripplenet surpasses the capabilities of other similar platforms like SWIFT. The XRP ledger is open source, but not directly on the blockchain, which has led many people to question whether XRP is technically a cryptocurrency.
- Price: $3.17
- Market cap: $183.74 billion
2. Solana (SOL)
Created by Anatoly Yakovenko, the cryptocurrency platform is called Solana, while the individual unit is called a sol. As of January 2025, there were about 487 million sol in circulation. Like many coins, Solana has a limited annual issuance and coins are rewarded to those supporting the cryptocurrency. Solana can power several applications that offer a variety of features, including smart contracts, NFTs and more.
- Price: $237.21
- Market cap: $115.45 billion
3. Stellar (XLM)
Stellar was founded in 2014. It uses blockchain technology but is known for offering a more user-friendly experience, similar to using cash. It’s also among the most energy-efficient cryptos. Stellar emphasizes its ability to operate without a financial intermediary and facilitate peer-to-peer transactions.
- Price: $0.4136
- Market cap: $12.62 billion
4. Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink is a cryptocurrency that powers the Chainlink network, which is used to pay operators for connecting smart contracts to real-world data, making it essential for DeFi apps.
- Price: $23.86
- Market cap: $15.22 billion
5. Bitget Token (BGB)
Bitget operates mainly as a utility token, which means it’s designed to enhance the user experience within the Bitget crypto exchange platform. The coin offers benefits like lower trading fees, various rewards and certain access to features if you own the coin. Bitget doesn’t have its own blockchain; it runs on others.
- Price: $7.00
- Market cap: $8.40 billion
6. Hedera (HBAR)
Similar to XRP, Hedera doesn’t technically operate on the blockchain. Unlike traditional blockchain operations, where transactions are grouped into blocks and then linked sequentially, the Hedera Hashgraph uses a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) approach, in which transactions are directly attached to one another and not in sequential order.
- Price: $0.3157
- Market cap: $12.1 billion
7. Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is the cryptocurrency platform behind ada, the name of the currency. Created by the co-founder of Ethereum, Cardano also uses smart contracts, enabling identity management.
- Price: $0.9441
- Market cap: $33.21 billion
8. Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is a decentralized crypto that was created from a fork of Bitcoin. Its purpose is to create faster transactions and improve storage efficiency compared to other cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. The coin was founded by Charlie Lee, a former Google engineer, in 2011.
- Price: $114.11
- Market cap: $8.62 billion
Should you invest in cryptocurrency?
Crypto has seen some wild gains recently. Bitcoin reached an all-time high of almost $110,000 just this month, bolstered by the approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs and President Donald Trump’s re-election.
The important thing to remember is that crypto is so volatile because the tokens aren’t backed by any underlying asset, meaning that the price of crypto depends solely on what buyers are willing to pay for it. To that end, any investments you make in the crypto space (especially during times of market uncertainty) should be part of a broader investment strategy — not your only one — in order to offset any money you could lose. Take time to consider your individual risk tolerance and time horizon for meeting other financial goals like retirement.
Bottom line
When investing in any type of asset, it helps to look at the top performers to get a sense of what’s going on in the market. When it comes to crypto, it’s especially important because the prices fluctuate so much and new coins are issued at a fast pace. Before investing in crypto, consider your own risk tolerance and only invest what you’re willing to lose.
Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation.
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