What’s the Best Cryptocurrency to Invest in Now? 7 Contenders

Seven of the top cryptos to buy for May. They say you shouldn’t be invested in the stock market if…

Seven of the top cryptos to buy for May.

They say you shouldn’t be invested in the stock market if you’re not able to deal with being down 20% or more. There isn’t yet a saying for how risk-tolerant one must be to successfully engage in cryptocurrency investing, but it’s fair to say digital assets make the roller-coaster gyrations of the stock market look like a teacup ride. Last month was the worst month for stocks since the dark days of March 2020, with the benchmark S&P 500 index plunging 8.8% as interest rate anxiety, global economic concerns and disappointing Big Tech earnings dragged equities lower. That said, the total cryptocurrency market plunged 16.4% in April. Still, with higher risk comes the opportunity for greater reward, so if you have the stomach for some volatility, here are seven of the best cryptocurrencies to buy now.

Bitcoin (BTC)

The world’s premier cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is coming off a rough month like the rest of the market. Although traditionally a bit less volatile than its peers, BTC investors were hit hard in April, as the blue-chip coin began the month above $45,500 and finished at $37,714.88. That’s despite an unequivocally bullish piece of news that came late in the month from Fidelity Investments: The largest U.S. provider of retirement plans announced it will be allowing 401(k) investors to buy Bitcoin directly in their accounts, should their employers opt in to allow it. About 23,000 companies use Fidelity to administer their retirement plans — a market that encompasses more than 20 million people and $2.7 trillion in assets. It’s an open question how many employers will opt in when the feature goes live later this year, but this is a major step in Bitcoin adoption, and unlikely to be the last.

Ether (ETH)

The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain is called Ether, or ETH. After hitting an all-time high of $4,891.70 in November 2020, the second-most-dominant cryptocurrency in the world has come back to earth, bouncing around the $3,000 level. The most actively used blockchain in the world, Ethereum pioneered the idea of decentralized finance, or DeFi — a disruptive new system of finance that cuts out traditional intermediaries and middlemen like banks, brokers and centralized exchanges. Although a number of upstart rivals are gunning after Ethereum’s leadership position, Ether is one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy now not only because of the wide adoption of its network, but also because of the upcoming event known as “The Merge.” Once known as Ethereum 2.0, The Merge is expected to launch in the second half of 2022 and will bring the current Mainnet Chain together with the Beacon Chain, changing the network from the expensive, slow and energy-intensive proof-of-work protocol to the far more efficient proof-of-stake system. This should help re-accelerate the Ethereum ecosystem and buoy Ether.

Solana (SOL)

Among the world’s top cryptocurrencies to buy, it’s essentially Bitcoin, Ether and then everything else. Among the so-called altcoins — everything outside of BTC — is where the big opportunity lurks, and Ethereum competitor Solana is a promising up-and-comer that’s managed to muscle into the world of DeFi and claim meaningful market share. Many currencies are built on top of the dominant Ethereum network, but not Solana, which has its own blockchain that uses the native SOL token. While BTC debuted in 2009 and ETH in 2015, SOL is just a baby, having debuted in 2020. The following year, Solana took the world by storm, soaring from about $1.50 to more than $170 by the end of 2021. Things have cooled off dramatically since then, with SOL at less than $90 in early May. Still, Solana continues to steadily gobble up market share; SOL has grown from 1.9% of the market to 2.8% of the market so far in 2022, and its low transaction fees should continue to poach users from Ethereum until The Merge is complete.

Terra (LUNA)

Another one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy now is LUNA, the native token of the Terra blockchain protocol. Instead of being known for DeFi or as a form of digital gold, LUNA’s value can be thought of in simple terms as a bet on the growing popularity of stablecoins. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose price is pegged to a given fiat currency, and they’re an increasingly important part of the DeFi ecosystem, with investors lending and borrowing stablecoins in large pools in order to earn yields or invest in other opportunities. The LUNA token’s value is directly related to the adoption of Terra-based stablecoins like UST, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. When there’s more demand for UST, LUNA tokens are burned, increasing the value of each token, while more LUNA tokens are created when people sell out of UST. Although LUNA fell in April with the rest of the market, the coin is roughly sideways year to date, dramatically outperforming the more than 20% decline in the overall crypto market.

Binance Coin (BNB)

Excluding stablecoins, Binance Coin, or BNB, is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The market cap stands around $63 billion in early May. BNB offers investors a nice way to bet on the flourishing Binance ecosystem, which includes the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Binance is off to an early — and commanding — lead in the buying and selling of digital assets, with data from early May showing trailing 24-hour volume of more than $12 billion, compared with about $2 billion in trailing volume for the next-largest contender, Coinbase Global Inc. (ticker: COIN). A deflationary token, 99% of BNB’s maximum supply is already in circulation, and Binance also burns a percentage of BNB-based transaction fees on its network.

FTX Token (FTT)

Investing in nascent industries is notoriously difficult: During the dot-com bubble, countless promising companies ended up crashing and burning — you were much more likely to put your money in the equivalent of a Pets.com or a GeoCities, both of which failed miserably, than a success story like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) or PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL). Today, crypto seems destined to be around for a while, and by extension, so will crypto trading. FTT, the native token of the FTX cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, is like BNB in that it’s another way to bet on the growth of the evolving crypto trading environment. Owning a little BNB and FTT gives investors less focused exposure to a growing pie via two early leaders in the area. Crypto derivatives, where FTX specializes, have the opportunity to become truly gargantuan if traders take to them like they have derivatives on other assets: a market already worth tens or possibly hundreds of trillions of dollars.

STEPN (GMT)

Last and least by market cap is STEPN, which earns a spot as one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy in part due to its relative newness. With a market cap just under $2 billion in early May, the currency, whose ticker is GMT, would be small enough to qualify as a small-cap stock if it were an equity. GMT is unique because it’s a move-to-earn token that incentivizes real-world exercise by rewarding users with tokens. You must buy digital sneakers in the form of a non-fungible token, then level up (through physical movement and subsequent accumulation of utility token GST) those sneakers to Level 30 before receiving GMT for your sweat equity. Whether move-to-earn tokens are a fad or here to stay remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: GMT is red hot at the moment. The tradeable GMT launched March 9 at less than 14 cents per coin. By the end of April, that price had already soared 25 times to more than $3.50.

7 best cryptocurrencies to buy now:

— Bitcoin (BTC)

— Ether (ETH)

— Solana (SOL)

— Terra (LUNA)

— Binance Coin (BNB)

— FTX Token (FTT)

— STEPN (GMT)

More from U.S. News

10 Best Growth Stocks to Buy for 2022

10 of the Best Stocks to Buy for 2022

7 Stocks That Soar in a Recession