5 Major Cryptocurrencies: What to Know

Crypto is going mainstream. Even JPMorgan, whose CEO Jamie Dimon in 2024 compared bitcoin to the 1970s "pet rock" trend, now offers its clients cryptocurrency products, further cementing crypto's legitimacy. 

With multiple cryptocurrencies soaring to record highs in 2025, more people seem to want a piece of the action, and the pro-crypto Trump administration and Congress have begun creating the market infrastructure and regulations needed to take cryptocurrency to the masses. 

There are now thousands of cryptocurrencies, leaving prospective traders with many questions. Which ones are worth looking at? What exactly are they, and what makes them gain value? And which one makes the most sense for your portfolio? 

This article examines five of the biggest and most commonly traded cryptocurrencies available to U.S. investors: bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana, and USDC. We'll discuss how they work, explain investors' basic rationale for buying them, and share different ways to gain exposure to this asset class. 

Launched in 2009, bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, built by a person or persons going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It is a peer-to-peer digital currency that enables private, anonymous transfers of value directly from one person to another without the need for an intermediary, such as a bank. This is one of its core value propositions. 

Bitcoin operates using blockchain technology, a public record of digital transactions. The ledger is maintained by thousands of individual computers worldwide. When someone makes a transaction, the payment is broadcast to the network, which confirms its legitimacy and places valid transactions into a waiting pool. Specialized computers bundle these transactions into "blocks" and race to solve complicated cryptographic math problems. The first to find a solution presents its block to the network, which checks it and, if it's valid, accepts it as the next block in the chain. Rewriting that block would require redoing that original work and revising all the blocks that followed, making each block effectively permanent. It's an energy-intensive validation mechanism known as "proof of work." 

Bitcoin's creation started the decentralized finance (DeFi) movement, which has gone from the fringes of the internet all the way to Wall Street. With a market cap of $2.4 trillion as of August 2025, bitcoin is by far the most valuable and widely held crypto asset and has become almost synonymous with the asset class among the public. 

So how would Bitcoin fit into a trader's portfolio? That depends. 

To many, bitcoin's greatest perceived advantage is that its supply is finite. By design, only 21 million bitcoins can ever be created, or "mined," and while a new bitcoin is minted about every 10 minutes, almost 20 million already exist. That stands in stark contrast to central banks' prolific money-printing in recent decades—and explains why bitcoin has been dubbed "digital gold." Given its limited supply, many investors see bitcoin as a reliable store of value—that is, a hedge against the inflation caused by what many see as the "debasement" of "fiat" currencies through expanding the money supply. 

Ultimately, though, bitcoin's long-term value also depends on its being widely adopted as a store of value. While its limited supply supports that proposition, at least theoretically, if few other people recognize that value and are willing to trade for it, the coin is ultimately of little use to anyone holding it. 

Bitcoin's investment thesis makes it primarily a long-term play for many investors. Some asset managers see bitcoin as an effective portfolio diversifier, a risk-on asset that so far has had relatively minor correlation to other major asset classes. But its high volatility—that is, huge price moves—has attracted plenty of momentum players and short-term traders. 

With bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies, the risk starts with this volatility (a more "black swan"-type risk is that the encryption is broken). Crypto assets can be exceptionally volatile and speculative. Euphoric rallies often precede nauseating nosedives. Consider this: Bitcoin has lost more than 75% of its value three times since 2013. Long-term investors need to be prepared to face down that volatility (or buy after such a drop), while momentum traders, dip buyers, and other shorter-term traders would need to stay nimble. 

Other risks to bitcoin holders—in fact, all crypto investors—include the regulatory environment. The current U.S. administration is undoubtedly long crypto, but the previous one wasn't nearly as supportive. It's hard to predict which way the political winds will blow. Although with Wall Street now investing billions of dollars in bitcoin and other crypto-related assets, it's a solid assumption that any future administration would at least face stiff resistance if it tried to roll back any pro-crypto regulation now being put into place. 

Also, while bitcoin is practically synonymous with crypto, it could face competition from other coins over the long term. History is littered with leading players that were left behind, especially in the early stages of a new industry. Remember the web browser Netscape? 

Ether is the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain, one of the most widely used blockchains in the world, with more than 500,000 daily active addresses, or accounts transacting, as of August 2025. Launched in 2015, Ethereum was the brainchild of Canadian Vitalik Buterin and a team of other developers. They expanded on bitcoin's blockchain, allowing for more complex computing operations that enable smart contracts and decentralized, secure, autonomous applications, particularly in finance. In fact, Ethereum can be thought of as a kind of massive, decentralized app store—the core infrastructure on which they can exist. 

Crypto enthusiasts have dubbed ether "digital oil." That's because it's required to keep apps running on the Ethereum blockchain, and while there isn't exactly a finite supply, there are mechanisms in place to constrain that supply and underpin the currency's value. Unlike bitcoin, ether is constantly being created to pay the people who keep the network running. It's also constantly being destroyed, partly to keep the supply steady and prevent its value from being diluted, and partly to keep the network running smoothly. Even Ethereum's developers aren't sure whether the supply of ether will grow over the long run. (It's complicated.) 

Like the Bitcoin blockchain, Ethereum doesn't actually generate a profit. For its developers and investors, the bet on ether is that Ethereum will become and remain the dominant infrastructure for a growing number of blockchain-based applications, thereby fueling demand for the currency and driving up its value. 

Holders of ether have faced similar stomach-churning volatility as bitcoin investors. While it more than doubled over a four-month period in 2025, for example, it had lost about half of its value in the previous five months. 

For investors more focused on a "fundamental" story, ether's value is supported by a vision of its long-term success as the indispensable fuel of a growing blockchain-based digital economy. That is far from a certain outcome. Ethereum has already faced scalability challenges, while newer blockchains like Solana (see below) pose a competitive threat. Sudden regulatory hurdles could also pose a challenge. 

One notable difference from the Bitcoin blockchain is its method of validating transactions. In 2022, Ethereum switched from a proof-of-work mechanism like bitcoin to what's known as proof of stake, claiming the latter is more secure, more environmentally friendly, and has other benefits. It lets users become "validators" by staking a minimum level of ether, and once they do, they're randomly selected to validate that the transaction information in blocks is accurate. A committee of other validators will do the same, attesting to the accuracy of the information. 

Ethereum said the switch reduced its energy consumption by 99.992%. 

XRP is the native currency of the XRP Ledger, a blockchain launched in 2012 by a for-profit company now named Ripple Labs. The blockchain was designed specifically to revolutionize how banks and financial institutions handle international money transfers, with the currency XRP serving as a bridge currency for financial institutions. For example, rather than converting U.S. dollars directly into yen, involving fees and exchange-rate slippage, a bank could convert dollars into XRP and then XRP into yen, at a reportedly faster speed and lower cost. 

There is a finite supply of XRP. All 100 billion existing XRP coins were created when the blockchain first launched. No more can be mined, and more than half of the coins were placed into escrow at the time. Each month, the company releases 1 billion coins for the network's operations, with unused supply being returned to escrow. Nearly 60 billion XRP coins were in circulation as of August 2025. 

Still, XRP is not considered a store of value in the same way bitcoin is. For most, an investment in the currency is a bet that the ledger will become the standard infrastructure for cross-border payments and the currency XRP an integral part of that process. 

Ripple Labs and XRP face growing competition from emerging stablecoins and even central bank digital currencies (CBDC). If the XRP Ledger can serve as a transfer infrastructure using stablecoins or CBDCs, the value proposition for XRP becomes questionable. 

Solana the cryptocurrency is the native coin of the Solana blockchain, and transactions and user fees paid on Solana are paid with solana, the coin, which had a market cap of around $97 billion as of August 2025. Created by Anatoly Yakovenko and a team of engineers and fully launched in 2020, the Solana blockchain is considered the top challenger to Ethereum and already has around five times as many daily active addresses, according to Solana's disclosures. 

Solana reports that its blockchain is also faster and cheaper to use, partly due to its breakthrough technology, proof of history, a sort of timestamp that keeps precise records of the order of transactions. Solana has established itself as one of the leading platforms for asset tokenization, which BlackRock's Larry Fink has called the "next generation" of markets. 

As with ether, the supply of solana is not fixed. Coins are created and "burned," and the balance of the two depends on the level of activity on the network. Solana's current inflation rate is just over 4%, but the plan is to eventually reach a steady 1.5% annually. At that point, the new coins will be paid to "stakers"—holders of the coins who assign them to network validators in what is essentially a vote of confidence in the validators' trustworthiness. 

Ultimately, as with ether, investing in solana is a bet on eventual scale—that is, the success of the Solana blockchain as the preferred infrastructure for apps requiring high speed and efficiency. If Solana becomes a major destination for DeFi apps, tokenization, and smart contracts, the coin could gain strength as usage and demand grow, even with the supply growing 1.5% annually. 

Again, the risks start with volatility, which has been even more extreme with solana than with bitcoin or ether. Beyond that, the Solana blockchain faces several challenges, including questions about its reliability—it has suffered several major outages in recent years—and intense competition from emerging players. And, of course, there are questions about the adoption rate for blockchain applications in the coming years.

USD Coin (USDC) is a type of cryptocurrency known as a stablecoin. Stablecoins were designed to serve as a bridge between cryptocurrencies and the U.S. dollar or other fiat currencies in on-chain transactions, a sort of cash proxy, and nearly all are pegged 1:1 to the dollar. 

When investors or app operators move in and out of crypto, they often swap other crypto for a stablecoin like the USDC. That way they have the stability of the dollar with the speed and efficiency of a digital asset—and they don't have to re-enter the traditional financial system every time they sell a crypto coin. Stablecoins can also be used to pay for goods and services on blockchains, as well as in the off-chain economy, and are popular for cross-border transactions. 

Launched in 2018 by the Centre Consortium (a collaboration between Circle, a global tech firm, and Coinbase, a major U.S. crypto exchange), USDC operates across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana, enabling users to take advantage of different blockchain features while maintaining a stable peg to the dollar. 

Unlike bitcoin or ether, USDC isn't meant to appreciate in value and certainly shouldn't against the dollar, given its peg. Instead, it's another form of "digital oil," providing liquidity within the digital asset ecosystem. It serves as a crucial piece of infrastructure for DeFi apps, crypto trading, and cross-border payments, where users need dollar exposure without the volatility of other digital assets. 

The 2025 GENIUS Act, which establishes a regulatory framework for U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins, forbids stablecoin issuers from offering yield on stablecoins directly. But it's unclear whether stablecoin holders will be able to earn rewards through third parties. 

The ability of stablecoin holders to redeem them for dollars depends on the coin's issuer, a significant risk in the early, "Wild West" days of crypto trading. But the GENIUS Act mandates that all stablecoins be backed by 1:1 reserves of cash or short-term U.S. Treasuries and that issuers disclose their reserves each month. 

With a market cap of around $67 billion as of August 2025, USDC isn't the biggest stablecoin. That distinction belongs to tether (USDT), with a market cap roughly twice as big. But because it's U.S.-based, USDC is regulated by U.S. laws and publishes monthly audited financial statements. 

USDT, on the other hand, isn't based in the United States, doesn't publish audited financial reports, and has a history of questionable practices. For example, the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined USDT in 2021 for misleading claims about its reserves. 

Because buying cryptocurrencies directly can involve a complicated process that involves unique risks, many investors and traders prefer exposure to coin prices through futures, options, or exchange-traded products (ETPs). Others may prefer to use equities to invest in companies holding bitcoin, known as bitcoin treasury companies. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved bitcoin and ether ETPs in 2024, and a selection of ETPs is already available for retail traders. The SEC is also expected to approve XRP and solana ETPs later in 2025. 

Buying shares of a crypto ETP doesn't necessarily mean actually owning any coins. Some hold the underlying cryptocurrencies, meaning buyers own a share in a pool of coins, but other ETPs actually hold crypto futures contracts, or simply exposure to the price. 

Trading of crypto futures has been around a bit longer. Contracts for these coins are available on U.S.-regulated exchanges: 

• Bitcoin (/BTC)
• Ether (/ETH)
• Solana (/SOL)
• XRP (/XRP) 

Some investors seeking exposure to cryptocurrency prices might feel more comfortable just buying shares in companies that have added bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to their treasury holdings. Some companies are focused entirely on their crypto holdings, using a combination of equity and debt to buy and store bitcoin. Sometimes called bitcoin treasury companies, they include Strategy (MSTR), Bit Digital (BTBT), and Block (XYZ). Others might operate in a crypto industry, such as mining, or simply want to hold large quantities of bitcoin as an inflation hedge. 

Note that buying shares in these companies comes with the same price risks as buying crypto ETPs, with the added risk of corporate malfeasance, potential regulatory challenges or, if the company does have a separate operating business, risks associated with that business.