In 2024, the crypto market saw the launch of new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the rise of crypto as a political campaign issue, and a new all-time high for Bitcoin above the $100,000 mark. 2025 could be even better, especially given the new pro-crypto optimism surrounding the Trump administration.
In such a bullish environment for crypto, which cryptocurrencies have the potential to skyrocket in value? Two at the top of my list are Solana (SOL +0.66%) and Chainlink (LINK +0.35%). Let's take a closer look at what makes them so attractive right now.
Solana
In any crypto bull market cycle, one Layer-1 blockchain is going to stand out from the pack and become the one platform where new projects are launched, new tokens are created, and new online communities emerge. For the past two crypto bull market cycles, this Layer-1 blockchain has been Ethereum. And, precisely for this reason, Ethereum has soared in value over the past decade.
But I think things are going to be different in this crypto bull market cycle. The new dominant Layer-1 blockchain network is not going to be Ethereum -- it's going to be Solana. We already started to see hints of this in 2024, with Solana's user growth soaring and transaction activity skyrocketing. In January of this year, Solana was the blockchain where the new Trump meme coin launched.
Image source: Getty Images.
Just about every aspect of the Solana blockchain ecosystem is running on all cylinders right now. Its decentralized exchanges are booming, its blockchain wallets are onboarding new users at a record clip, and new meme coin platforms are generating crypto tokens at a blistering pace. As a result, I'm very optimistic about future growth over the next 12 months.
Chainlink
If you're a believer in the pro-crypto agenda of the Trump administration and the growing institutional adoption of blockchain technology, then one crypto that could benefit the most is Chainlink. That's because Chainlink now has the endorsement of Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial, and it also has a long-term vision for attracting more institutional investors to use blockchain technology.
CRYPTO: LINK
Key Data Points
And it's not like Chainlink has emerged out of nowhere. During the last crypto bull market cycle in 2020-2021, Chainlink was a darling of the decentralized finance (DeFi) crowd. In a span of less than 12 months, the price of Chainlink skyrocketed from $5 to $50, based on all the excitement surrounding DeFi as a potential rival to traditional finance.
Admittedly, DeFi crashed back down to earth during the crypto winter of 2022, but I think we could be seeing a new comeback for DeFi in 2025, especially with many of the regulatory shackles that once held back DeFi now being removed under the Trump administration. In 2025, Chainlink is already up 30%, and is on the cusp of moving back into the list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies (as measured by market cap).
But what about AI cryptos?
At this point, you might be wondering, what about AI cryptos? Isn't artificial intelligence one of the hottest trends in the tech market right now? Surely, there must be some interesting AI crypto plays that might skyrocket in value this year.
Yes and no. There are plenty of AI cryptos out there, but nearly all of them are performing poorly right now. For example, despite all the buzz about AI agents, Virtuals Protocol is down 32% this year. Despite all the hype about AI infrastructure plays, Render is trading flat to down this year. And even diversified AI crypto plays, such as Bittensor, are down for the year.
Any of these crypto tokens could catch fire later this year, of course. But it's more likely that a mid- or low-cap AI crypto will emerge out of nowhere to capture the fancy of crypto investors. So keep your eye on AI cryptos that are trading around a $1 billion market cap. That's typically the market cap level where a crypto suddenly "pops" onto the radar of mainstream investors.
I'm not recommending Ai16z, but this is exactly the type of AI crypto that might break out -- it has a current market cap of $1 billion (ranking No. 95 among all cryptos), and is attracting significant buzz around the AI agent investment thesis.
Better buy: Solana or Chainlink?
If forced to pick between Solana and Chainlink, I'd pick Solana. A big reason for that has to do with the fact that a spot ETF could be incoming for Solana very soon. If that happens, we could see a huge flow of new investor money into Solana, as well as significant price gains. It doesn't hurt matters, either, that David Sacks, the new AI and crypto czar appointed by President Trump, is known to be bullish on Solana.
Sure, some of the pro-crypto optimism surrounding the Trump administration might dissipate later this year. But right now, 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting years ever for the crypto industry. As long as you can handle the volatility of investing in crypto, now might be the time to load up on cryptocurrencies ready to explode out of the gate in 2025.
