During the 2024 election, now-President Donald Trump promised a new pro-business approach for the crypto industry. That, combined with a complete rethinking of how global trade should work in 2025, is leading investors to focus on best-in-class crypto companies that are Made in America.
Here are three crypto stocks on my radar right now. All of them are using homegrown innovation to power future growth, and all of them stand to benefit from the Trump administration's pro-crypto policies.
Coinbase Global
Founded in 2012, Coinbase Global (COIN +4.30%) is now the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. The company's April 2021 initial public offering (IPO) is still the largest-ever for the crypto industry. Four years later, Coinbase landed in the S&P 500, becoming the first-ever crypto trading platform to do so.
For many investors, Coinbase has become a proxy stock to get exposure to crypto. Investors who do not want to invest in cryptocurrencies directly can invest in Coinbase instead, knowing that they are getting exposure to the entire crypto market. While Bitcoin (BTC +0.60%) and Ethereum (ETH +1.04%) account for nearly half of the trading on Coinbase, more than 200 different digital assets now trade on the platform.
Coinbase is leading the way when it comes to product innovation, continually coming up with new digital assets for investors to trade. It has become a vocal champion for better and more transparent regulation of the industry, as well as new pro-business policies from the government. All of this is setting up Coinbase for new growth as a best-in-class competitor.
Strategy
Strategy (MSTR +4.31%), formerly known as MicroStrategy, has become the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The company launched an aggressive Bitcoin buying strategy back in August 2020, and the founder and executive chairman of the company, Michael Saylor, is now one of the most famous Bitcoin bulls in the world.
Strategy pioneered the concept of a Bitcoin treasury company (BTC). Quite simply, a Bitcoin treasury company is a company that does nothing but buy Bitcoin. Because Strategy can use various forms of leverage (such as convertible debt) to buy Bitcoin, it can actually outperform Bitcoin.
NASDAQ: MSTR
Key Data Points
That might sound impossible, but just look at the numbers for this year. Bitcoin is up a respectable 13% for the year, while Strategy is up an eye-popping 44%. During the past five years, Strategy has outperformed Bitcoin, as well as nearly every stock in the S&P 500.
Not surprisingly, Strategy has inspired a surge of copycat companies, including some that have launched in just the past few months. For example, entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy is now using a reverse merger to transform one of his businesses, Strive Asset Management, into a Bitcoin treasury company.
Strategy was also influential in the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the federal government. Currently, Saylor is urging the U.S. Treasury to go on a Bitcoin buying spree of its own. If that happens, it's not hard to see how it could boost the fortunes of Strategy, given its enormous Bitcoin holdings.
MARA Holdings
MARA Holdings (MARA +1.89%), formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings, is the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining stock. The company trails only Strategy in terms of how much Bitcoin it holds on the balance sheet. The company's Bitcoin holdings now are worth about $5 billion.
Image source: Getty Images.
When Trump campaigned in 2024, he talked about a future in which all Bitcoin would be mined in America. And that's what makes MARA particularly appealing -- it has extensive Bitcoin mining operations in Texas, North Dakota, and Nebraska, all of which could benefit from any future government expenditures in the Bitcoin mining sector.
In terms of future growth, MARA is starting to explore new uses for its vast computing power. One of these is artificial intelligence (AI). Although it's still very much early innings here, MARA has floated the idea of becoming a computing base layer for all things AI.
America vs. the world
Simply because a crypto company is American doesn't guarantee its success. Crypto is very much a global industry, and there are plenty of competitors around the world that are trying to emulate America's crypto powerhouses.
For example, Tokyo-based Metaplanet has reinvented itself as "Asia's Strategy" with an $800 million Bitcoin buying spree, and Binance (BNB +0.47%), the Chinese-founded cryptocurrency platform, still outpaces Coinbase in terms of size and global reach.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has made crypto a clear strategic priority. And that should boost the fortunes of these three crypto stocks, all of which are best-in-class market leaders with significant upside potential ahead.
