Cryptocurrency's top winners of 2025 did not include Bitcoin (BTC 0.67%), Ethereum (ETH 0.25%), or XRP (XRP 1.35%). All of them ended the year either flat or down. That tells you all you need to know about how topsy-turvy the crypto market was last year.
As it turns out, all the pro-crypto euphoria from early in the year had evaporated by year-end. That left only a smattering of niche winners, as crypto investors chased a few big trends. Here's what came out on top last year.
Bitcoin Cash
Arguably the biggest surprise winner of the year was Bitcoin Cash (BCH 0.58%), up more than 30% in 2025. As its name implies, Bitcoin Cash is a spinoff of Bitcoin. You can think of it as a slightly different version of Bitcoin that's better suited for digital transactions.
CRYPTO: BCH
Key Data Points
It's a bit of a head-scratcher why Bitcoin Cash soared in value in 2025, but Bitcoin did not. It seems like the only possible explanation is that investors were looking for an even better long-term store of value than Bitcoin and landed on Bitcoin Cash.
Image source: Getty Images.
However, past performance shows that this one year of outperformance from Bitcoin Cash is likely just a statistical outlier. Simply put, Bitcoin Cash almost never outperforms Bitcoin.
Privacy coins
Some of the biggest winners of the year were so-called "privacy coins" such as Zcash (ZEC 2.58%) and Monero (XMR 0.60%). By using advanced cryptography, these coins enable users to mask their transactions, as well as keep their private data and identity safe from the prying eyes of regulators. Zcash soared by more than 700%, while Monero soared by nearly 125%.
DeFi coins
There were also several big winners in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space -- but not the names you might expect. Ethereum, for example, did not manage to eke out a gain for the year, despite the growing support of Wall Street. Even the emergence of deep-pocketed Ethereum treasury companies couldn't revive this DeFi behemoth over the final months of the year.
Instead, the big winners were names like OKB (OKB 1.22%), up 125% in 2025, and MYX Finance (MYX +3.37%), up more than 3,700% for the year. At times throughout the year, Hyperliquid (HYPE +2.43%) looked like it was going to break out and become a top performer, but it ended the year almost exactly where it started.
Gold stablecoins
Stablecoins pegged to the price of gold also had a moment of glory in 2025. For example, both Pax Gold (PAXG 1.68%) and Tether Gold (XAUT 1.46%) soared in value by nearly 70%. That makes sense, since both are pegged 1:1 to the price of gold. So, as gold soared higher throughout the year, so did these gold stablecoins.
Which cryptocurrencies to buy in 2026?
The big question becomes: Are any of these cryptocurrencies worth holding for the long haul? Or are they simply one-hit wonders?
My prediction is that we'll see an entirely new list of big cryptocurrency winners in 2026. Perhaps the only back-to-back winners will be the gold stablecoins, given how the price of gold shows no signs of cooling off anytime soon.
