Admittedly, it's been a tough year for crypto investors. Market bellwether Bitcoin (BTC +0.90%) is down nearly 10% year-to-date. Top altcoins Ethereum (ETH +2.00%) and XRP (XRP +2.07%) are down 20% and 30%, respectively.

But there have been some bright spots for the crypto market in 2026. A handful of names are actually up more than 100% for the year and continue to soar in value.

Hyperliquid

One decentralized exchange receiving massive attention this year is Hyperliquid -- a platform for trading spot crypto and perpetual futures ('perps') powered by its native altcoin, also called Hyperliquid (HYPE +2.11%).

The HYPE token is now up 210% for the year, and currently ranks among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world, with a market cap of $20 billion.

Image source: Getty Images.

Given its recent blockbuster performance, Hyperliquid has even attracted the attention of top Trump administration officials. In August, during a White House meeting, President Trump specifically mentioned Hyperliquid and suggested that regulators do everything in their power to bring it to the United States. The exchange is currently based offshore in Singapore, and trading on the decentralized exchange is off-limits for U.S. investors.

What makes Hyperliquid particularly attractive right now is the recent launch of Hyperliquid spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This dramatically widens the base of potential investors and makes HYPE much more of a mainstream crypto investment.

Zcash

Another market standout this year has been Zcash (ZEC +5.98%), a so-called "privacy coin" that protects blockchain transaction data from prying eyes. Zcash has been on an absolute heater this year, up 128% year-to-date. As a result of its recent performance, it too has cracked the list of the world's top 10 cryptocurrencies (as measured by market cap).

And just like with Hyperliquid, there is now a way for investors to gain exposure to Zcash through an ETF. In August, digital asset investment firm Grayscale launched the first-ever spot Zcash ETF. In less than 30 days, it attracted more than $500 million from investors, demonstrating a high level of investor demand for Zcash

NEAR Protocol

The AI investment thesis is still going strong, and that has created all sorts of new opportunities for crypto investors to play the artificial intelligence boom. Case in point: NEAR Protocol (NEAR -0.09%) has reinvented itself from a general-purpose Layer-1 blockchain network into one that is optimized for the AI agent economy. In fact, the new NEAR marketing tagline is: "The currency of agents."

If AI agents really are the future, then NEAR Protocol could be worth a closer look. But just be aware: NEAR is down 75% from its all-time high in January 2022. It is only in the past 10 months that NEAR Protocol has found its groove. In 2026, NEAR is up 240%. As long as the hype around AI agents persists, NEAR could continue to soar in value. But what happens when the hype disappears?

Venice Token

Regarding crypto AI, I'm more bullish on Venice Token (VVV +4.68%), another altcoin on a tear. Venice Token powers Venice AI, which is a privacy-focused generative AI platform.

Venice looks and feels much like ChatGPT, enabling users to create text, images, or videos with just a single prompt. However, there's one big difference: Venice specifically does not store or transmit any user information, meaning that all of your AI data remains private.

This is a decentralized AI platform. That distinguishes it from the large centralized AI platforms being created in Silicon Valley. So, by investing in Venice Token, you are at least implicitly buying into the notion that the future of AI is decentralized rather than centralized.

Decentralized AI is a big idea, and one that Jensen Huang of Nvidia (NVDA -0.05%) highlighted earlier this year. For the year, Venice is up an incredible 1,300%, easily making it the top-performing major cryptocurrency. It currently has a market cap just north of $1 billion.

The best crypto to buy right now

If forced to pick just one among these four crypto market standouts, I'd select Hyperliquid. Perpetual futures are already widely popular overseas, and U.S. regulators recently opened the U.S. market to them, creating even more potential growth opportunities ahead. Moreover, Hyperliquid has the implicit support of the Trump administration. This helps mitigate regulatory risk associated with perpetual futures.

As a result, I'm leaning toward Hyperliquid, and not Venice Token, as the best surging altcoin to buy right now.