For a long-term investment strategy, experienced investors and financial analysts often recommend "blue-chip" cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) due to their established track records, large market capitalizations, and widespread adoption.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano are the best crypto to buy for the long term because these tokens are well-established, have good fundamentals, large ecosystems, and growing institutional adoption.
5 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2020, your investment would be worth $9,689. 10 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2015, your investment would be worth $496,927. 15 years ago: If you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin in 2010, your investment would be worth about $1.62 billion.
Three narratives stand tall across nearly all potential 100x contenders: AI × Crypto (Bittensor, Akash, Fetch, Render) Modular and scaling blockchains (Celestia, Sui, Arbitrum) Data, compute, and real-world digital rails (Ocean, Injective)
Elon Musk and Dogecoin
Elon Musk frequently uses his X platform to express his views on Dogecoin, which has led some to claim that his actions amount to market manipulation because the price of Dogecoin frequently experiences price movements shortly after his tweets.
With roughly 540 million SOL in circulation, a $10,000 price would imply a $5.4 trillion market cap. This is mathematically unlikely. To put this number in context, that's more than the total value of all crypto today. It's also larger than the value of tech giants like Apple and Meta.
If you're holding crypto, there's no immediate gain or loss, so the crypto is not taxed. Tax is only incurred when you sell the asset, and you subsequently receive either cash or units of another cryptocurrency: At this point, you have “realized” the gains, and you have a taxable event.
This means that if you invested $1,000 in Bitcoin at that time, its value would now be around $945. However, if one were to invest four days earlier, on January 1, 2025 when the Bitcoin price was around $94,930, the value of one's investment would now be around $975.
Turning $1,000 into $10,000 in one month requires high-risk, high-reward strategies, often involving aggressive business ventures like high-volume flipping (e.g., window washing, retail arbitrage) or online businesses (dropshipping, e-commerce) where you reinvest profits quickly, or trading volatile assets like crypto, but success isn't guaranteed and carries significant risk, so consider diversifying into safer options like starting a service business (lawn mowing) or freelancing high-demand skills.
Key Points
The cryptocurrency landscape is evolving rapidly, and these five cryptocurrencies are at the forefront of innovation and adoption. For long- and short-term investors, keeping an eye on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, and Avalanche can provide insights into where the market is headed in 2025.
Like all cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is subject to extreme price volatility. Market sentiment, regulatory news, and macroeconomic trends can cause rapid and unpredictable price fluctuations, making it a high-risk investment.
All crypto transactions, no matter the amount, must be reported to the IRS. This includes sales, trades, and income from staking, mining, or airdrops. Transactions under $600 may not trigger Form 1099-MISC from exchanges, but they are still taxable and must be included on your return.
Want to know what the best crypto to buy today for the long-term is? Our experts analyzed the top cryptocurrencies in the market to help you research the best crypto to invest in long-term in 2026. Top picks include Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Solana, Ripple, Cardano, Avalanche, Chainlink, Polkadot, and Polygon.
In Australia, cryptocurrency is subject to capital gains and ordinary income tax. Capital gains tax: When you dispose of cryptocurrency, you'll incur capital gains or capital losses. Examples include selling your cryptocurrency or trading it for other digital assets.
If you had invested $1,000 in Bitcoin five years ago (around mid-2020), your investment would have grown significantly, potentially turning into anywhere from roughly $9,000 to over $14,000 by late 2024/early 2025, representing huge returns, though it wouldn't have been a smooth ride due to Bitcoin's volatility and price swings. The exact value depends on the specific date you invested, as Bitcoin's price fluctuates, but holding it through its major bull runs and pullbacks would have yielded substantial profits.
In a groundbreaking transaction on May 22, 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz made history by purchasing two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin, marking the first real-world commercial use of the cryptocurrency. At the time, the Bitcoin were worth a mere $41.
The Impact of Transaction Fees and Market Volatility on Buying Bitcoin for $10. Investing in Bitcoin for just $10 may seem like a good idea, but you must consider transaction fees and market volatility. Transaction fees can vary depending on the exchange or platform used to buy Bitcoin.
That's significantly better than the likes of Ethereum and even Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency. It also means that if you had the foresight to invest about $15,000 in Solana five years ago, you would now be a millionaire, which is remarkable.
XRP, despite its current utility and potential to evolve into a more multifaceted player in the payments world, is structurally different from Bitcoin. I like to think of XRP as more of a business -- or at least an extension of a business (Ripple) -- whereas Bitcoin is more of a store of value.
It's unlikely that Dogecoin will reach $10,000. Let's walk through a few reasons why. Remember, the price of cryptocurrencies is determined by supply and demand. Dogecoin's supply increases by 5 billion units every year, which means that this price level is very unlikely.