Over the past 90 days, Bitcoin‘s (BTC +1.15%) price rose 21%. That rally was partly driven by the U.S. national debt reaching a record $40 trillion in late August, making the world’s top cryptocurrency a more attractive hedge against the gradual debasement of the U.S. dollar.
But during that same period, 38% of all altcoins outperformed Bitcoin. Let’s take a look at three of the most notable tokens — Ethereum (ETH +3.05%), Solana (SOL +3.97%), and Zcash (ZEC +15.65%) — and see why they should be on your investment radar.
Image source: Getty Images.
Ethereum
Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency. Unlike Bitcoin, which is mined using the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, Ether can’t be mined. Instead, Ethereum uses the energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism to enable staking (locking up tokens to earn rewards) and smart contracts (for developing decentralized apps and other tokenized assets).
Today’s Change
(3.05%) $72.88
Current Price
$2,462.17
Key Data Points
Market Cap
Day’s Range
$2371.36 – $2478.98
52wk Range
$1512.07 – $4753.34
Volume
16.4B
Every time a user makes a transaction on Ethereum, they pay a “gas fee” with Ether. Therefore, Ether’s value is driven by the growth of Ethereum’s developer ecosystem. Today, Ethereum’s Layer-1 (L1) blockchain is the world’s largest developer-oriented PoS blockchain. Its Layer-2 (L2) blockchains, built on top of its L1 blockchain to process transactions off-chain at faster speeds and lower costs, widen its moat against newer competitors.
Ether’s price has risen 41% over the past 90 days, and it could continue to rise as more investors view it as a long-term play on decentralized transactions and AI agents, which will need secure blockchains to facilitate machine-to-machine payments. Over a dozen companies, including Bitmine (BMNR +5.98%), have been building their own Ether treasuries.
Solana
Solana is the world’s fastest PoS blockchain. It achieves higher transaction speeds than Ethereum’s L1 blockchain by integrating its proprietary proof-of-history (PoH) mechanism, which timestamps transactions before they’re validated, into its PoS blockchain. It doesn’t serve as many developers as Ethereum does, but it’s growing much faster.
Today’s Change
(3.97%) $3.86
Current Price
$101.08
Key Data Points
Market Cap
Day’s Range
$96.11 – $101.64
52wk Range
$60.40 – $252.78
Volume
3.9B
A growing number of fintech companies — including Circle, Visa, PayPal, and Stripe — have been using Solana to settle stablecoin transactions, tokenize real-world assets (RWAs), and launch new cryptocurrencies. Moody’s recently integrated its industry-standard credit-rating services into Solana’s blockchain to cover tokenized bonds and fixed-income securities.
Solana’s price has risen 42% over the past 90 days. That rally was driven by major protocol and scalability upgrades, which increased its maximum transaction size while reducing its fees, surging network activity, and growth in the number of new developers. Like Ethereum, Solana could play a crucial role in enabling AI agents to make machine-to-machine payments. More companies, including Forward Industries (FWDI +5.16%), are also building their own Solana treasuries.
Zcash
Zcash is another PoW token like Bitcoin. Just like Bitcoin, it has a maximum supply of 21 million tokens, and its mining rewards are halved every four years.
However, Zcash can be mined faster than Bitcoin, and its users can fully hide their addresses and transactions. Bitcoin’s addresses and transactions are completely public. So while Bitcoin is often compared to digital gold, Zcash is more comparable to digital cash in a private wallet.
Today’s Change
(15.65%) $198.30
Current Price
$1,465.14
Key Data Points
Market Cap
Day’s Range
$1235.16 – $1488.09
52wk Range
$47.23 – $1488.09
Volume
3.1B
Zcash’s anonymous transactions have led to it being closely scrutinized by regulators. But over the past 90 days, its price still surged 193% as a major portion of its circulating supply was locked up in long-term holding structures, shielded pools, and ecosystem treasuries.
As Zcash’s liquidity dried up, even smaller purchases drove up its price, drawing in even more investors. Some analysts also speculated that Zcash could reach a broader range of investors via spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as with Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana. Those potential catalysts made it a popular altcoin among investors seeking a “Bitcoin-like” cryptocurrency.