Grayscale Investments has published its quarterly review, unveiling its top 20 crypto assets for Q1 2025. Each quarter, the Grayscale Research team evaluates “hundreds of digital assets” to guide the rebalancing of the FTSE/Grayscale Crypto Sectors family of indexes. In the words of the research note, “Our approach incorporates a range of factors, including network growth/adoption, upcoming catalysts, sustainability of fundamentals, token valuation, token supply inflation, and potential tail risks.” The newest additions to the top 20 list are guided by three main market themes that Grayscale believes will shape the coming months: the US election and potential regulatory implications, rapid developments in decentralized AI, and the expanding Solana ecosystem. Related Reading: 2025 Crypto Forecast: Four-Year Cycle Points To Peak In Q2/Q4, Expert Advises Caution While Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, Uniswap, SushiSwap, Aave, Bittensor, Optimism, Lido DAO, Helium, Arweave, Aerodrome and Akash Network remain on the the list, six new altcoins were added compared to the previous quarter. “We are adding the following six assets to our Top 20 list for Q1 2025,” the report states, emphasizing each project’s notable alignment with one or more of the aforementioned themes. Best (New) Crypto Assets For Q1 2025 Hyperliquid (HYPE): A Layer 1 blockchain geared toward on-chain financial applications, Hyperliquid’s flagship product is a decentralized exchange (DEX) for perpetual futures. Built around a fully on-chain order book, HYPE seeks to capture the growing demand for advanced derivatives trading in a decentralized environment. Notably, HYPE has seen a meteoric rise over the past weeks, already claiming rank #19 on the list of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Ethena (ENA): Ethena protocol has introduced a novel stablecoin, USDe, backed by hedged positions in Bitcoin and Ether. As Grayscale explains, “Specifically, the protocol holds long positions in Bitcoin and Ether and short positions in perpetual futures contracts on the same assets.” A staked version of the token leverages the pricing differential between spot and futures markets, potentially offering a unique yield profile for participants. Virtual Protocol (VIRTUAL): Operating on Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, Virtual Protocol enables the creation of AI agents designed to function autonomously. “These AI agents are designed to perform tasks autonomously, mimicking human decision-making,” Grayscale notes. The platform further allows for co-ownership of these agents via tokenization, bridging AI capabilities with blockchain infrastructure. Related Reading: Expert Reveals Top 15 Crypto Predictions For 2025 You Need To Know Jupiter (JUP): Jupiter has emerged as a leading DEX aggregator on Solana, recording the highest total value locked (TVL) among all Solana applications. With Solana’s user base broadening and speculation intensifying around memecoins and AI agent tokens, “we believe Jupiter is well positioned to capitalize on this growing market activity,” states the report. Jito (JTO): Jito is a liquid staking protocol on Solana that has demonstrated strong adoption over the past year. Notably, Grayscale highlights the project’s substantial earnings: “Jito has experienced substantial growth in adoption over the past year and offers one of the best financial profiles in all of crypto, generating over $550mn in 2024 fee revenue.” Grass (GRASS): Grass rewards users for sharing unused internet bandwidth via a Chrome extension. “This bandwidth is used to scrape online data, which is then sold to AI companies and developers for training machine learning models,” according to Grayscale. The project monetizes web scraping by redistributing rewards to users who contribute their idle bandwidth. Furthermore, Grayscale notes that it continues to be “excited about themes from previous quarters such as Ethereum scaling solutions, tokenization, and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN).” Examples of these established themes include Optimism, Chainlink, and Helium, which remain in the Top 20 due to their alignment with scaling, tokenization, and DePIN use cases, respectively. Notably, six assets—NEAR, Stacks, Maker CELO, UMA, and TON—have been rotated out of the Top 20 list this quarter. “Grayscale Research continues to see value in each of these projects, and they remain important elements of the crypto ecosystem. However, we believe the revised Top 20 list may offer more compelling risk-adjusted returns for the coming quarter,” Grayscale notes. At press time, HYPE traded at $29.45. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Miles Deutscher, a prominent crypto analyst with over 575,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), has unveiled his top ten artificial intelligence (AI) altcoins poised for significant growth by 2025. Emphasizing the burgeoning potential of the AI sector within the cryptocurrency landscape, Deutscher suggests that this could be “the biggest opportunity of the bull run.” Why AI Offers A Lot Of Potential Deutscher highlights the rapid expansion of the global AI market, noting that it grew by approximately $50 billion between 2023 and 2024. Projections estimate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.46%, potentially surpassing $826 billion by 2030. Despite AI’s significant presence in public discourse—accounting for nearly one-third of attention in the crypto space—it currently ranks as the 34th largest crypto sector by market capitalization, trailing behind sectors like liquid staking, memecoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi). “Yet, AI is still only the 34th ranked crypto sector by market cap, behind liquid staking, dog memes, DeFi, and more. I could easily see AI as a top 5-10 sector in a year’s time,” Deutscher stated. He argues that this disparity presents a massive opportunity for investors. “Many mid-low cap AI tokens are still sitting at ridiculously low valuations. All it takes is a strong rotation into AI for many of these to quickly reprice 5-10x higher,” he explained. Deutscher outlines his fundamental thesis for why AI crypto is set for substantial growth. Firstly, he notes that everyone is becoming aware of how impactful AI will be on society. “Either people are scared, excited, or intrigued by the latest developments. This already cements AI in general in the minds of the masses,” he said. Related Reading: Crypto Expert Unveils 15 Surprising Truths About This Bull Run You Need To Know Secondly, he points out that AI is constantly innovating, with new products regularly entering the market. “Every time a new AI product is released, this puts even more focus on the sector. And crypto is an attention economy. More eyeballs equals more speculation,” Deutscher observed. Thirdly, he believes that crypto offers a lower barrier to gain exposure to the growth of AI. “Crypto is easier to access, able to be fractionalized, and generally ‘cheaper’ than investing in, let’s say, AI equities. For retail, this is a massive benefit,” he asserted. Finally, he highlights the recent rise of AI agents, which has made people aware of the power of AI integrated with crypto. “We’re moving into a future where AI agents will trade autonomously on-chain for you, manage your portfolio and risk, DeFi, and more. It’s going to completely change the landscape of crypto,” Deutscher predicted. He also notes that this trend is occurring in traditional tech sectors, with corporations like Adobe and Expedia integrating AI agents into their operations. Focusing on the AI and crypto landscape, Deutscher mentions that he is investing across various verticals, with a particular emphasis on AI agents and AI infrastructure. He is concentrating on “pick-and-shovel infrastructure protocols” rather than individual AI agents or broader DePIN plays. He discloses that he holds positions in all the projects he mentions, some as a strategic advisor and investor. Top 10 AI Altcoins Deutscher’s top ten AI altcoins, ordered from the largest to the smallest market capitalization, are as follows. First on the list is Bittensor (TAO), which he describes as the AI market leader. Bittensor focuses on decentralizing AI research and has already seen significant adoption in scientific communities. “With the recent rollout of EVM compatibility, the network has taken a huge step forward, opening the door for developers to build DeFi ecosystems and unlock new use cases,” Deutscher noted. Second is NEAR Protocol (NEAR), which he identifies as the leading Layer 1 (L1) blockchain intersecting with AI. “For those bullish on both verticals, NEAR serves as a solid proxy. Fun fact: Since its mainnet launch in October 2020, it has maintained 100% uptime,” he remarked. Third is Grass (GRASS), a standout launch this cycle due to its data pipeline that seamlessly connects the real world with AI and crypto. “Recent developments in AI make data one of the most valuable commodities in the world. Grass uses crypto incentives to create a data pipeline that most AI companies otherwise cannot tap into,” he explained. He added that the demand for the Grass network is undeniable and that the protocol’s future looks incredibly promising. Related Reading: 9 Crypto Predictions For 2025: Nansen CEO Forecasts Biggest Bull Run Ever Fourth is Spectral (SPEC), one of the leading AI agent infrastructure plays, allowing anyone to deploy and engage with AI agents. “With Syntax V2, you’ll be able to interact with sentient agents with personalities, which trade on Hyperliquid in accordance with the community’s input. It’s an interesting mix of fun, collaboration, and speculation,” Deutscher commented. Fifth is Mode Network (MODE), which, although known as a Layer 2 (L2) solution, has been building AI technology for over a year. “They are leading the future of DeFi by facilitating the deployment of AI-driven agents, which will autonomously farm yield and optimize your portfolio on your behalf,” he said. Sixth on the list is NeuralAI (NEURAL), connecting AI and gaming—two of crypto’s biggest adoption drivers. “They just announced SentiOS, which supplies autonomous AI to create, populate, and bring virtual worlds and economies to life,” Deutscher mentioned. Seventh is PinLinkAi, where Deutscher is a strategic advisor and investor. PinLink is the first real-world asset-tokenized DePIN platform, empowering the fractional ownership of yield-bearing assets, physical or digital. “They have also recently partnered with Akash, Pendle, FetchAI, OpenSea, Alephium, ParallelAI, and more. Their business development is on another level,” he praised. Eighth is Zero1 Labs (DEAI), another project where he serves as a strategic advisor and investor. Zero1 Labs enables innovators to build decentralized AI applications with fully homomorphic encryption, ensuring secure data governance and complete privacy. “Think of it as a pick-and-shovel AI infrastructure play. With a market cap of around $76 million, this is one of my ‘higher upside’ AI bets,” Deutscher revealed. He noted the debut of Seraphnet, the first of many projects planned through their incubator. Ninth is Empyreal, also a project where he is an advisor and investor. As a believer in AI agents, Deutscher highlights that Empyreal provides AI infrastructure to turn social media messages into on-chain actions like trades and swaps through their Simulacrum platform. “It’s super cool,” he added. Tenth is enqAI (ENQAI), another project where Deutscher is involved as an advisor and investor. EnqAI is a decentralized large language model network solving the bias and censorship issues common to centralized AI. “Despite its $20 million market cap, enqAI already has 20,000 monthly active users across 50-plus countries and has already handled over one million API requests with minimal downtime or lags,” he highlighted. As a bonus, Deutscher mentions Guru Network (GURU), where he is also an advisor and investor. With its Layer 3 mainnet now live, Guru powers AI processors and chatbots with a decentralized exchange, stablecoin support, bridges, and base chain integration. “I’ve been working with Guru to launch a Telegram and Discord mini-app, delivering a full turnkey solution for DeFi on Telegram. It’s going to be very cool!” he exclaimed. Deutscher emphasizes the importance of risk management. He reveals that his personal portfolio balance is approximately 70% large caps and 30% small to mid caps. “I recommend that you do your own research, and if you do decide to take a position in any of these protocols, make sure to manage position sizing and risk in line with your goals and overall strategy,” he advised. At press time, TAO traded at $630.80. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
In his latest video analysis titled “I Just APED Into This Hidden RWA Altcoin Gem! [20x Potential],” prominent crypto analyst Miles Deutscher unveiled Chintai (CHEX) as his latest high-conviction investment within the Real World Assets (RWA) sector. Deutscher believes Chintai could offer significant upside potential—up to 1,900% (20x)—in the upcoming market cycle. Deutscher has consistently highlighted RWA tokens as one of his top investment narratives, ranking third behind memecoins and AI for this crypto bull run. “When I look at narratives that can actually change the fabric of crypto and really offer a new value add, I think RWA is massive,” he stated. He emphasized the growing appeal of on-chain treasury yields, especially as traditional decentralized finance (DeFi) yields diminish and interest rates decline. The analyst previously capitalized on early investments in ONDO and Mantra (OM), both of which have seen substantial gains. ONDO, for instance, delivered a 7x return from his initial entry point. However, Deutscher now considers these assets to be reaching overvalued territories. “Valuation-wise, though, it’s pretty insane considering the fact that its market cap’s a billion, but it’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) is $7.1 billion,” he said regarding ONDO. Related Reading: Crypto Analyst Unveils The ‘True Time To Sell It All’: Here’s When Deutscher has been reallocating his capital into what he perceives as undervalued opportunities within the RWA space. Alongside Clearpool (CPOOL), which he mentioned has already gained 42% since his initial disclosure, Chintai (CHEX) stands out as his newest and largest RWA position. “This one I’m also really, really bullish on. It’s tough for me to say if I’m most bullish on this, but it might be the one that I’m most bullish on in the RWA sector,” he remarked. Chintai differentiates itself by being one of the few RWA-focused layer-one blockchains regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). “If you know Singapore, they are so strict with due diligence. It’s really hard to get a license; they fought for a license and they’ve got it,” Deutscher noted. This regulatory approval positions Chintai to attract significant institutional capital, potentially channeling billions of dollars in total value locked (TVL) onto their chain. The analyst highlighted Chintai’s robust fundamentals, including its extensive list of major clients and partnerships, such as DHC, Finstable, and Greengate. “They are basically a marketplace for tokenization, an L1 blockchain for RWA tokenization,” he explained. The platform has already facilitated over $630 million worth of loans and is set to launch “OZEAN,” a blockchain for RWA yield supported by Optimism, early next year. Related Reading: Top Crypto Analyst Unveils Best Altcoins For The 2025 Bull Run From a valuation perspective, Deutscher sees substantial upside potential. Chintai currently has an FDV of approximately $250 million, significantly lower than Mantra’s $1.37 billion FDV. “If CHEX—even in a static market without the market growing at all—does a 6x, that’s just now matching Mantra,” he calculated. Considering the potential growth of the RWA market, the upside could be even more pronounced. “What if the RWA market 2x’s? Because I think it’s going to be a very strong narrative next year; then you could be looking at a 14x.” Despite its strong fundamentals, Deutscher acknowledges that Chintai’s lower valuation compared to its peers is largely due to a lack of market awareness. “Why is there that discrepancy despite the fundamentals being just as, if not more strong, for Chintai? Just marketing,” he observed. Mantra has excelled in marketing efforts, attracting considerable attention in the crypto community. “Once Chintai can improve its awareness—and I’m actually giving it more awareness by making this video—that is the only key that it’s missing.” On the technical front, Deutscher finds Chintai’s chart promising. “What I also like from a technical analysis perspective is the fact it’s hovering above this zone, which, if you are technically inclined, you have that technical invalidation,” he said, pointing out the potential for a significant move to previous highs. He remains cautiously optimistic about price targets, emphasizing prudent profit-taking strategies. “I don’t want to get carried away with crazy price targets… I’m never greedy in this market.” Deutscher concludes that Chintai’s combination of regulatory compliance, institutional appeal, and undervalued status makes it a compelling investment. “They can actually attract institutional capital because of the licensing and because of the product they’ve built,” he affirmed. At press time, CHEX traded at $0.2874. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com