There is no way around the fact that it can be tricky to navigate cryptocurrency , but despite what some experts may say, there could still be a bear case for Bitcoin buy and hold for the long term. However, there’s also a strong bull case for the short term, but the potential long-term gains seem to slightly edge out the short-term woes.

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This is because the bull thesis for buying or holding Bitcoin is logically supported in the longer term regarding the coin’s prospects. However, just because it is a more recognized name in the crypto game doesn’t mean it is the end-all be-all investment option in this market.

That being said, any crypto bull run triggers a lot of interest in altcoins, with investors looking for the next big thing. Whether Bitcoin’s rise will translate into a sustained surge for these smaller coins remains to be seen. Here’s a look at altcoins experts say could catch your investing interest .

Quick Take: Altcoins Pinging the Investment Radar

Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, argued that altcoins are “a lot like microcap stocks.”

“There are going to be some winners that turn out to completely transform industries,” he said. “There will be others that continue to plod along. And many that will ultimately go belly up.”

According to Gardner, the problem with the term altcoin is that it doesn’t differentiate between coins with high market caps-such as Cardano and Solana, and those that are nothing more than what he deemed “scamcoins.”

“The best way to determine whether an altcoin can be trusted is to dig into the technical details. Determine whether the altcoin has real-world applications. It is important to do your due diligence,” he added.

Which ones could experience a surge?

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Solana SOL Token

In this current cycle, SOL has benefited most from the rise in Bitcoin’s price, which has many suggesting that SOL will be the darling of this cycle the way ETH was the darling of the last, according to Frank Corva, digital assets analyst for Finder.

And other experts — such as Brian D. Evans, CEO and founder of BDE Ventures — echoed the sentiment, saying that Solana is garnering a lot of attention from the general public, particularly as the Solana blockchain is performing, and there are a huge number of users and applications gravitating to it.

“This is poised to be beneficial for the native token of the Solana Network, SOL,” said Evans. “The more that users interact with applications on Solana, the more SOL they’ll have to buy to pay for gas fees. I suspect that over time, SOL will accrue more value as this dynamic continues to play out.”

Ethereum (ETH)

Jeff Owens, co-founder of Haven1, argued that as a foundational layer of the Web3 space, Ethereum is an “obvious choice” — especially for retail investors who are just familiarizing themselves with crypto.

“It typically moves in tandem with Bitcoin,” said Owens. “Combined with the Dencun upgrade, which was successfully deployed… and reduced Ethereum layer-2 gas fees by 10 to 100 times, these figures suggest that ETH may start outperforming BTC soon.” In fact, some recent data as of the beginning of 2025 indicates that ETH has been outperforming Bitcoin in terms of price appreciation and market share growth.

AI Tokens

Artificial intelligence tokens have also been riding the broader AI wave lately and garnering a lot of interest. As CoinGecko indicated, these tokens are cryptocurrencies that power AI-related projects.

“I think anything AI is going to continue to do well because of the growing need to verify data, including when it comes to authenticity and provenance,” said Markus Levin, co-founder of XYO Network. “This includes oracle networks like ours, XYO, and others, because these sorts of networks can provide clean, verified data to all sorts of systems.”

Final Take To GO: Are These Crypto Investments Safe?

The bottom line is that while it can be tempting to quickly jump on this crypto bull ride, due diligence and caution are key. There will likely be more investors piling into new, untested altcoins without conducting their due diligence first, and many of these investors may be first-time entrants into the crypto space.

“And so, while we’ll undoubtedly witness the creation of new crypto millionaires overnight, we will also likely see some spectacular losses,” said Owens. “The bull run always brings with it a proliferation of new projects, and this makes it a particularly risky time to hunt for a quick buck. So as the altcoin season begins in earnest, it’s more important than ever to ramp up the research and never invest in a project if something doesn’t add up.”

For the Bitcoin purists, the asset is the only way to go, as they argue that it is the safest investment in the crypto space. “It’s the asset investors — especially newer investors — should stick with,” said Corva, noting that its scarcity makes it unlike any other asset.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy contributed to the reporting for this article.

Editor’s note: Cryptocurrency market information is accurate as of May 14, 2025, and is subject to change.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : Beyond Bitcoin: These 3 Altcoins Could Surge — Are They Safe Investments?