With the crypto winter over, investors are on the lookout for cryptos to buy. Of course, a sustained rally to new all-time highs may not yet be possible in the near term. All thanks to the drastically different macroeconomic environment compared to 2021. However, with the peak impact of the tighter monetary policy behind us due to the recent bank “bailouts,” many analysts agree that cyclical assets are well-positioned to perform well.

Furthermore, the recent bank failures have significantly amplified trust in decentralized assets. That coupled with a Bitcoin (BTC-USD) halving event in 2024, and the conditions are ripe for a major crypto rally. That in mind, these 15 cryptos are set to gain the most from such a potential rally:

• Ethereum (ETH-USD)
• Polygon (MATIC-USD)
• Render Token (RNDR-USD)
• Filecoin (FIL-USD)
• Bitcoin (BTC-USD)
• Chainlink (LINK-USD)
• Solana (SOL-USD)
• Nano (XNO-USD)
• Optimus (OPTCM-USD)
• PAX Gold (PAXG-USD)
• XRP (XRP-USD)
• Stellar (XLM-USD)
• r/Cryptocurrency Moons (MOON-USD)
• Cardano (ADA-USD)
• EmberCoin (EMB-USD)

Ethereum (ETH-USD)

Ethereum (ETH-USD) is arguably one of the best projects. This blockchain drives innovation in the crypto sector and hosts more than 1,200 other smaller crypto token projects. Not only that, Ethereum is by far the leading blockchain network for decentralized apps, non-fungible tokens, decentralized autonomous organizations, and decentralized finance projects.

The only argument against Ethereum is its scalability and speed. Other competing projects have extensively marketed and developed their advantage when it comes to lowering fees and increasing their transaction capacity. However, most developers have remained on Ethereum due to the amount of security and stability this blockchain offers.

Furthermore, many Ethereum-based projects are working to fix this scalability problem through layer-2 solutions. Ethereum will also be rolling out its Shanghai and Capella (Shapella) upgrade very soon, after which they will likely move on to the second phase of Ethereum 2.0, sharding. Thus, concerns about Ethereum’s scalability seem quite overdone with layer-2 and sharding on the horizon.

Polygon (MATIC-USD)

Polygon (MATIC-USD) is one of the premier projects working on layer-2 solutions for the Ethereum blockchain. What makes Polygon stand out is its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM). This allows developers on Ethereum to take their existing code and port it onto the Polygon ecosystem with minuscule fees.

Polygon’s zkEVM will make it the most-effective, private, and secure way for Ethereum developers to reduce their costs. Their dapps will essentially become 100x faster and 90% cheaper through Polygon’s ecosystem. With that in mind, I expect MATIC to grow alongside ETH in the next crypto rally or even outperform it due to its smaller market capitalization. Further advances in finding more use cases for smart contracts will also benefit Polygon, which is why I think it is one of the top cryptos to buy.

Render Token (RNDR-USD)

The Render Token (RNDR-USD) has been rallying for the past few weeks, substantially outperforming the crypto market. An ERC-20 token, RNDR powers the Render Network, a decentralized platform that bridges the gap between artists, creators, and GPU providers, as well as node operators. This innovative network enables users to access high-quality rendering services for digital art, video production, and motion graphics at an affordable cost and rapid speed.

I believe RNDR is well-positioned to capitalize on the increasing demand for digital art and content creation spurred by the growth of NFTs, VR, and AR technologies. Despite its low profile and weak marketing strategy, RNDR holds significant potential as a long-term investment due to its clear use case, competitive advantage, and alignment with the cloud sector and digital economy trends. Render Network is already gaining popularity among digital artists and enthusiasts, with the potential for attracting larger clients through existing partnerships with media companies via OTOY.

As more people uncover the value of RNDR, it is highly recommended to consider adding this crypto to your watchlist, as it offers a unique solution to the ever-growing demand for GPU rendering services in various industries.

Filecoin (FIL-USD)

Filecoin (FIL-USD) is similar to the Render Token, as it buys storage from individuals and resells the pooled storage through the blockchain. But it is unique because the blockchain’s storage costs are much lower than its mainstream competitors, who use servers and spend on much more expensive hardware and staff to secure them.

The Filecoin network pays for the storage using FIL, and due to the borderless nature of the blockchain, individuals worldwide can sell their storage for cheap. Usually, there would be some drawbacks regarding security, but since it is on the blockchain, Filecoin is arguably one of the safest and cheapest methods for people to store their data anonymously.

As more and more storage customers gain exposure to this project, I expect it to be a mainstream cloud storage platform with a much higher valuation.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD)

There’s little new to add about Bitcoin that most crypto investors don’t know about. This crypto is an evergreen investment that will continue rising despite near-term headwinds. Moreover, the recent rally has proved that even during monetary tightening and inflation, BTC can weather the storm and perform well. It is designed to do so with the halving mechanism.

The next halving will likely happen in April 2024 or even earlier if the hash rate increases. In addition, the Fed’s rate cuts will likely happen later if inflation keeps falling. As both events coincide, I expect a substantial rally in the crypto market. Major Bitcoin miners such as Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) are already building up a BTC reserve in anticipation of the rally and are reluctant to sell. Thus, it is a top pick among cryptos to buy that offer a mix of both safety and upside.

Chainlink (LINK-USD)

Chainlink (LINK-USD) offers a unique technology that enables smart contracts to access real-world data and off-chain computation. That means Chainlink can bridge the gap between blockchain applications and external information sources, such as market rates, weather updates, and sports outcomes. Consequently, this breakthrough paves the way for DeFi to offer financial services without middlemen.

For instance, Chainlink can facilitate the creation of decentralized insurance products that compensate users based on confirmable events like natural catastrophes or flight postponements. Additionally, it can support the development of decentralized lending platforms that incorporate credit ratings or collateral data from external sources, as well as decentralized prediction markets that consolidate insights from multiple oracles.

Despite the crypto underperforming in recent weeks, LINK’s current value of around $7.3 presents a prime opportunity to invest. Chainlink is essential for the crypto market and deserves a much higher valuation.

Solana (SOL-USD)

Solana (SOL-USD) is Ethereum’s biggest competitor in the Web 3.0 race. The Solana blockchain’s main advantage over Ethereum is its speed and scalability, which is highly compelling for developers who seek meager fees. That’s why Solana captured around 14% of the NFT market share from just 6% a year ago. This rapid growth makes it among the top cryptos to buy in my book.

Of course, there are drawbacks here. The Solana blockchain isn’t very stable and has been in “beta” mode for years. This results in occasional outages of the entire network, sometimes for hours. That should not happen to any blockchain network, no matter how fast or scalable it is.

Indeed, the network is much more centralized than Ethereum, which allows it this much scalability. It has fewer nodes, and Messari revealed that nearly 50% of the tokens are owned by insiders. However, at $20 per SOL, the potential reward certainly outweighs the risk. Proof-of-stake projects such as Solar (SXP-USD) have proved that Ethereum competitors can still rally.

Nano (XNO-USD)

If you believe cryptocurrencies are en route to becoming a mainstream payment method, Nano (XNO-USD) should be among the top cryptos to buy. This digital currency is designed to be among the world’s most efficient mediums of exchange, with blazing speed, zero fees, and minimal environmental impact.

Nano transactions take less than 0.5 seconds and consume only 0.000112 kWh of energy, which means the entire network could run on a single wind turbine. And unlike many other cryptos, Nano had no initial coin offering (ICO), nor does it have mining or inflation. Instead, it distributes all its coins for free through a CAPTCHA faucet system.

Nano’s low fees and fast speeds have enabled a lot of use cases regarding microtransactions. For example, FynCom is using Nano to create a new way of engaging customers by enabling microtransactions and language localization for online businesses. The Nano Foundation and FynCom have also partnered with Crowdin, a leading localization service, to offer microtransactions as an official plugin for all users (source).

Conversely, I would say that Nano has long-term potential, but only as a currency. There is no support yet for any smart contracts, which is where most major projects are currently focusing on.

Optimus (OPTCM-USD)

Another top pick among penny cryptos to buy, Optimus (OPTCM-USD), is a crypto ecosystem aiming to help projects and investors connect more efficiently. What makes Optimus unique is the fact that they develop blockchain tools that are usually an improvement of existing ones. 

Their launchpad with 2-way vesting and the “HODL” score algorithm protects investors from scam projects and from bad investors. The Dynamic Referral System and HODL Staking contracts also allow other projects to engage organically and grow their community.

Their focus was on development, and they are now primed to start onboarding projects and gain traction. Once they do, OPTCM could deliver substantial returns due to its small market cap.

Paxos Gold (PAXG-USD)

Paxos Gold (PAXG-USD) is essentially gold in the form of a cryptocurrency as each PAXG token is “backed by a fraction of a piece of London Good Delivery gold bar, stored in Brink’s gold vaults, which is the approved storage company by the London Bullion Market Association.” As a result, this cryptocurrency is pegged to the price of gold and does not have the usual risks that other cryptos face. Essentially, PAXG is “immune” to flash crashes in the crypto market.

Naturally, no investment is truly risk-free. But this PAXG is as close as it gets to that definition while having a relatively good upside potential. It’s certainly one of the must-have cryptos to buy if you don’t have the means of buying physical gold.

XRP (XRP-USD)

One of the riskiest cryptos to buy, XRP (XRP-USD) continues to go through a painful time as Ripple’s lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission sees no end in sight. In simple terms, the SEC describes the sale of XRP by Ripple as violating its securities laws. Meanwhile, Ripple claims that XRP is not a security as there were no contracts and that many federal officials clarified about BTC not being a security. If the lawsuit ends positively for Ripple, the crypto could be a multibagger overnight. If not, investors will have to endure a lot of pain.

Regardless, the technology offered by this project is remarkable since it is among the few cryptos that have partnered with traditional banks. Ripple has partnerships with many big-name banks like the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), PNC Bank (NYSE:PNC), Siam Commercial Bank, Santander Bank (NYSE:SAN), and Standard Chartered Bank (OTCMKTS:SCBFY). It also has partnerships with governments to create Central Bank Digital Currencies. These partnerships are currently limited in scale, but I see a lot of potential if Ripple wins the case. The biggest risk here is that the US SEC rarely loses.

Stellar (XLM-USD)

Among cryptos to buy that partner with traditional banks, Stellar (XLM-USD) is much less risky than XRP and does not come with the baggage of an SEC lawsuit. It has very similar fundamentals and lots of partnerships with banks to improve remittance technology. However, the SEC has so far ignored XLM. Why?

That’s because XLM is an open-source project backed by the non-profit Stellar Development Foundation. As a result, the chances of Stellar being considered a “security” is minuscule. It’s a smaller project overall, but one you should look into if you believe Ripple is destined to lose.

r/Cryptocurrency Moons (MOON-USD)

Crypto enthusiasts might be familiar with r/Cryptocurrency, a popular subreddit dedicated to the crypto world. This community has its own cryptocurrency called Moons (MOON-USD), which are ERC-20 tokens awarded for contributing to the subreddit.

The recent upgrades, such as allowing the purchase of banners on the subreddit using Moons, the move to the mainnet, burns, and rewards for providing liquidity, have substantially pushed up the price of MOON. However, I believe the biggest catalyst is still yet to come. That is the listing of MOON on many of the major exchanges that regularly frequent the r/Cryptocurrency subreddit and provide support. MOON is difficult to buy as very few external wallets allow you to hold it. But I believe it could surge once some of the major exchanges list it.

Cardano (ADA-USD)

Cardano (ADA-USD) has been an underperformer as of late despite its recent upgrades. Don’t get me wrong, the cryptocurrency network is certainly robust and has a lot of upgrades on its roadmap to increase scalability and efficiency. It recently released its node version v.1.35.6 to help with stability and uptime and rolled out the “Valentine” upgrade last month.

Despite these upgrades, Solana and Ethereum bring more to the table here. Even with the outages, Solana’s network is perfectly usable for developers. For Ethereum, it is soon going to be an all-rounder after sharding and layer-2 solutions are introduced. Thus, I believe Cardano’s competitiveness in Web 3.0 is too lacking to increase its market cap when it comes to dapps or NFTs.

Furthermore, there was a lot of excitement about Cardano’s Africa venture two years ago. But there was very little groundwork done despite the heavy marketing, and its Africa vision is at a standstill, with the Cardano Africa website no longer live.

Nonetheless, Cardano offers enough utility to remain among the top cryptos to buy for the long term. Its current valuation is a compelling entry point as many developers will likely look for alternatives in the next rally if the Ethereum network gets too congested.

Emblem (EMB-USD)

The crypto market is saturated with tens of thousands of projects, but I would argue that not even a hundred have utility. One of the penny cryptos that fit this cryptos to buy article is Emblem (EMB-USD).

The Overline Network is currently working on a wireless Web 3.0 router called the “ōRouter.” It will supposedly allow individuals to transfer and communicate over the blockchain without an internet connection. It would allow individuals to “Communicate with friends, access social media, and read the news even if the internet goes down,” and “trade crypto across chains without an intermediary.”

That’s quite the undertaking for such a small crypto project. But as always, the catch is that this router is yet to be fully open for sale. The presale waitlist has just closed, and no date is provided for when it may be available for purchase. Personally, I doubt it could take years, or may not even happen, which is why EMB is at the caboose of this article.

On Low-Capitalization and Low-Volume Cryptocurrencies:

InvestorPlace does not regularly publish commentary about cryptocurrencies that have a market capitalization less than $100 million or trade with volume less than $100,000 each day. That’s because these “penny cryptos” are frequently the playground for scam artists and market manipulators. When we do publish commentary on a low-volume crypto that may be affected by our commentary, we ask that InvestorPlace.com’s writers disclose this fact and warn readers of the risks.

Read More: How to Avoid Popular Cryptocurrency Scams

On the date of publication, Omor Ibne Ehsan had LONG positions in RNDR, ETH, XLM and had a SHORT position on SXP. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.