Coin of the future: Which cryptocurrency should you buy for 2030?

Update (November 1, 2026): Parts of this article date from the 2022 bear market, others from 2024; since then the market has gone through a full cycle. After the halving in April 2024, Bitcoin rose to an all-time high of around $126,000 on October 6, 2025, Ethereum reached around $4,950 on August 24, 2025 and Solana around $293 on January 19, 2025 (CoinGecko). At 04:35 UTC on November 1, 2026, according to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin costs $77,683, around 38 percent below its record, Ethereum $2,264, Solana $95.45 in 7th place and Cardano $0.19 in 15th place. On the technical side, Ethereum has rolled out the Dencun, Pectra and Fusaka upgrades since the Merge, while Cardano has introduced voting by ADA holders on the protocol through the Chang, Plomin and Van Rossem hard forks. The timelines in the text have been brought up to this date; the assessments of the coins remain those of the authors and are not a price forecast.

After the losses of recent months, the crypto market has seen ups and downs in recent weeks. Yet after the bear market we could see several more bull markets in the coming years in which cryptocurrency prices continue to rise sharply. But which cryptocurrency should you buy that ought to be at the top in 2030 and stay there?

The coins we are watching not for 2030 but for the coming weeks are listed in our monthly updated list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy.

In this article we look at cryptocurrencies that could shape the future and be worth a multiple of today's value in 2030.

2020 and 2021 were excellent years for most cryptocurrencies. A bull market took hold in which most cryptocurrencies gained strongly in value. At the end of 2021, many coins then reached their all-time high in price. But a few weeks later the bear market set in.

By the turn of the year many prices had already fallen sharply. Bitcoin lost almost a third from its all-time high of $68,000 and dropped to $48,000. Ethereum stood at $4,800 in November and fell to $3,800 by the turn of the year. These losses continued in early 2022.

In March and April cryptocurrency prices rose more strongly again before further steep falls followed in May and June. In June many coins then also hit their lows for 2022. In summer 2022 prices stabilised, with slight ups and downs.

Which cryptocurrency to buy? The largest coins and three questions before you buy

No list alone decides which cryptocurrency you should buy; your goal does. A good starting point for beginners are the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation: they are the most traded, and every MiCA-licensed crypto exchange lists them. This is what the top of the crypto market looks like on November 7, 2026, excluding stablecoins:

Source: CoinMarketCap, as of November 7, 2026, 19:00 UTC; excluding stablecoins such as Tether and USD Coin.

Buying cryptocurrencies: three questions before you buy

Before you buy cryptocurrencies, three questions help. First: how long do you want to hold? In Germany, anyone holding for more than a year sells tax-free under current law. Second: what underpins the coin's value, meaning supply, network usage and token distribution? Bitcoin (BTC) is a payment network with a fixed maximum supply; Ethereum and Solana are layer-1 blockchains for smart contracts and decentralised applications, on which layer-2 networks build in turn. These criteria are explained in our guide Which cryptocurrency to buy: five criteria. Third: where do you buy?

Crypto exchange or broker: where to buy cryptocurrencies

You have three ways to buy cryptocurrencies: a MiCA-licensed crypto exchange, an online broker with crypto trading, or an exchange-traded product in a securities account. On a crypto exchange you get real coins that you can send to your own wallet. Fees differ considerably; buying €1,000 of Solana, for example, costs between €2 at OKX and up to €18.75 at Coinbase, plus each platform's spread. Providers with a simple app such as Bitpanda or Coinbase suit beginners; all licensed providers are compared in our overview of the best crypto exchanges.

Opportunities and risks when buying crypto

Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile: most coins in the table lost between 4 and 17 percent over the past 30 days and are nonetheless up over 90 days. The smaller a coin, the bigger the swings in both directions; meme coins can multiply in days or lose almost everything. So only invest money you can afford to lose, and spread purchases over time, for example with a savings plan. What taxes are due when you sell is calculated by our crypto tax calculator.

Which cryptocurrencies the editorial team is watching more closely this month is listed in our monthly list Best cryptocurrency to buy. How to buy the two best-known altcoins step by step is shown in the guides Buying Solana and Buying XRP.

Partner links: we receive a commission if you become a customer through one of these links.

When could cryptocurrencies rise again?

In summer 2022 a sustained rise in cryptocurrencies over the following months was considered rather unlikely, because based on previous years' experience the bear market was expected to last for some time yet. Sideways movement in the market up to the turn of 2022/2023 therefore seemed more likely.

As expected, the Bitcoin halving took place in April 2024. The reward for each mined Bitcoin was halved. In the past, Bitcoin halvings repeatedly marked the start of bull markets in the following months. Bitcoin halvings determine the cycles in the crypto market. And that was recently the case for most cryptos as well, as could be seen in March 2024.

Following this pattern, 2024 and 2025 did bring strong gains, and Bitcoin reached its all-time high to date on October 6, 2025. According to the pattern, the next phase of this kind could follow in 2028 and 2029. By 2030 a cryptocurrency we do not yet have on our radar could establish itself at the top of the market. But which cryptocurrency should you buy that could gain massively in value by 2030?

Which cryptocurrency should you buy for 2030?

A great deal can happen in the crypto market in the good four years until 2030. By then a cryptocurrency could establish itself at the top that you can buy cheaply now but that could be worth far more by 2030.

Below we present various candidate coins that could be at the top in 2030 or at least be worth a multiple of their current value:

Bitcoin (BTC)

When it comes to a cryptocurrency you can buy now that could be worth a multiple in 2030, Bitcoin naturally has to be at the forefront of the discussion. The first and best-known cryptocurrency remains by far the leader among cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. Which provider offers the cheapest way to buy Bitcoin is shown in our comparison Buy Bitcoin.

What makes Bitcoin special is its structure. Through the Bitcoin halvings it becomes harder and less profitable over time to mine new Bitcoins. In addition, the maximum number of Bitcoins is capped at 21 million. This makes Bitcoin deflationary in its structure. A sustained price rise up to 2030 is probably most likely for Bitcoin.

Ethereum (ETH)

Another cryptocurrency you can buy with 2030 in mind is Ethereum. The network carried out the Ethereum Merge in September 2022, switching its consensus mechanism from proof of work to proof of stake. As a result, Ethereum has since operated much more efficiently and sustainably; transactions became noticeably cheaper above all on the layer-2 networks thanks to the later Dencun (March 2024), Pectra (May 2025) and Fusaka (December 2025) upgrades.

The Ethereum ecosystem is already huge and could explode further in the coming years. Ethereum's potential is enormous thanks to its smart contracts. Until 2022 the gap to Bitcoin had also been narrowing steadily. It has widened again since: on November 1, 2026, Ethereum's market capitalisation of around $277 billion is less than a fifth of Bitcoin's ($1.56 trillion). By 2030 Ethereum could already be the number one cryptocurrency.

Cardano (ADA)

When it comes to a cryptocurrency with enormous potential that you can still buy at low prices, Cardano is a good choice. The Cardano blockchain is developed according to scientific standards and is therefore consistently technically excellent and mature.

This methodology gives it extremely high potential, which is why Cardano was often called an "Ethereum killer" in the past. In the Basho development stage, the blockchain's scalability is set to increase dramatically. Its centrepiece, Ouroboros Leios, has been running on a public testnet since June 23, 2026 and is due to reach mainnet with the Dijkstra hard fork, targeted for the end of 2026. After this step the ADA price could explode.

Solana (SOL)

The Solana price exploded in the second half of 2021, as the Solana blockchain established itself as one of the fastest blockchains on the market. Thanks to its proof-of-history consensus mechanism, the Solana blockchain can theoretically reach up to 50,000 transactions per second.

From 2022 to 2024 outages, including a roughly five-hour halt on February 6, 2024, and several security flaws troubled the network. Nevertheless, Solana held its place in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. For Solana, too, there is a scenario in which the cryptocurrency could be at the top in 2030.

Should you buy one of these cryptocurrencies now?

Since the 2025 all-time highs prices have fallen back considerably: on November 1, 2026, Bitcoin is around 38 percent below its record, Ethereum around 54 percent and Solana around 67 percent. When big price jumps will return cannot be predicted reliably. Even so, an investment could pay off very well, as you can now buy one of the cryptocurrencies mentioned at very low prices. Investing regularly over the coming months can allow you to accumulate many coins.

Before 2030, based on the rhythm so far, one more Bitcoin halving is due, probably in April 2028. If the cycles repeat, another bull market could follow in which your coins could again gain enormously in value. An investment therefore probably pays off above all in the long term.