Tariffs have had a colossal negative impact on the crypto market. Nearly every major cryptocurrency is now down for the year, and some are down as much as 50%. However, if you only focus on the past 30 days, a different picture emerges.
Of the top 20 cryptocurrencies ranked by market cap, a handful of them are actually posting slightly positive returns. And, if you're willing to peek outside the top 20, it's possible to find some coins that are up 30% or more over the past 30 days. Here are my top three picks.
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Bitcoin While Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is still down nearly 20% from an all-time high of $109,000 in January 2025, the narrative has started to shift. Heading into April 2, Bitcoin seemed destined to be yet another casualty of the new Trump tariffs. But over the past 30 days, Bitcoin is up nearly 5%.
That means Bitcoin might have some staying power after all. A lot of this staying power can be attributed to the "digital gold" investment thesis, which says that Bitcoin can be a hedge against economic uncertainty, inflation, and geopolitical risk, just like physical gold. Bitcoin enthusiasts have been making this point for years, and now it appears to be going mainstream.
Still skeptical? Take a closer look at investor flows into and out of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). During February and March, these turned negative, as investors fled all risk assets.
But in late April, these flows once again turned positive. If you take into account the growing lack of trust in U.S. markets, it's easy to understand why. Investors need a new place to put their money, and Bitcoin is emerging as a possible option.
2. Solana Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) has emerged as the leading rival to Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), the top Layer-1 blockchain network in the world. Until recently, Ethereum had the clear upper hand, and still dwarfs Solana in terms of overall market cap.
However, Solana and Ethereum appear to be going in opposite directions. Ethereum is still down more than 50% for the year, and nearly 20% over the past 30 days. In contrast, Solana is up 5% over the past 30 days, and is steadily clawing back losses from earlier in the year.
If you deep dive into blockchain metrics, things look even better for Solana. At the beginning of the year, Solana topped Ethereum in terms of 24-hour trading volume on its decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. Then, in April, Solana topped Ethereum in terms of staking market cap, an important metric for measuring user activity.
Moreover, Solana now accounts for nearly one-half (46%) of all decentralized app revenue in the blockchain world.
