Forget AI Stocks: 3 Cryptocurrencies to Buy and Hold Instead

The cryptocurrency market has been surging higher in August, and inflows into crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are once again turning positive. Investor sentiment about crypto hasn't been this high in nearly two years, and that has many thinking that the crypto market is about to go on an epic year-end rally.

The intensifying narrative is that the artificial intelligence (AI) investment thesis is about to collapse, with money now rotating back into crypto. If that's the case, then here are three cryptos that could have the biggest gains.

Bitcoin

It all starts with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which has always been the market bellwether. As Bitcoin goes, so goes the crypto market. That's why there's genuine excitement in the crypto market right now, with Bitcoin posting 25% gains this month. That's one of the best Augusts on record for Bitcoin.

As a result, Bitcoin ETF inflows are surging. These funds just had their biggest inflows since October 2025. At the same time, money appears to be flowing out of AI-themed ETFs. So, it's easy to see why the narrative about money rotating into crypto is gaining popularity.

Bitcoin has always been a cyclical asset, trading in four-year cycles of boom and bust. After 10 months of bust, a Bitcoin recovery could be in the works. That's music to the ears of crypto investors. After all, Bitcoin has been one of the top-performing assets in the world for the better part of a decade. Even a modest recovery could send Bitcoin much higher.

Ethereum

For more than a decade, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has been a decentralized finance (DeFi) powerhouse. That has made it the go-to blockchain for Wall Street. In just about every emerging area of DeFi, from stablecoins to tokenization, Ethereum is the market leader.

If Ethereum can maintain this momentum, that's when things might get really exciting for crypto investors. According to Wall Street strategist Tom Lee, Ethereum is about to embark on a brand-new phase of growth that he's calling "ETH 2.0." It envisions a future when the Ethereum blockchain has become part of the core IT infrastructure of Wall Street.

If that's the case, then Ethereum could easily double, triple, or even quadruple in price. For his part, Tom Lee thinks Ethereum is going to hit $250,000. That's a long shot, of course, but it just goes to show how much growth potential Ethereum might have.

Image source: Getty Images.

According to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, there are many potential synergies between blockchain technology and AI technology. That could open up new AI-related opportunities for Ethereum.

One vision calls for AI agents to transact among themselves using stablecoins. This is already happening on Base, the Layer-2 blockchain network from Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) that runs on top of the core Ethereum Layer-1 blockchain.

Bittensor

Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) now ranks as the 34th-largest crypto in the world, with a $2.7 billion market cap. The token started trading in 2023, just before the AI boom, and has not disappointed. Since its launch, it's up a staggering 185,000%.

Bittensor, unlike Ethereum, was purpose-built for AI. Each of the 128 independent subnets on the Bittensor blockchain specializes in a different area of AI. For example, the most popular subnet (Subnet 64) is a decentralized, serverless AI compute platform.

Bittensor's focus is on decentralized AI. This makes it very different from typical AI stocks, which offer investors their own vision for centralized AI, i.e., all power and control reside with one company. These two competing views of AI most recently appeared in Mark Zuckerberg's 6,500-word manifesto on AI, in which he laid out the case for decentralized AI networks.

The best long-term crypto investment?

Of these three cryptocurrencies, the best long-term investment is likely Bitcoin. It has a spectacular track record that dates back to 2009. In many of those years, it delivered triple-digit percentage returns. During roughly a decade, Bitcoin enticed investors with the prospect of exponential gains, soaring from $1,000 in November 2013 to $100,000 in December 2024.

Sure, Bitcoin might not grow as fast as it did a decade ago. But the gains are still good enough to help me forget about AI. If the AI investment boom turns out to be a speculative bubble, then you'll be glad that you moved some of your money into Bitcoin.

Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Bittensor, and Ethereum. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.