Got $1,000? 3 Cryptocurrencies to Buy and Hold For Decades

Key Points

• Bitcoin's 16-year track record and $2.34 trillion market cap make it the cornerstone of any crypto portfolio.

• Ethereum's smart contract technology powers everything from NFTs to stablecoins, with massive growth potential ahead.

• Without Chainlink's real-world data connections, Ethereum's contracts would be worthless.

• 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin ›

Some cryptocurrencies can be fun and exciting for a little while. The hottest new idea or cutest meme coin logo writes headlines for a while. The crypto's price soars as long as the news coverage continues -- and then it's over. The hottest coin or token isn't so great anymore, people moved on to the next Next Big Thing, and the chart starts to droop.

And then there are the cryptocurrencies that were made to last. This is where you should start your crypto journey. A $1,000 investment spread across these dependable crypto names should serve you well.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

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Good old Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has been around since 2009, and many investors expect it to be relevant forever. Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) changed the crypto game with the first smart contracts -- another innovator with long-term plans. And Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK) provides a unique and necessary service to the crypto community.

If any of these three cryptocurrencies go out of style and lose value in the long run, the whole crypto market would crumble. These are the building blocks that the broader set of digital currencies were built around. So I wouldn't buy some Bitcoin for a bit of summer fun, or speculate in Chainlink and Ethereum over a couple of weeks. They are long-term investments, made to hold for years and years.

Bitcoin believers think it's digital gold

The first Bitcoin was mined on January 3, 2009. The subprime mortgage meltdown was in full swing and banks didn't look like particularly safe places to store your wealth at the time. It's no surprise that a new form of digital currency was invented and launched in that era.

More than 16 years later, Bitcoin is still going strong. With a total market value of $2.34 trillion and an inflation-proof limit to the creation of new coins, it's the largest name in the crypto sector. So-called Bitcoin maximalists, like Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) chairman Michael Saylor, expect Bitcoin to replace old-school currencies like the dollar and the euro over time. From that point of view, Bitcoin could be the only cryptocurrency or currency worth owning in the long haul.

That's an extreme view and I certainly wouldn't recommend copying Saylor's Bitcoin-binging tactics. He has converted nearly all of Strategy's cash reserves into Bitcoin holdings. Then, he took out loans and sold stock to buy even more coins. His approach looks brilliant when Bitcoin's price is going up, but could end in financial disaster in the opposite scenario.

But I do recommend having some Bitcoin exposure in your nest egg. You could buy some of the cryptocurrency directly, or pick up shares of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) like the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ: IBIT). You could even invest in a company that owns a lot of Bitcoin, such as Strategy or a leading Bitcoin miner. Either way, a modest amount of this robust digital coin belongs in any crypto-friendly investor's holdings.

Ethereum actually does something useful

Ethereum is a much smaller asset, with a market value of $455 billion today. It's still a big fish in the crypto pond, though. Other than Ethereum and Bitcoin, no other coin is worth more than $200 billion.

It's a very different idea. Bitcoin creates value for its owners by providing a secure currency with strict supply side limits. It's rare on purpose, and it's expensive to create new coins because the mathematical difficulty keeps increasing.

Things are different in the Ethereum camp. There's no hard cap on the Ethereum supply. The number of coins has held steady since the fall of 2022. The balance is regulated by staking rewards and the partial removal ("burning") of coins that are collected as transaction fees.

And those fees are the keys to the Ethereum castle. This cryptocurrency can manage and execute smart contracts, generating transaction fees in the process of actually doing things. So far, Ethereum has mainly been used to power non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and certain stablecoins. One of these days, you may find your personal finances managed by blockchain-based apps on your phone, kicking banks out of the process. Ethereum will almost certainly play a role in that revolution, generating fees with every money transfer, account balance review, and digital ID presentation. Millions of active users could add a ton of Ethereum value.

This sea change hasn't happened yet, and it might be fairly invisible when it comes. Still, the influx of active usage will boost Ethereum's price.

There are fewer investment options here, since very few companies hold Ethereum on their balance sheets and you can't mine the currency. But you still get to choose between direct Ethereum holdings or spot-priced Ethereum ETFs, led by the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (NASDAQ: ETHA). After getting your cryptocurrency feet wet with some Bitcoin, a bit of Ethereum exposure should be next on your long-term investment list.

Chainlink feeds real-world info to Ethereum

Finally, Ethereum's smart contracts rely on real-world data. Chainlink's job is to deliver that data in a form that makes sense to smart contract developers.

Chainlink isn't the only so-called oracle coin on the market, but it's miles ahead of the competition. With a $12.1 billion market cap, Chainlink dwarfs Bittensor's (CRYPTO: TAO) $3.6 billion and Pyth Network (CRYPTO: PYTH) at $724 million.

Even so, Bittensor and Pyth don't really copy Chainlink's broad portfolio of real-world data feeds. Bittensor helps artificial intelligence systems rate each other. Pyth provides high-speed access to a handful of financial data points.

Without Chainlink's input, Ethereum would grind to a halt. Smart contracts without data access can't get any work done. As such, I highly recommend grabbing a few Chainlink coins. There are no ETFs or indirect investments to consider here, just the basic cryptocurrency itself.

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Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Chainlink, Ethereum, iShares Bitcoin Trust, and iShares Ethereum Trust-iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Chainlink, and Ethereum. The Motley Fool recommends Bittensor and Pyth Network. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.