6 Cryptocurrencies I'm Watching Like a Hawk in July

The crypto sector has, at least in terms of prices, largely ignored the progress networks have made during the past year or so, thanks to the bear market. But there are now enough signs of life to start thinking about shopping for the coins that will be the leaders in the next bull market.

And, in July specifically, there's a lot going on. Here are the coins I'm watching closely to see how they fare this month and why.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Ethereum and Solana

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) currently holds the largest base of tokenized real-world asset (RWA) value (representing ownership of assets like stocks and bonds), with about $15.9 billion on chain, or a little less than half of the market's total -- though that share has been sliding for months. A year ago, it had just $8.5 billion in tokenized assets, so the main reason I'm watching it is to confirm that its growth isn't being slammed by competitors.

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) is one of those competitors, and I'm curious to see if its current deluge of capital inflows can continue. Its tokenized asset base reached $3.3 billion in mid-July, and it surpassed Ethereum's by holder count. A year ago, it had only $570.4 million in tradeable tokenized assets, and, at least in July so far, it appears to be increasing those assets, unlike Ethereum, which is seeing slightly negative capital flows.

There's another reason I'm watching both of these networks closely: their tokenomics. Neither has a strong mechanism in place to compensate token holders for investing their capital, like a stock buyback or a dividend. That may be changing.

Solana's proposal SIMD-0553 would lift its daily fee burn, removing coins from circulation, from 648 to 7,500; a sister proposal, SIMD-0550, would double the supply reduction from 15% to 30%. Both proposals, if adopted and implemented, would help to reduce the growth of the coin's supply over time, which would be modestly better for holders.

For Ethereum, its next upgrade, Glamsterdam, is set for implementation in the second half of 2026. It will include a gas (user) fee repricing scheme that could lead to marginally more token burning activity -- but there might be bigger changes on the way, too.

2. Bittensor

Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) is an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure play thanks to its network's ecosystem of independent subnets, each providing a specific service to paying users. All use TAO, the chain's native token, as currency. Its subnets generated about $43 million in Q1 usage revenue, though critics argue much of that reflects recycling of newly created supply rather than external customer payments.

The awkward part is that the largest subnet reportedly receives about $52 million in incentive payments from Bittensor despite generating only $2.4 million in revenue. Thus, the network subsidizes activity more than it monetizes it at this point.

So I'm watching the network and its ecosystem to determine whether the subnet structure can gain traction and become a center of value generation for Bittensor.

3. Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter

Perpetual futures, or perps, are leveraged derivatives without an expiration date, and there's a three-way race among crypto players to be the biggest provider of decentralized perpetual trading. The three cryptos below are also important because they currently run some of crypto's most direct value-capture systems, in which trading volume on their exchanges drives buybacks of their tokens, potentially making holders richer.

Hyperliquid (CRYPTO: HYPE) holds roughly 70% of the decentralized perp market. About 99% of its platform fees are spent on buybacks of its token, HYPE, thus reducing the circulating supply.

Aster (CRYPTO: ASTER) and Lighter (CRYPTO: LIT) are the smaller challengers looking to unseat Hyperliquid. Aster's late-2025 incentive surge enabled it to briefly top Hyperliquid's perpetuals volume before fading, whereas Lighter's new collaboration with Robinhood Markets could make it a dark horse candidate for the segment's new champion.

I will be specifically looking at how much trading volume these platforms are gaining and retaining, as well as how much capital is being onboarded to their nascent decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems.

Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bittensor, Ethereum, Hyperliquid, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.