Here Are the 2 Best Cryptocurrencies to Invest $5,000 in Right Now

Crypto is an asset class that's brushing up against sovereign policy, institutional capital, and regulated finance infrastructure. That makes now an exciting time to invest and probably a profitable time, too.

Two assets, in particular, stand to benefit from this confluence. One is Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), and the other is XRP (CRYPTO: XRP). Both are already being treated as strategic assets by deep-pocketed actors, and both may soon sit at the core of how digital value is stored, transferred, and governed. Here's why they're worth an allocation of $5,000 each.

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 »

Bitcoin is seeing a flood of institutional cash

Bitcoin is currently experiencing something it probably won't ever experience again: A confluence of political breakthroughs and institutional adoption.

On March 6, the White House issueed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), instructing the executive agencies to hang on to their seized coins instead of auctioning them off as had been their previous course of action. While the SBR isn't up and running yet, it could be a huge development for holders.

This single stroke removes hundreds of millions of dollars in float (coins available for public trading) from the market and signals that the government now treats Bitcoin as a strategic asset to be held rather than as contraband to be offloaded to anyone willing to take it. And investors have taken notice of the government's unambiguous stamp of approval for the asset.

U.S. spot price Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted a net of roughly $5.8 billion in inflows during May alone. Those flows matter because they represent long-horizon buyers like pension plans, insurers, and sovereign funds, which are less likely to flip on every price wobble. Furthermore, the sheer scale of their purchasing activity indicates that this asset is far, far more than a meme coin.

Image source: Getty Images.

With its price at about $105,000, or just a bit less than its all-time high, the coin's lofty valuation is underpinned by the fact that a shrinking portion of the total supply is actually available to buy. Between the U.S.'s and other government stockpiles, ETF custodians, and a base of long-term holders that are largely holding their coins at a profit, the circulating float is thinner than it looks. This means that marginal purchasing activity will have a strongly positive impact on prices.

Given these dynamics and the fact that it's never going to be easier to mine (produce) than it is right now, it's very reasonable to allocate $5,000 to Bitcoin today. Just be prepared for some volatility over the years, and years that you should aim to hold it.

Bitcoin has dropped 50% or more six times in 12 years. It remains volatile. If you can't tolerate large declines without losing sleep, lower your allocation or avoid the asset entirely.

XRP is aiming for the future of money transfers

While Bitcoin grabs headlines, XRP is engineering the plumbing of cross-border finance, and it's precisely that less-visible work that's driving demand -- not to mention getting a green light from the government that's similar to the one Bitcoin got.

The same executive order that created the SBR also envisioned a separate basket of non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies for the closely related repository, the National Digital Asset Stockpile (DAS), with officials later naming XRP as one of the leading candidates for inclusion. So, in the eyes of the government, the coin is worth stockpiling, too.

Aside from its favorable treatment by the government, XRP's value proposition is functional.

Banks use it as a bridge asset to send funds across international borders in seconds for fractions of a cent. When financial institutions use XRP to process their transfers instead of legacy technologies, they avoid currency exchange fees, as well as the fees and days-long delays that are traditionally associated with legacy money transfer methods like SWIFT.

Ripple, the company that issues XRP, claims that more than $1 trillion in value has been moved using XRP's ledger since 2012. Its payment network now spans 90 markets and 55 different currencies, so all of the most-used currencies in all of the most-moneyed nations are supported.

The ability of XRP to handle such throughput is likely part of the reason why 83% of institutional investors plan to boost crypto exposure this year, many targeting tokens with clear real-world utility.

XRP's market cap is about $129 billion, so any incremental institutional demand can move the needle very quickly in comparison to a behemoth like Bitcoin. But, its volatility is not to be underestimated. XRP once fell 95% peak-to-trough. Utility doesn't guarantee price support, especially if private ledgers win out or Ripple stumbles.

Still, for investors allocating $5,000, XRP is a rational way to gain asymmetric exposure to real-world crypto adoption. Its institutional use case, regulatory tailwinds, and rising integration into national policy initiatives make it a somewhat risky but likely favorable bet.

Should you invest $1,000 in Bitcoin right now?

Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $660,821!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $886,880!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 791% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 174% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025

Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.