The Smartest Cryptocurrency to Buy With $1,000 Right Now

Key Points

• Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, Polkadot connects different blockchains to create a more powerful unified system.

• The DOT token is down 40% over three years, creating an attractive entry point for patient investors.

• The upcoming JAM upgrade will transform Polkadot into a publicly available supercomputer for Web3 development.

• 10 stocks we like better than Polkadot ›

Many cryptocurrencies have been hot recently. As of July 22, XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) gained 60% in the past three months. Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) more than doubled over the same period, while Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) prices increased by 27%.

Some of these big-name cryptocurrencies could be good investments right now. The Bitcoin halving cycle may still have some life left in it. XRP is exploring new business opportunities with large long-term revenue streams. And Ethereum's smart contracts look more and more interesting as consumers and app developers embrace its automated data processing.

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But there's an even better buy in the crypto market today. Nobody told Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) that it's time for a price gain, even though the cryptocurrency is unleashing a next-generation technology upgrade. The coin price is only up 19% in three months, and down 40% in three years. Bitcoin, XRP, and Ethereum soared in that longer period:

Polkadot Price data by YCharts

In my eyes, Polkadot is easily the best cryptocurrency to buy today. So if you have $1,000 to invest, hold your horses while I explain why Polkadot could be the best way to put that cash to work.

Polkadot isn't your average cryptocurrency

Polkadot is a bit different from the other leading cryptos. It isn't designed to hold and grow monetary value, like Bitcoin. It's not the engine of a payment platform, like XRP. It's not even a smart contracts system like Ethereum -- not exactly, anyway.

Instead, Polkadot essentially ties a whole bunch of other cryptocurrencies together into a larger, more powerful system. Its transaction ledger and the associated development tools help app builders take advantage of many different cryptos. It helps Ethereum communicate with Bitcoin, for example. And by relying on a large bundle of independent blockchains, it can execute its programs at lightning speed.

The DOT coin is the central point of reference, managing the connection details of Polkadot's various chains. What you need to know is that Polkadot should gain value as the coin is used in actual applications. As an official product of the Web3 Foundation, that means the internet getting over its social media phase and moving on to more individual control over online content and data.

Image source: The Polkadot community.

Get ready for the JAM session

Furthermore, Polkadot is on the verge of a massive technical upgrade. It's already one of the most powerful cryptocurrencies for certain types of data processing, but the next major upgrade will turn it into a publicly available supercomputer.

The "JAM" update (short for "Join-Accumulate Machine") is based on the open-source RISC-V microprocessor design. It can compile programs written in any language that works on RISC-V machines, opening up Web3 development to pretty much any programmer with any sort of coding experience. For instance, Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood likes to show off the classic Doom game running at full speed in a prototype version of JAM. Sure, it's a 30-year-old game, but it's still pretty impressive to get playable execution speeds with full graphics, all running on Wood's personal laptop computer.

Now imagine running this powerful virtual machine on a global network of server-class computers instead. I can't wait to see what the JAM generation of the Polkadot platform can do, and it's all happening in the second half of 2025.

Patience required, but the opportunity is real

I don't expect Polkadot prices to skyrocket as soon as the JAM architecture is activated. It will take some time to build community excitement around this incredible system, and the wait grows longer as the programmers go to work.

But it's happening, and relatively soon. Meanwhile, Polkadot's price has been swooning for years, including a weak performance in 2025. If you're not buying Polkadot in this puzzling dip, I just don't know what could inspire you. So the big return won't come tomorrow or next week, but Polkadot is a great cryptocurrency to hold in the long run.

Please do your own homework before putting real money into this idea, but I think Polkadot is worth more than a shot.

It's my favorite cryptocurrency to buy right now, with $1,000 or any other amount of investable cash.

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

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Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, and XRP. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.