In previous crypto bull market cycles, Ethereum (ETH -4.52%), XRP (XRP -3.58%), and Chainlink (LINK -9.13%) have been top performers. As a result, many investors may be expecting an encore performance this year.

But this is 2025, not 2021 or 2017. The pace of change in the crypto industry is extremely rapid, and new blockchain challengers are emerging all the time. So which of these former crypto market standouts still belong in your portfolio?

Ethereum

Many investors still think of Ethereum as a “blue chip” crypto with an impregnable economic moat. Yes, it still ranks as the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, with a staggering $400 billion market cap. And, yes, it is still the premier Layer-1 blockchain in the world. It even has the implicit support of President Donald Trump, who recently invested $47 million into it via World Liberty Financial.

S&P 500 chart by TradingView

But recent market performance is troubling. Since the start of 2024, when the new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is up 125%, while Ethereum is up 31%. Even after Ethereum received spot ETFs of its own in July, it could not keep up with Bitcoin. In fact, that was exactly when the performance of these two cryptos began to diverge. Ethereum has been a market underperformer for months now.

The outlook for Ethereum becomes even more worrisome when you consider that blockchain rivals such as Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), Cardano, Avalanche, and Sui — all of which now rank among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market cap — continue to gain market share. Right now, Solana is eating Ethereum’s lunch, especially in the area of decentralized finance (DeFi). The next step is to eat Ethereum’s dinner and dessert as well.

In January, a coalition of top Ethereum blockchain developers met to address what they admit is a growing problem. The chatter right now is that Ethereum is no longer as relevant as it once was. Quite simply, Ethereum is still too slow and expensive (even with annual tech upgrades), and has become too dependent on a mishmash of more than 50 different Layer-2 blockchains to fend off smaller, more nimble rivals.

XRP

XRP has been under a regulatory cloud for more than four years now. Back in December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided that XRP was actually a “security.” Since then, the SEC has been waging an epic battle with Ripple, the company behind the XRP crypto token. Last August, Ripple agreed to pay $125 million in penalties for selling unregistered securities. And the case continues to drag on in 2025.

Thus, it’s hard to think of another crypto that could benefit more from the Trump administration’s pro-crypto regulatory approach. And, indeed, since the election, XRP is up more than 500%.

According to the XRP bulls, a crypto-friendly SEC will decide to take a fresh approach with Ripple. As part of an “anything goes” approach to crypto, the SEC might decide that XRP is not, and has never been, a security. In theory, that would clear the deck for a massive rally in the price of XRP.

But is that really the case? At one time, XRP might have been the token powering a world-class blockchain network. But what about now? In the four-plus years of regulatory uncertainty, new crypto rivals have emerged that are faster and more efficient in processing financial transactions.

And, to make matters worse, the XRP blockchain still does not have smart contract functionality. That’s important because smart contracts are the building blocks of decentralized finance. Thus, the overall utility of XRP is much more limited than many people assume.

Chainlink

Finally, there’s Chainlink. Of the three cryptocurrencies listed here, I think this is the one that has done the best job of reinventing itself. In 2025, Chainlink seems to be catching fire, and is now up 15% for the year. That’s even better than Bitcoin, which is up 8%.

Chainlink is getting a boost from the Trump administration, which recently invested $4.7 million into it via World Liberty Financial. In doing so, World Liberty Financial also gave Chainlink an important endorsement as a future DeFi partner.

DeFi is really just the start for Chainlink, which is also at the forefront of the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization trend. According to top consulting firms, this has the potential to become a multitrillion-dollar market opportunity.

Simply stated, RWA tokenization involves converting traditional financial assets into digital assets that live on the blockchain. Once these assets are on the blockchain, there is the potential for enormous efficiency gains. The obvious use cases are real estate and private equity. Imagine being able to invest in a high-profile real estate project, simply by buying a crypto token.

Oldies, but still goodies?

At one time, all three of these cryptocurrencies were no-brainer investments. But XRP has been around for more than a decade, and has never once traded higher than $3.84. And Ethereum has been a market underperformer for nearly six months now. They both might soar in price in 2025, but there are definitely problems once you peek under the hood.

If forced to pick among these three oldies but goodies, I’d pick Chainlink. It seems to be in the good graces of the Trump administration, and is gaining steam as a play on both DeFi and asset tokenization. If you’re looking for a high-risk, high-reward crypto to diversify your portfolio, it might be worth a closer look.