2 Top Cryptocurrencies to Buy With $200 Right Now

Surprisingly, 2025 hasn't been a particularly good year for cryptocurrency prices. Optimism about President Donald Trump's election victory turned out to be a buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news situation, where most of the rally occurred in late 2024. A market correction happened in 2025, despite a slew of positive legislative and regulatory developments like the Genius Act, which established a regulatory framework for stablecoins, and the planned creation of a U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve, which could boost demand.

That said, the long-term outlook remains positive as the regulatory changes help push the asset class into the mainstream and attract more large institutional investors like pension funds and wealth management companies. But smaller investors can get in on the action, too. Let's discuss why Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) could be excellent places to put $200 in December and beyond.

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1. Bitcoin

Never underestimate the power of a brand name. It's the reason Coke dramatically outsells Pepsi despite the latter usually winning blind taste tests. And as the original cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has established a reputation as something akin to digital gold. This status will help it benefit from the macroeconomic tailwinds influencing the crypto industry.

Favorable regulation isn't the only factor poised to drive long-term cryptocurrency adoption. The asset class is also a great way for American investors to diversify their wealth outside of the U.S. dollar at a time when rising debt levels, unstable trade policy, and concerns about central bank independence slowly erode its global reserve currency status. Bitcoin is an excellent alternative to gold or foreign currency-denominated stocks because it offers the potential for explosive long-term growth.

While the gold spot price has risen 130% during the past five years, Bitcoin has soared by an eye-popping 350%. And it has the potential to continue outperforming traditional safe-haven assets.

Both gold and Bitcoin derive value from their scarcity relative to demand. But while new gold can always be discovered and mined, Bitcoin's total supply is permanently capped at 21 million coins, almost 20 million of which are already in circulation. The tight supply and macroeconomic tailwinds make the cryptocurrency look poised for continued success.

2. Solana

While Bitcoin gets its value from its brand recognition and tight supply, Solana takes a different approach: raw technical ability. The Solana blockchain is designed to host programmable decentralized applications (dApps) that developers use to offer financial services, games, and marketplaces on the network. While this is far from a novel concept, Solana has worked hard to set itself apart from the alternatives.

The Solana blockchain boasts a unique feature called proof of history (POH), which works in conjunction with a proof-of-stake system to deliver a transaction capacity of as many as 65,000 per second. This speed puts Solana far ahead of legacy platforms like Ethereum, which only offers a capacity of 15 to 30 on its base layer.

Solana's technical performance has attracted its fair share of development, including the much hyped Official Trump meme coin, which launched on the network in January.

Solana has also begun gaining much-anticipated regulatory acceptance with the Securities and Exchange Commission approving spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in October. Solana is the third cryptocurrency to achieve such a milestone, highlighting the asset's quality and making it more palatable and easier to trade for mainstream financial institutions that want pure access to Solana spot prices without having to deal with the blockchain-specific complexities like keys and digital wallets.

Which cryptocurrency is best for you?

Bitcoin and Solana are both excellent ways for investors to get exposure to cryptocurrency. But they serve different investment strategies. While Bitcoin is ideal for investors who prioritize trust and stability, Solana seems to have more growth potential because of its smaller size and ability to capture market share from rivals like Ethereum.

Will Ebiefung has positions in Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.