The market might be showing all the green signs now, but let us not forget that Q1 was anything but tumultuous. The ETH price dump was brutal, and only after losing 66% of its value from the highs it achieved in December 2024 was there a sign of resurgence.
However, things still aren’t in the green for the world’s largest altcoin, as the current $1.8K value shows that the likes of Solana and meme coins are outcompeting it, and Bitcoin’s surge has far surpassed it. It represents a special circumstance in which the best crypto to buy now could be among meme coins or SOL-based assets.
Why Did ETH Dump So Hard in Q1-2025?
Ethereum has always been a beacon of innovation within the blockchain space, so there are people wondering why it happened. The reasons for this crash are manifold, bolstered by misplaced innovations, bad timing, and the continuous attention of the market on other assets.
Layer 2 Centric Roadmap Not Allowing Ethereum to Shine
Ethereum’s Duncan upgrade of March 2024, which created a blobspace for storing L2 transactions, has negatively affected Ethereum’s value accrual.
The upgrade has acted like a double-edged sword, boosting throughput and reducing L2 transaction fees on one side, and reducing Ethereum’s revenue and burn rate on the other.
With a reduced burn rate, Ethereum has taken an inflationary path again, leading to a growth in ETH tokens by 630,000 since July 2024.
Bitcoin ETF Getting More Attention than Ethereum
Bitcoin ETFs have always been the talk of the town since they created a positive impact on the Bitcoin price by aligning institutional interest with Bitcoin’s growth.
Ethereum ETFs, on the other hand, have not gone through the same motions, lagging behind Bitcoin Spot ETFs in terms of inflows. Whereas Bitcoin Spot ETFs have attracted net inflows of $39.56 billion, Ethereum has only managed to secure around $2.49 billion. While not bad, it hasn’t had an impact on the ETH price.
Institutions such as MicroStrategy have also helped drive more value toward Bitcoin. And while BlackRock bought a bunch of Ethereum recently—over $49.95 million worth—the purchase has had no impact on the Ethereum price.
Firms Have Started to Stack Solana
Solana has managed to replicate Bitcoin’s level of interest, with firms like DeFi Development Fund and Solana Strategies increasing their holdings to a massive degree. DeFi Development Fund, formerly Janover, for instance, has increased its Solana holding by $10.5 million.
And SOL Strategies recently made waves by announcing that it would raise $500 million to buy more Solana tokens.
Delayed Ethereum Upgrades
Within the Ethereum ecosystem itself, things have started to shift. The shuffle in leadership indicates a change in strategy that has not proven to be conducive to market growth so far. Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade has been delayed again.
While this is the same old story with the ETH ecosystem, the current time is bullish, and if investors see that Ethereum is not able to make any headway and take advantage of the bull market conditions, they will look at other assets to invest in.
Best Crypto to Buy Now – Ethereum Alternatives with Better Potential Upsides
With the Ethereum price not showing signs of major growth and potentially going through a period of prolonged accumulation, smart investors should take a look at the following picks.
Solaxy
Solaxy has made waves within the cryptocurrency space by providing the first L2 solution for the Solana blockchain.
It uniquely addresses Solana’s congestion issues by adopting ZK rollups so that transactions can happen off-chain and the data can be loaded on-chain.
Other tech that Solaxy has been using includes Hyperlane and Celestia, which would enable it to create a scalable and interoperable ecosystem.
Raising upwards of $32 million in its presale, Solaxy could experience a massive pump following its launch. Analysts such as Cryptonews have already started using phrases like “Solaxy is going to melt faces” because of how hot the project is.
Solaxy also shows an image of a meme coin, riding the Solana-based meme coin narrative that could bolster its growth even further.
Since it is clear Solana is getting more traction than ETH right now, Solaxy could be one of the best Ethereum alternatives on the market.
BTC Bull
BTC Bull is a meme coin project that plays on institutional and retail interest in Bitcoin to create a pathway that could help meme coin investors make gains through the BTC price pump.
While it has adopted standard mechanics like token burns and airdrops, the unique aspect of BTC Bull lies in tying these mechanics to Bitcoin’s growth.
Created by a community of those bullish about Bitcoin, BTC Bull will burn tokens when BTC reaches $125K, $175K, and $225K.
And when the BTC price surges to $150K and $200K, a set number of Bitcoins will be airdropped to $BTCBULL holders.
A comedic meme coin with a sharp eye on the current financial dynamics, BTC Bull is one project with posts that focus on admiring Bitcoin, and not pressing down on traditional finance.
The chosen one will lead the pump. pic.twitter.com/YBjeqM9C3Y
— BTCBULL_TOKEN (@BTCBULL_TOKEN) May 2, 2025
This “Bitcoin meme coin” has raised over $5 million at the time of writing, and also offers staking opportunities to presale investors, giving them the opportunity to earn 78% APY.
Since BTC Bull is tied to Bitcoin and Bitcoin’s momentum has been far greater than Ethereum, BTC Bull is another Ethereum alternative that people should focus on.
Best Wallet Token
The arrival of the Bitcoin bull run will bring more investors, all of whom will need better crypto storage and swapping solutions.
Best Wallet, powered by the native Best Wallet Token, is one platform that could offer such a solution.
Designed to be multichain and multi-utility, and initially supporting only the Ethereum chain, Best Wallet has since expanded its support to the Polygon chain as well as the Bitcoin chain.
Multi-chain perks aside, it is the token launchpad that makes Best Wallet Token one of the best Ethereum alternatives to buy now.
With the token launchpad, Best Wallet Token holders can keep an eye on and invest in upcoming crypto ICOs—essentially investing in cryptocurrencies while they are at their zero stage.
Other facilities that Best Wallet Token, being a DAO crypto, intends to introduce to the Best Wallet ecosystem include portfolio management and market insights. A wallet aggregator is already a part of Best Wallet, and BEST cards could also arrive soon.
Also on presale, Best Wallet Token has raised close to $12 million at the time of writing, indicating that investor interest is massive—and so is the potential for the token to explode on the price charts.
Conclusion
Ethereum’s dump has come as a surprise to those who thought that the market’s recovery would uplift their favorite altcoin as well. However, institutional interest says otherwise, and the rise of better alternatives is giving users opportunities to diversify beyond Ethereum.
Therefore, the hunt for the best crypto to buy now is not to find something Ethereum-like, but to explore assets that could topple the world’s biggest altcoin.
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