Not Bitcoin. Not Ethereum. These 4 Cryptocurrencies Could Be Worth Holding for the Next 5 Years.

It’s true that Bitcoin (BTC +1.43%) and Ethereum (ETH +4.30%) should be the core positions of most crypto portfolios. A handful of other leading coins, specifically Solana (SOL +4.30%), NEAR Protocol (NEAR +15.92%), Zcash (ZEC +13.87%), and Hyperliquid (HYPE +2.56%), are also worth holding for the next five years if you don’t already.

Here’s the thesis for each.

1. Solana’s tokenized-asset holders jumped 47% in a mere 30 days

Solana is a fast, cheap blockchain that’s aiming to be the place where investors and financial institutions host their tokenized assets, such as Treasury bills or stocks that are recorded as blockchain tokens. Per the crypto data provider RWA.xyz, Solana held $4.4 billion in tradeable tokenized assets as of Oct. 14, and its number of tokenized-asset holders rose 47% during the last 30 days alone, reaching 897,897.

The coin’s holders stand to gain from the further expansion of the network’s base of tokenized assets through their capture of transaction fees feeding into the value of the coin, and through staking (locking coins to earn rewards). Staking Solana produces an annual yield of 4.9%.

SOL – Solana

$106.56+$4.40 (+4.30%)

CRYPTO · As of 6:43 AM ET 10/16/26

The chain’s next big upgrade is called Alpenglow, and it would bring a faster transaction confirmation system that could position it to capture more volume from financial institutions in the near future. It’s currently in testing.

2. NEAR is becoming a preferred piece of crypto infrastructure

NEAR’s Intents service lets its users, including automated users like AI agents, request cross-chain swaps that competing market makers then work to fill at the lowest price possible.

NEAR – NEAR Protocol

$5.30+$0.73 (+15.92%)

CRYPTO · As of 6:44 AM ET 10/16/26

Per data from DeFiLlama, Intents handled $4.8 billion of swaps in the 30 days through Oct. 14, and that led to $8.2 million of fee revenue. That revenue was then used to buy NEAR on the open market. Over a five-year period, those buybacks could contribute significantly to holders’ returns.

The next catalyst for the coin could be a proposal that would cut the issuance of new tokens to a rate of 1.6% over two years, down from 2.5% annually, though no vote has been scheduled as of this writing. If that happens, it will be a bullish development for those who commit to holding it for the long term.

3. Zcash’s main feature is already in active use

Zcash pairs Bitcoin’s 21-million-coin limit (and a couple of other supply policies) with optional privacy features that hide senders, receivers, and amounts.

ZEC – Zcash

$1,232.33+$150.09 (+13.87%)

CRYPTO · As of 6:50 AM ET 10/16/26

About 29% of the coin’s supply was held in its shielded (private) pools as of Oct. 14. That indicates users are actually interested in using Zcash’s privacy features, rather than just holding it for its price returns.

The next halving, which cuts in half new coin issuance from mining, is estimated to occur on Nov. 23, 2028. After that, new supply will grow half as fast. This means that there’s likely to be buying pressure in advance of that happening, assuming it follows a similar pattern to Bitcoin due to its similarity.

4. Hyperliquid’s buybacks started a trend

Hyperliquid is a decentralized crypto exchange for perpetual futures, which are derivative contracts that track prices without expiring and typically involve the use of leverage.

About 99% of the fees that the platform captures from its traders are used to fund coin buybacks, which totaled $224 million in the third quarter of 2026 alone. On an annualized basis, those buybacks would be worth $694 million, or 3.9% of blockchain’s $17.8 billion market cap as of Oct. 14.

Investors should appreciate that Hyperliquid’s buyback program has been so successful that it actually spawned a handful of copycat policies across the crypto sector, including other decentralized perpetual futures exchanges, as well as other project types entirely. Hyperliquid itself is constantly adding new features. It recently enabled the ability to create prediction markets on its platform, and trading options contracts is likely to be next.

Both of those will mean it can keep growing its fees, and thus continue to provide the buybacks that enrich its holders.