15 Best New Crypto Projects to Invest in May 2025

New cryptocurrency projects provide a unique opportunity for investors. Due to the nascent nature of the sector and high volatility, some new crypto projects explode in value seemingly overnight, generating returns that are mostly unheard of when investing in more established crypto assets or traditional financial instruments.

However, with thousands of new crypto projects launched every few weeks, it can be difficult to separate those that are truly promising from those that are just looking to take advantage of the fast-moving crypto space and have no concrete roadmap goals.

In this article, we will examine what are, in our opinion, the best new crypto projects that deserve your attention.

15 best new crypto projects: Top investment opportunities for May 2025

In the sections that follow, we are going to examine some of the best new crypto projects in the market right now. Please note that the following selection is based on this author's opinion and should be taken as such.

1. Kaito – AI-powered web3 data aggregation

Kaito is a service that aggregates information from social media and web3 sources to provide actional insights about the cryptocurrency markets. Kaito’s services, which cover around 2,000 different crypto assets, are used by cryptocurrency projects, traders, exchanges and researchers to gain an edge in the highly competitive crypto market.

Why Kaito?

Kaito became much more prominent among regular crypto community members with Yaps, a platform that tokenizes attention by analyzing interactions and content quality on social media. The Yaps platform implements AI algorithms to evaluate factors such as the volume of relevant content, genuine engagement, and the originality of discussions. The tracked users, known as “Yappers”, receive token rewards if their contributions are deemed highly relevant.

KAITO impressed with its debut on the market, producing large gains in its first week of trading despite the fact that a substantial portion of the token supply was airdropped to users, and the cryptocurrency market as a whole was predominantly bearish at the time.

This suggests that the Kaito project has been received with a lot of excitement from the crypto community and could be an outperformer in 2025.

2. Eigenlayer – Leading restaking protocol for Ethereum

EigenLayer (EIGEN) is an Ethereum restaking protocol centered on the concept of pooled security. Thanks to Eigenlayer, users can restake their ETH that is already staked, allowing EigenLayer to aggregate these funds. External services, such as bridges and liquid staking protocols, can then connect to EigenLayer and utilize its pooled funds for enhanced security.

Why Eigenlayer?

The EigenLayer protocol enables new services and products built on Ethereum to leverage Ethereum’s security, reducing the fragmentation of funds while boosting the security of each service through pooled security. Essentially, EigenLayer repurposes Ethereum's blockchain security to protect other protocols operating on the same network.

Several projects have already utilized EigenLayer’s infrastructure to enhance their security and attract users. For example, Ethena, a synthetic dollar protocol launched through Binance Launchpool, integrates with EigenLayer to provide higher returns for its users by tapping into this pooled security model.

3. Kaia – Asia’s Largest Web3 Ecosystem

Kaia is a next-generation blockchain network developed to make Web3 technologies more widespread and user-friendly. With a strong foothold in the Asian market, Kaia emerged from the merger of the Klaytn and Finschia blockchain networks. This union represents not only a technical collaboration but also a strategic move aimed at reaching millions of users.

Why Kaia?

Kaia's strength lies in its integration with LINE and KakaoTalk, two of Asia's most popular messaging platforms, collectively boasting over 250 million users. This integration allows users to engage with Web3 technologies as easily and quickly as they do with traditional Web2 applications, enabling them to connect, create, collaborate, and contribute within their preferred superapps.

Kaia employs Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) algorithms to maintain network integrity, ensuring enterprise-grade reliability and performance standards. Its tokenomics are designed to fuel the platform, with KAIA serving as the native coin for transaction fees and smart contract execution. With backing from communication giants Kakao and Line, and a well-structured token economy, Kaia is poised to become a driving force in blockchain innovation and a project worth keeping an eye on.

4. Hyperliquid – A high-performance decentralized trading platform

Hyperliquid is a layer 1 blockchain that’s designed to enable decentralized trading with very low fees and slippage. With the capability of handling around 100,000 orders per second, Hyperliquid provides a decentralized trading platform with an orderbook that offers a user experience akin to a centralized exchange.

Why Hyperliquid?

The Hyperliquid platform lists more than 30 different crypto assets for trading, and offers leverage of up to 50x on selected trading pairs. The platform also provides copy trading, which is a fairly rare feature in the decentralized finance space.

Meanwhile, users who prefer to provide liquidity can deposit their funds to hyperliquid and grow their token holdings passively.

The Hyperliquid project launched their HYPE token in November of 2024 through an airdrop to over 90,000 users. Thanks to the substantial token allocations and no venture capital backing, the Hyperliquid airdrop was received very well by the community.

The HYPE token serves as a utility and governance token for the Hyperliquid ecosystem. It has a maximum supply of 1 billion, of which over 76% is allocated to the community of Hyperliquid users.

5. Story – Tokenizing intellectual property for AI use cases

Story is a layer 1 blockchain platform designed specifically for tokenizing intellectual property (IP) to support AI-related applications. From a technical perspective, the Story blockchain integrates both the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and the Cosmos SDK.

Users can register their intellectual property on the Story blockchain and define the terms of its use. The Story protocol includes various modules—such as licensing, royalty, and dispute resolution—to allow IP owners to monetize their assets based on the specified usage conditions.

Why Story?

Artificial intelligence is still a key investment narrative for 2025, and Story is one of the most promising projects operating at the intersection of AI and crypto.

The launch of the IP token made a strong impact, with its value more than doubling within the first two weeks, despite the broader crypto market struggling during the same time period. Even though it’s still uncertain if IP can sustain this momentum, the IP token is definitely worth considering for those seeking exposure to the AI sector through cryptocurrency.

6. Movement – Decentralized infrastructure for modular blockchain interoperability

Movement is a blockchain network designed around the powerful Move programming language, originally created by Meta. By combining MoveVM with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, Movement allows developers to build highly secure and interoperable decentralized applications (dApps). Its modular design significantly enhances blockchain scalability and adaptability, simplifying cross-chain integration and fostering innovation.

Why Movement?

Movement's unique blend of MoveVM and EVM capabilities positions it as a particularly compelling blockchain project for 2025. Developers can seamlessly utilize the safety and efficiency of Move while benefiting from Ethereum’s extensive ecosystem and infrastructure.

The introduction of decentralized sequencers, custom Move-based rollups, and rapid transaction finality ensures Movement is capable of supporting next-generation dApps at scale. The early developer community support and notable partnerships further underscore Movement's promise as a standout among newly-launched crypto projects.

7. Trump Coin – A meme coin tied to Donald Trump

Trump Coin is a meme coin launched by the 47th U.S. President, Donald Trump. Built on the Solana blockchain, it debuted just days before Trump’s inauguration, alongside MELANIA. While it has no inherent utility, its sheer popularity makes it impossible to ignore.

Why Trump Coin?

TRUMP saw explosive growth in late January 2024, rising by nearly 1,800% to reach an all-time high of $76.98 on January 19. Even if this was just a day after its launch, the coin reached a market cap of over $10 billion, briefly becoming the 11th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at the time.

My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to https://t.co/GX3ZxT5xyq — Have Fun! pic.twitter.com/flIKYyfBrC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2025

While its price has since been slowly declining, it remains one of the largest meme coins, with a market cap of $3.5 billion. It's quite likely that the token's price will fluctuate, depending on Trump's real-world activities and announcements.

8. Berachain – A liquidity-focused blockchain with a Proof-of-Liquidity consensus

Berachain is an Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain distinguished by its innovative Proof-of-Liquidity consensus mechanism. This approach uniquely aligns blockchain security with liquidity provision, incentivizing validators directly through rewards tied to liquidity supply rather than traditional staking alone. This creates a robust liquidity environment ideal for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

Why Berachain?

Berachain’s novel Proof-of-Liquidity consensus addresses one of DeFi’s biggest hurdles—maintaining consistent liquidity. By tying validator rewards to liquidity provisioning, Berachain establishes deeper, more sustainable liquidity pools than conventional blockchains, boosting transaction efficiency and attracting a vibrant ecosystem of DeFi developers.

Early funding rounds secured major backing from notable investors like Framework Ventures and Polychain Capital, demonstrating strong institutional confidence. Given this solid backing, innovative economic incentives, and Ethereum compatibility, Berachain represents a significant step forward in blockchain technology, earning its spot among the most exciting new crypto launches.

9. Fartcoin – The AI-Generated Meme Coin Phenomenon

Fartcoin is a meme-based cryptocurrency launched on the Solana blockchain. It combines humor, community engagement, and digital assets, drawing inspiration from internet meme culture, particularly fart jokes and memes. The project aims to create an interactive and entertaining ecosystem for its users.

Why Fartcoin?

Fartcoin originated from the “Terminal of Truth” AI experiment, which explored AI’s influence on cultural trends. The AI was prompted to create a meme that would resonate with the crypto community, leading to the creation of a fart-themed token with humorous interactive elements.

The project stands out with its unique "Gas Fee" system, triggering digital fart sounds, and an AI-driven framework generating creative content. Token distribution was conducted via fart-themed submissions, leveraging Solana’s low fees and fast transactions. With a fixed supply of 69,420,000 tokens and a reflexive memetic strategy, Fartcoin quickly reached an $800 million valuation, gaining significant mindshare across Crypto Twitter and traditional finance circles.

10. Vana – Decentralized data marketplace empowering users through AI monetization

Vana is a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain enabling individuals to securely monetize their personal data by contributing it to AI training datasets. The platform uses blockchain technology to aggregate and tokenize private user data via Data Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (Data DAOs), empowering users with complete ownership and monetization of their digital identities.

Why Vana?

Vana tackles one of the fastest-growing needs in the tech industry—high-quality, ethically-sourced data for artificial intelligence training. By allowing users to securely tokenize and monetize their personal data, Vana directly addresses privacy concerns while creating tangible economic opportunities for individuals.

Its innovative Data Liquidity Pools (DLPs) and Proof-of-Contribution mechanisms assure transparency, quality, and fairness, positioning Vana at the intersection of blockchain and AI—two of the hottest technology trends of the year. With substantial interest from both developers and users, Vana stands out as a uniquely promising crypto project worth watching in 2025.

11. Mantle – Layer 2 for Ethereum with a powerful dApp development suite

Mantle (MNT) is an Ethereum layer-2 network aiming for mass adoption of decentralized and token-governed technologies. It features a high-performance modular architecture, providing low fees and faster finality by combining roll-up technology with a decentralized data availability layer. Mantle also includes the Mantle Liquidity Staking Protocol (LSP) for staking ETH and earning yield. Governance of the Mantle ecosystem is token-holder driven, with decisions made through proposals and voting.

Why Mantle?

Mantle allows developers to build decentralized applications on Ethereum through a user-friendly UI that makes the development of new decentralized products and services more accessible. In addition, Mantle's layer 2 nature means that transactions are fast, secure, and cheap.

12. Scroll – Flexible Ethereum layer 2 based on ZK rollups

Scroll (SCR) is a layer 2 for Ethereum that utilizes ZK (zero-knowledge) rollups to give users access to faster and cheaper blockchain transactions while still benefiting from the security of the Ethereum mainnet. Thanks to zkEVM technology, zero-knowledge proofs can be generated and used for Ethereum Virtual Machine verification. In practice, this means that any application developed for Ethereum can be launched on Scroll as well without any complications.

Why Scroll?

Since its mainnet launch in October 2023, Scroll has rapidly established itself as a prominent Ethereum scaling solution. Data from L2Beat shows that it currently ranks as the 6th largest Ethereum layer 2 by Total Value Locked (TVL).

Several leading decentralized applications (dApps) have already launched on Scroll, including notable projects like Aave, Lido, Safe, EtherFi, and more.

The Scroll project has also secured several major listings for their SCR token, including on exchanges such as Binance, Crypto.com, KuCoin and Bybit.

13. Alchemist AI – No-Code AI-Powered App Development

Alchemist AI is a no-code development platform that allows users to turn any idea, aspiration, or concept into a functional application without needing to write code. The platform aims to revolutionize software development by making it a language-based and intuitive process.

Why Alchemist AI?

Alchemist AI's innovative approach simplifies the app development process, enabling users to create applications through natural language prompts. By 2025, the platform plans to introduce features like Pro Mode to facilitate the creation of even more complex applications.

The ALCH token, native to the platform, has a total supply of 1 billion, with 85% allocated to the liquidity pool, ensuring ample availability for users and developers. The remaining tokens are distributed among the team, treasury, and marketing efforts.

With its focus on lowering transaction costs, providing unique trading tools, and offering comprehensive user benefits, Alchemist AI is carving out a significant niche in the fast-paced AI sector. Its technological edge positions it to compete robustly against other crypto projects in terms of market capitalization and user adoption.

14. Sonic – Fantom's evolution into a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain

Sonic is the next-generation Layer 1 blockchain emerging from the Fantom network. The transition from Fantom to Sonic aims to improve speed, security, and scalability, to make it a more competitive platform for decentralized applications. With up to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) and sub-second finality, Sonic significantly improves on Fantom’s performance.

Why Sonic?

The Fantom-to-Sonic migration began in December 2024, with FTM holders able to swap their tokens 1:1 for Sonic’s native S token. The process is expected to help Fantom shift toward a more advanced blockchain architecture. For a limited time, holders can freely swap between FTM and S before the migration becomes one-way.

Sonic maintains EVM compatibility, allowing developers to move their applications from Fantom without modifications. With its improved speed and efficiency, Sonic positions itself as a key player in the next generation of Layer 1 blockchains.

15. Pengu – A token for the Pudgy Penguins NFT community

Pengu is a token launched by the popular NFT project Pudgy Penguins. The token was initially distributed through an airdrop to various participants in the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem. The token has initially launched on the Solana blockchain, but there are plans to expand it to Ethereum and the Abstract layer 2 as well.

Why Pengu?

The total supply of PENGU is 88.88 billion, of which roughly 26% has been allocated to the Pudgy Penguins community. This includes holders of NFTs from the Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys and Pudgy Rods collections.

To be frank, there’s currently not much information available about what the PENGU token will actually be used for. However, since Pudgy Penguins is a very influential NFT project, it’s likely worth keeping an eye on the project to catch any updates related to PENGU. Potentially, the token could be used to implement a governance system, giving users the ability to influence key decisions related to the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem.

How we selected featured projects

The projects that we featured in this article must fulfill a specific set of criteria, which can be broken down into three main parts:

• Projects that have found their footing in the crypto market despite their young age: We look for projects that have a significant market cap (at least $200M), which ensures that they are not (as) susceptible to any potential market manipulation.
• Projects that have a clear business plan and look to solve real-world problems: One of the prerequisites for our list is projects’ clear orientation to solving problems that people actually need to solve. Without that, long-term prospects become very bleak.
• Projects that have been launched in the past 12 months: Since we are focusing on new crypto projects, it would make no sense to include years-old projects. Still, we decided on the 12-month cutoff point somewhat arbitrarily, and a case could be made that we could have focused on a bit older/younger projects.

While we do mostly abide by the criteria listed above, it’s worth pointing out that we could veer off these guidelines if we believe a project merits inclusion in the article, even if it doesn't tick all the boxes.

The bottom line

The crypto landscape in March 2025 presents a diverse array of promising projects, each offering unique opportunities for investment. From Jupiter's innovative approach to asset swapping on the Solana blockchain and Celestia's exciting new blockchain platform to the meme coin craze of Dogwifhat and Mantle's Layer 2 solution for Ethereum, these projects showcase the dynamic and rapidly evolving world of cryptocurrency.

As always, investors should conduct thorough research and consider the inherent risks in the volatile crypto market. This diverse selection underscores the potential for both growth and innovation in the crypto sector.

If you want to read more about new crypto projects and ways to invest in them, you could check out our list of the best crypto presales. In the same vein, you could consider our guide on the best ICO projects.

For a more generally focused examination of potentially lucrative crypto investment opportunities, read our weekly updated list of the best cryptos to buy.