Best Crypto To Buy Now? Whales Buy Ethereum, XRP As Gold, Silver Prices Pull Back

The bull run in precious metals appears to be losing steam, a considerably positive indicator for crypto. 

Gold fell by 4.43% to $4,300 on Monday, its biggest single-day decline since October. Meanwhile, Silver recorded a sharper 9% drop to $70.50, though it has since rebounded to $74.62 at press time on Tuesday. 

Platinum and Palladium posted double-digit losses as well, correcting by 15.56% and 17.74%, respectively. XPDUSD once again rejected from the $1,900 resistance level, recording the second-largest single-day drop in history.

The metals have also formed clear bearish divergences in every key timeframe, suggesting that a deeper pullback could be imminent.

Experts project that investors will soon rotate profits to digital assets, drawing comparisons to the pandemic era when Gold and Silver rallied first in response to the Fed’s loose monetary policy, followed by an explosive crypto bull run. 

Whales and institutions have already been accumulating Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP, backing them as the best crypto to buy now for the 2026 bull market. 

Best Crypto To Buy Now

Besides the majors, whales and smart money investors are also investing in high-upside mid-caps and new low-cap assets. They continue to hunt for 10x and 100x plays in the upcoming bull run. 

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum is in high demand from whales and institutions alike, making a strong case for being the best crypto to buy now. 

Investment firm Trend Research, popularly known as “66,000 $ETH Borrowed Whale”, now holds over 607,828 ETH, valued at $1.8 billion at the current price. 

This is a considerably strong conviction from an investment firm that specializes in secondary markets. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum treasury firms continue to put significant selling pressure on ETH as well. Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Tech now holds 4.07 million ETH, valued at over $12 billion at the current price. The company is rapidly moving towards its target of holding 5% of the total Ethereum supply.

It is never a bad strategy to align with smart money investors and institutions, which makes ETH one of the best investments among large-cap digital assets. 

XRP (XRP)

XRP is another large-cap crypto asset that is in high demand among smart money investors and institutions. 

This is evident by the continued inflows into spot XRP ETFs, despite the broader market bearishness. The asset class recorded another $8 million inflow on Monday, bringing its cumulative total to $1.15 billion since its debut last month. 

Meanwhile, its fundamentals continue to improve rapidly. Ripple has made a strategic push into Europe, integrating with the TAS Network Gateway to plug directly into regional banking infrastructure. 

The move strengthens Ripple’s role as a bridge between traditional financial infrastructure and blockchain-based settlement across European markets.

The XRP price is currently trading just below the $1.90 support level. A yearly close above the $2 mark would be a massive win for the bulls and a strong buy signal for sidelined investors. 

Bittensor (TAO)

AI crypto projects aren’t going out of fashion any time soon, and Bittensor (TAO) is making a strong case for being the best AI coin to buy for outsized returns. 

It is the first truly decentralized marketplace for artificial intelligence. Its network allows AI models to compete, collaborate and earn rewards based on the real value of their outputs, rather than hype or centralized control. 

Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of Bittensor subnets has turned TAO into the base asset for multiple AI-focused ecosystems.

Earlier this week, the OpenTensor Foundation announced the launch of MEV shields through an encrypted mempool on the Bittensor mainnet, a move that could protect billions of dollars in lost value from front-running bots. 

Prominent analyst Crypto Tony highlights that TAO has formed an inverse head-and-shoulder pattern, which could be the start of a new bull run. 

Zcash (ZEC)

The recent bull run in privacy coins wasn’t a fad. Mega capital market company Andreessen Horowitz’s Web3 venture, a16z Crypto, has announced that privacy will be the most important moat in crypto in 2026. 

In a stunning statement, a16z’s Ali Yahya claimed, “…because privacy is essential for most real-world use cases, a handful of privacy chains could own most of crypto”. This is a strong implied endorsement for Zcash, the biggest privacy coin on the market. 

The ZEC price is currently trading at $536, up by 28% over the past week, posting the second-highest gains of any top 100 cryptocurrency over the period. 

Analysts agree that a rally to $600 is imminent in the short term, and a subsequent breakout could bring new all-time highs in the play. 

Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER)

Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER), a new viral layer-2 coin, rounds out our list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy now. 

HYPER’s bullish case is quite straightforward. Being a BTC layer-2 coin, it is being viewed as a beta bet on Bitcoin. For instance, Stacks, another BTC layer-2 project, saw its market cap surge to over $5 billion in 2023 when the Bitcoin price started its bull run. 

Bitcoin Hyper’s cutting-edge architecture has also impressed analysts. Its use of zero-knowledge technology and the Solana Virtual Machine has positioned it as a hotbed for new DeFi apps, payment protocols and even meme coins within the Bitcoin ecosystem. 

The top layer-2 projects tend to reach multibillion-dollar valuations, and Bitcoin Hyper is eyeing this accomplishment as well. 

HYPER has already raised $30 million in its Initial Coin Offering. Several whales have invested high six figures into the new crypto, with many eyeing up to 100x returns from it. 

This is besides the nearly 40% staking rewards that presale buyers are earning. 

Looking for more high-upside investments for 2026? Check out our updated list of top crypto investments.