Best Crypto To Buy Now As Layer-2 Coins Show Strength: Arbitrum, Merlin Chain And A New Altcoin

Top crypto assets continue to trade sideways, despite a notable improvement in macroeconomic fundamentals over the past few weeks.

The US Federal Reserve has begun expanding its balance sheet and buying $40 billion in Treasury securities each month, a move expected to provide liquidity to financial markets. 

Moreover, interest rate traders are now pricing in two additional cuts next year, while experts such as Bloomberg’s Anna Wong argue that markets are still underestimating the scale of potential easing in 2026. 

Even though Bitcoin and large-cap altcoins have tested investor patience with a delayed breakout, most analysts agree the cycle top is nowhere near and the majors still have substantial upside ahead.

Even amidst the current market uncertainty, layer-2 coins are showing impressive resilience, making a strong case for being the best crypto to buy now. 

Altcoins are expected to dominate the next crypto bull run, with layer-2 tokens positioned to outperform as investors rotate into high-upside infrastructure plays.

Best Crypto To Buy Now

Large-cap assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP continue to be among the top crypto investments, with a growing consensus that they could reach $150,000, $8,000 and $8 in 2026, respectively. 

However, smart money investors are allocating a significant portion of their portfolio to high-upside altcoins as well, with layer-2 tokens emerging as standout choices. 

In this article, we list the best cryptocurrencies to buy now that are expected to give multi-fold gains in 2026. 

Arbitrum (ARB)

Arbitrum is increasingly viewed as one of the best crypto to buy now, backed by strong on-chain fundamentals and renewed liquidity inflows. 

Despite ARB’s price correction, liquidity is quietly rotating into the ecosystem at a scale unmatched by most competing L2s. Data from multiple analysts shows Arbitrum pulling the strongest net inflows of any chain, with over $68 million recently absorbed while competitors bled out.

Its TVL continues to surge, with more than $25 billion in net inflows over the past three months, marking the largest L2 inflow of 2025. 

Analysts like Michael van de Poppe highlight a clear divergence: ARB’s ecosystem activity and revenue keep climbing, even as the token trades far below fair value.

Arbitrum is also on track for $603 million in chain GDP in 2025, signalling real economic activity, real users, and real fees. When liquidity moves first and price follows, ARB looks primed for a major re-pricing.

Merlin Chain (MERL)

Merlin Chain (MERL) is currently one of the top-performing crypto assets on the market, posting the highest gains of any top 100 cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap over the past 24 hours. 

MERL is trading at $0.464, up nearly 6% in the past 24 hours and 35% over the past week. Impressively, it is one of only ten assets in the top 100 that remain in the green over the past 90 days, underscoring its relative strength in a weak market.

In fact, a weekly close above the $0.45 and $0.50 resistance levels would signal significant buying pressure and would also be an excellent entry point for sidelined investors. 

Notably, Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin Layer-2 network designed to bring smart contracts, DeFi, and scalable applications to the Bitcoin ecosystem. It uses a modular architecture with ZK-rollups, decentralized oracles, and a fraud-proof system to deliver high throughput at low cost.

Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER)

A new Bitcoin layer-2 coin, Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER), is showing significant bullish strength as well, with experts backing it as one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy. 

Merlin Chain is a mid-cap crypto asset, with a market capitalization of just under $500 million. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Hyper is still in its presale phase, with nearly $30 million raised in short order. 

Even if HYPER reaches MERL’s current market valuation, investors buying at the current market cap would get nearly 16x returns on their investments. Another BTC layer-2 project, Stacks (STX), reached a peak valuation of over $5 billion in 2023. 

As a result, whales are pouring in high six-figure investments, many over $500k, to buy HYPER in its presale stage. 

With its use of the Solana Virtual Machine and cutting-edge zero-knowledge architecture, Bitcoin Hyper aims to become a cornerstone within the BTC ecosystem. DeFi apps, payment protocols and even meme coins can benefit from its negligible trading fees, instant transaction finality and excellent scalability and programmability. 

As a result, top analysts and smart money investors are eyeing up to 10x returns from HYPER in the coming weeks. 

Mantle (MNT)

Mantle (MNT) is a modular Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain designed to significantly scale Ethereum’s performance by delivering lower fees and higher throughput while inheriting security from the base layer.

The network’s modular architecture separates execution, data availability and consensus, enabling more efficient processing and support for a wide range of dApps.

Mantle has also seen growing activity through partnerships and exchange integrations, helping bolster its profile in the L2 ecosystem.

The MNT price is currently trading at $1.31, up by 24% over the past week. It currently faces two key S/R levels in the weekly timeframe, $1.30 and $1.40. 

A breakout above this resistance zone would be a major “buy” signal for the sidelined investors. 

Mantle’s current $4.3 billion market capitalization makes it unlikely that it could deliver Bitcoin Hyper’s upside potential. However, 2x returns are still possible in the upcoming bull market. 

Check out our extended list of the best crypto to buy now here.