Michael AdamsLead Editor, Investing
Michael Adams is lead editor, investing at Forbes Advisor. He's researched, written about and practiced investing for nearly two decades. As a writer, Michael has covered everything from stocks to cryptocurrency and ETFs for many of the world's major financial publications, including Kiplinger, U.S. News and World Report, The Motley Fool and more. Michael holds a master’s degree in philosophy from The New School for Social Research and an additional master's degree in Asian classics from St. John’s College.
Michael Adams
Michael AdamsLead Editor, Investing
Michael Adams is lead editor, investing at Forbes Advisor. He's researched, written about and practiced investing for nearly two decades. As a writer, Michael has covered everything from stocks to cryptocurrency and ETFs for many of the world's major financial publications, including Kiplinger, U.S. News and World Report, The Motley Fool and more. Michael holds a master’s degree in philosophy from The New School for Social Research and an additional master's degree in Asian classics from St. John’s College.
Lead Editor, Investing
Paul KatzeffDeputy Editor, Investing
Paul Katzeff is an award-winning journalist who has written four books about how to grow your 401(k) retirement nest egg and one about internet investing. Before becoming an investing deputy editor with Forbes Advisor, he was a senior reporter/writer at Investor's Business Daily, a correspondent for Money magazine, managing editor of the Boston Business Journal and staff writer for the Boston Herald American Sunday magazine. His work has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Reviewed
Paul Katzeff
Paul KatzeffDeputy Editor, Investing
Paul Katzeff is an award-winning journalist who has written four books about how to grow your 401(k) retirement nest egg and one about internet investing. Before becoming an investing deputy editor with Forbes Advisor, he was a senior reporter/writer at Investor's Business Daily, a correspondent for Money magazine, managing editor of the Boston Business Journal and staff writer for the Boston Herald American Sunday magazine. His work has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Deputy Editor, Investing
Reviewed
Updated: May 30, 2024, 9:18am
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Cryptocurrency began with Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009. Today, the market has grown exponentially to encompass a dizzying array of coins, blockchains, crypto exchanges and payment processors.
During the crypto bull run of 2021, a handful of public companies made significant cryptocurrency investments. It was a record-breaking year for crypto, but most of those gains were wiped out in 2022. Federal Reserve rate increases and a series of crises—from TerraUSD to FTX—weighed heavily on the industry.
The crises underscored the vulnerability of crypto stocks to market downturns. Nevertheless, large public companies continue to expand their investments in cryptocurrency. When the industry pulls out of its doldrums, the best crypto stocks could earn risk-tolerant investors a handsome return. Here are seven stocks with ties to crypto that could thrive in the years to come.
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Show Summary
- The Best Crypto Stocks of May 2024
- CME Group (CME)
- PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL)
- Block Inc. (SQ)
- Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR)
- SoFi Technologies Inc (SOFI)
- Marathon Digital (MARA)
- Methodology
- What Are Crypto Stocks?
- Crypto Stock FAQs
- Next Up in Investing
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The Best Crypto Stocks of May 2024
| Stock (ticker) | Market Cap |
|---|---|
| CME Group (CME) | $74 billion |
| PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) | $64 billion |
| Block Inc. (SQ) | $40 billion |
| Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR) | $14 billion |
| SoFi Technologies Inc (SOFI) | $7 billion |
| Marathon Digital (MARA) | $6 billion |
CME Group (CME)
Market Cap
$74 billion
Forward P/E
20.6
5-Year Avg. Annualized Return
5.40%
$74 billion
20.6
5.40%
Editor's Take
CME Group, formerly known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, operates one of the largest markets on earth for trading futures and other derivatives. And these operations are precisely how this stock maintains exposure to the cryptosphere.
In late 2017, CME Group was one of the first international stock exchanges to offer trading in Bitcoin futures. Although BTC futures had already been traded as unregulated securities on crypto exchanges, CME’s entrance into crypto opened the door for a host of new investors as well as exchange-traded funds to join the community.
As one of the few regulated futures trading organizations in the U.S., CME Group maintains a wide moat with regard to its business model, which bodes well for the company’s future prospects. Investors interested in gaining safe exposure to cryptocurrency could benefit from taking a closer look at CME Group.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL)
Market Cap
$64 billion
Forward P/E
13.1
5-Year Avg. Annualized Return
-11.12%
$64 billion
13.1
-11.12%
Editor's Take
PayPal is a leading technology platform that facilitates digital and mobile payments for both consumers and merchants.
PayPal operates its own digital wallets and allows users to buy, transfer and sell cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). PayPal users can check out and pay using crypto at millions of online merchants. PayPal’s mobile wallet Venmo also allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrency.
Like many other tech stocks, PayPal took a big hit in 2022. It is down in 2023 too. However, the company still has a lot to recommend it to analysts, which makes its current stock price a potential value for investors looking to gain crypto exposure.
Block Inc. (SQ)
Market Cap
$40 billion
Forward P/E
14.7
5-Year Avg. Annualized Return
0.73%
$40 billion
14.7
0.73%
Editor's Take
Block is an online digital and mobile payment platform for consumers and merchants and is the parent company of Square and Cash App. Cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey believed so strongly in the company’s investments in blockchain and other technologies that he changed the company’s corporate name from Square to Block in December 2021.
Dorsey was an early Bitcoin bull, so it’s no surprise that Cash App users can buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin. In addition, Block’s decentralized tbd platform allows developers to build decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to run on programmable blockchains.
Block is also one of the largest Bitcoin investors, currently holding around $235 million in Bitcoin on its balance sheet, according to data from CoinGecko.
Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR)
Market Cap
$14 billion
Forward P/E
19.2
5-Year Avg. Annualized Return
20.35%
$14 billion
19.2
20.35%
Editor's Take
Interactive Brokers Group is an international brokerage that electronically trades stocks, options, futures and more.
With a market cap still in the single digits, IBKR’s vast array of products allows for the possibility of tremendous growth, while the company’s commodities futures trading desk offers customers a chance to trade cryptocurrency futures.
Obviously, the debate about whether cryptocurrencies are commodities or equities still continues at the federal level. The ultimate decision about this classification will determine whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) polices the sector.
As of this writing, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency futures only trade on CME Group’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
SoFi Technologies Inc (SOFI)
Market Cap
$7 billion
Forward P/E
29.8
5-Year Avg. Annualized Return
n/a
$7 billion
29.8
n/a
Editor's Take
SoFi Technologies is a San Francisco-based financial services company. Although the company started in the student loan refinance business, it’s grown to include a number of financial offerings, including a secure platform for trading cryptocurrencies.
SOFI’s vast diversification makes this company different from other crypto exchanges. SoFi Technologies offers private loans, mortgages, credit cards, banking, insurance and even more to its customers.
With cryptocurrency only making up a small portion of this company’s business, SOFI remains a decent choice for gaining crypto exposure while maintaining diversification.
Marathon Digital (MARA)
Market Cap
$6 billion
Forward P/E
20.9
5-Year Avg. Annualized Return
48.11%
$6 billion
20.9
48.11%
Editor's Take
Marathon Digital is a digital asset technology company and one of the largest and most valuable pure-play Bitcoin mining stocks out there. In fact, given the doldrums that the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries faced throughout 2022, MARA is the only Bitcoin pure-play included on this list.
The company’s fleet of more than 105,000 Bitcoin miners mined a record 2,195 BTC coins in the first quarter of 2023. At the same time, Marathon held a total of 11,466 Bitcoins, worth about $326 million.
In an April 3, 2023 press release, Fred Thiel, Marathon’s chairman and CEO, said, “Given the operational and financial improvements we made during the first quarter, we remain optimistic that we can achieve our primary growth targets and establish Marathon as one of the largest and most energy efficient Bitcoin mining operations globally.”
*All data sourced from StockRover, current as of May 30, 2024.
Methodology
The crypto stocks included in this list were chosen from among a group of the most common stocks in the top 20 holdings of Forbes Advisor’s best blockchain ETFs and best bitcoin ETFs.
After selecting a pool of possible candidates, we screened for stocks listed in the U.S. on the Nasdaq or NYSE with market capitalizations of at least $1 billion.
Each of the stocks included also has a consensus analyst rating of “buy” or better at the time of the list’s compiling and consensus 12-month upside potential of at least 12% based on average analyst price targets.
What Are Crypto Stocks?
Crypto stocks are publicly traded companies that operate businesses that are highly exposed to the cryptocurrency market or blockchain technology.
These stocks include popular crypto exchanges, cryptocurrency miners, blockchain technology specialists and other companies that have large cryptocurrency holdings on their balance sheets. They can be highly correlated to cryptocurrency price fluctuations, making them extremely volatile and unpredictable.
However, with the troubles crypto has faced, we have tried to choose companies that have exposure beyond blockchain and cryptocurrency to help mitigate this market volatility.
Cryptocurrency investors and analysts generally expect the share prices of most crypto stocks to rise over the long term if cryptocurrency adoption and use continues to expand globally. But this type of volatile investment may not be suitable for all investors.
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Crypto Stock FAQs
What is a crypto stock?
Crypto stocks are stocks that are highly exposed to the cryptocurrency market or its underlying blockchain technology.
Crypto-related stocks include cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency miners, blockchain technology specialists and companies that hold cryptocurrency on their balance sheets as an investment.
How to choose cryptocurrency stocks?
Cryptocurrency investors can balance high exposure to crypto markets and responsible risk management by identifying crypto stocks that have diversified, profitable business models and attractive valuations based on fundamental metrics such as price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and price-to-sales ratio.
Investors can also identify crypto stocks that have leading market shares, positive analyst coverage and relatively low debt levels.
Where to buy cryptocurrency stocks?
The cryptocurrency stocks mentioned above all trade in the U.S. on the Nasdaq Composite or NYSE, making them easily accessible to anyone with an online brokerage account.
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