For just $500, it’s possible to create a crypto portfolio that will pay off big decades from now.
Although there are literally thousands of different cryptocurrencies, only a relatively small number have shown their staying power for a decade or longer. Of these, only a handful have been worth buying and holding for the long haul.
The two standouts are Bitcoin (BTC -1.45%) and Ethereum (ETH -4.20%). If you’re looking to buy and hold for the long term, these are the two cryptocurrencies you can safely add to your portfolio. Here’s why.
Unparalleled track records
During the past decade, there are simply no other cryptocurrencies with the same type of track record as Bitcoin and Ethereum. In the 10-year period between October 2015 and October 2025, Bitcoin is up a resounding 48,802%. It might seem hard to believe, but Ethereum has performed almost as well, up 36,041%.
Bitcoin/U.S. dollar chart by TradingView.
What’s particularly striking is just how badly Bitcoin and Ethereum have trounced the competition. For example, check out the above chart from TradingView. It shows the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum against three other major cryptocurrencies that date back to 2015: Litecoin (LTC -1.37%), Dogecoin (DOGE -4.75%), and XRP (XRP -3.64%). None of them have even come close to tracking the performance of the world’s two most popular cryptocurrencies.
Future growth prospects
Granted, past performance is no guarantee of future results. But there’s a strong reason to think that both Bitcoin and Ethereum might be able to turn in encore performances during the next decade.
Image source: Getty Images.
For example, the growing consensus is that Bitcoin could hit a price of $1 million within the next few years. That’s based on the assumption that institutional investors will continue to ramp up the allocation of Bitcoin in their portfolios. It also assumes that new use cases will be created for Bitcoin, which has already been named a strategic asset by the U.S. government.
Over time, the expectation is that rapid accumulation of Bitcoin by sovereign nations will lead to even higher valuations for Bitcoin. Case in point: Sweden recently became the latest nation to announce plans for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, similar to the one announced by the Trump administration in March.
Ethereum, too, is expected to skyrocket in value, given the utility of its blockchain. Since it launched in 2015, Ethereum has been the top smart contract blockchain platform on the planet. It has held on to its first-mover advantage ever since. Although there are plenty of rivals, Ethereum is so dominant in the area of decentralized finance (DeFi) that many now expect Wall Street’s top financial institutions to adopt Ethereum as a building block of global finance.
How to put $500 to work in crypto
There’s just one minor problem. If you’ve got $500 to spend, it won’t go very far in the world of crypto. At one time, it was possible to buy a single Bitcoin for less than a cup of coffee. Now the going rate for a single Bitcoin is more than $120,000.
Although it’s possible to buy less than a whole Bitcoin (fractional Bitcoin), one alternative might be to load up on the new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Bitcoin at a much lower price point. The same alternative is possible for Ethereum.
For example, the price of the most popular spot Bitcoin ETF — the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT -3.06%) — is about $69 a share. The price of the most popular spot Ethereum ETF — the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA -5.28%) — is just $34.
From there, it’s really just a question of what type of diversified crypto blend you’d like to create. For example, you might want to create a 70/30 blend of Bitcoin and Ethereum. In that case, you could spend $350 on Bitcoin, and $150 on Ethereum. That works out to five shares of the spot Bitcoin ETF and four shares of the Ethereum ETF, with a bit of change left over.
Just keep in mind: With the ETFs, you are getting exposure to the price action of the underlying cryptocurrency, but you do not own the actual cryptocurrency. If you are planning to use Bitcoin or Ethereum (and not just hold it), you will need to own the actual cryptocurrency.
The great part about ETFs is that they make it extremely convenient to adjust your exposure to crypto as part of a broad, diversified portfolio. At a glance, you can see how much you have allocated to either Bitcoin or Ethereum, and then adjust accordingly. For most investors, an asset allocation of 5% to Bitcoin and Ethereum is more than enough to get turbo-charged returns for decades to come.
Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
