Best Crypto 2.0 Coins for January 2025

Second-edition cryptocurrencies, or 2.0 – build on the original foundation of a project. This could be anything from a network upgrade, a change of consensus mechanism, or a new version of a popular coin.

In this guide, we analyze the best crypto 2.0 coins to buy in 2025.

List of the Best Crypto 2.0 Coins

Listed below are the best crypto 2.0 coins in the market right now:

Solaxy – Best Layer 2 crypto blending the best of Solana and Ethereum.
Ethereum 2.0 – Shaping the future of blockchain with proof-of-stake and enhanced scalability.
Mantle – Among the ETH Layer 2 coins, offering utility and governance rights.
Immutable – A cryptocurrency that empowers digital ownership.
Metis – A crypto revolutionizing Layer 2 scaling and decentralization.
POL (ex-Matic) – Top Layer 2 crypto, powering a wide ecosystem of zero-knowledge-based L2 chains.
Arbitrum – Leading the way in Ethereum scaling with recent token unlocks.

What are Crypto 2.0 Coins?

‘Crypto 2.0’ can refer to various concepts within the blockchain industry. In some cases, the terms relate to new cryptocurrencies that are based on an already established project. For example, Bitcoin Minetrix aims to be the improved version of Bitcoin. While DOGE 2.0 aims to replicate the success of Dogecoin.

It is important to note that these crypto 2.0 coins have no affiliation with the original project. For example, SHIB2.0 is not related to Shiba Inu. While Mongoose 2.0 has no connection to Mongoose. One of the main objectives of crypto 2.0 coins is to create hype on the back of the original project.

For example, SHIB2.0 aims to produce similar gains to Shiba Inu. If successful, this would make SHIB2.0 one of the best crypto 2.0 coins for 2023. Equally, however, crypto 2.0 coins often have little to no use case. Instead, they are marketed purely on speculation.

Top Crypto 2.0 Coins – Reviewed

Now, let’s take a closer look at the best crypto 2.0 coins trending in the market today.

1. Solaxy – Best Layer 2 Crypto Blending the Best of Solana and Ethereum

Solaxy is the first Layer 2 blockchain built on Solana, and it addresses key limitations of the underlying blockchain, such as restricted scalability, network congestion, and transaction failures. By leveraging advanced Layer 2 architecture, Solaxy delivers faster transaction speeds and significantly lower costs, enhancing the user experience while maintaining Solana’s core advantages.

$SOLX is a multi-chain token available on Ethereum and Solana. This capability allows it to combine Ethereum’s liquidity and security with Solana’s speed and low cost. Making it a versatile solution for the Crypto 2.0 era. In addition, users can enjoy high staking rewards, with a dynamic APY of 859%.

$SOLX has demonstrated impressive early momentum during its presale, raising $4.5 million in just a few days since its launch. This strong performance reflects growing investor confidence and interest in the project’s potential.

2. Ethereum 2.0 – Shaping the Future of Blockchain with Proof-of-Stake and Enhanced Scalability

Ethereum’s transition from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in 2022 marked the launch of Ethereum 2.0. This upgrade aimed to significantly reduce gas fees, lower energy consumption, and improve network scalability, laying the foundation for a more sustainable and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

PoS validators stake 32 ETH to process transactions and earn rewards while slashing mechanisms deter dishonest behavior. Ethereum 2.0 reduces daily ETH issuance, making ETH potentially deflationary when burn rates exceed issuance, a hallmark of crypto 2.0’s economic evolution.

This shift reduced the network’s energy consumption by 99.95%, improved scalability, and aimed to increase transaction throughput. Although Ethereum 2.0 plays a pivotal role in the Crypto 2.0 era, further advancements are crucial to realize its ambitious objective of supporting up to 100,000 transactions per second, paving the way for a highly scalable and efficient ecosystem for decentralized applications (dApps).

3. Mantle – Among the ETH Layer 2 Coins, Offering Utility and Governance Rights

The MNT token is the foundation of Mantle’s role in the crypto 2.0 revolution, powering an Ethereum-based Layer 2 scaling solution and enabling seamless scalability and efficiency within its ecosystem. It’s EVM-compatible and enables app cross-deployment from the mainnet and other EVM chains. Mantle modularizes blockchain operations, providing an enhanced experience without compromising decentralization and security.

The network uses optimistic rollups to process transactions in batches and employs a sequencer to organize the blocks and submit them to the mainnet, significantly minimizing time and costs.

$MNT serves as both a utility and governance token, offering voting rights so that users participate in DAO voting and practical functionalities, such as gas fees on the Mantle network. Also, $MNT tokens can represent collateral assets for the network’s nodes, further contributing to the network’s stability and security, further incentivizing participation.

4. Immutable – A Cryptocurrency That Empowers Digital Ownership

$DARA is the utility token driving the Immutable network, a platform dedicated to creating accessible, high-quality knowledge preservation tools. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, $DARA introduces a new class of free, user-centric products designed to empower individuals to reclaim ownership of their digital assets and intellectual property.

While the product’s core features, like saving to IPFS, are free, premium features, such as storing IPFS hashes to ETH or BSC, come with a small fee. Given that the network has a DAO, $DARA is also a governance token, meaning that users can vote on current product updates or new product development proposals, aligning with the decentralized ethos of crypto 2.0.

However, the Immutable network has recently come under scrutiny, with the SEC issuing it a Wells notice, alleging securities law violations related to a 2021 IMX token investment. Immutable denies the claims, emphasizing its legal compliance and commitment to digital ownership for gamers.

5. Metis – A Crypto Revolutionizing Layer 2 Scaling and Decentralization

$METIS is the native token of Metis, an Ethereum L2 scaling solution that aspires to solve the blockchain trilemma that blockchains can’t be secure, decentralized, and scalable simultaneously. It also tries to solve ETH’s biggest challenges: cost, speed, and scalability making it a core asset for the evolving crypto 2.0 ecosystem.

METIS is crucial in helping developers build and manage existing dApps while supporting entrepreneurs and developers who want to create and launch new dApps. The platform incorporates the Decentralized Autonomous Company (DAC) framework into its Layer 2 infrastructure, facilitating the transition for developers and businesses from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.

Metis promotes decentralization through its decentralized sequencer (dSeq), enabling nodes to earn METIS tokens as rewards for processing transactions and producing blocks. The network has initiated a campaign designed to encourage node involvement and attract liquidity providers.

6. POL (ex-Matic) – Top Layer 2 Crypto, Powering a Wide Ecosystem of Zero-Knowledge-Based L2 Chains

$POL (ex-Matic) is Polygon’s native token, used to stake rewards and pay transactions. This ERC-20 token will power a wide ecosystem of zero-knowledge-based L2 chains, and it will systematically replace the existing $MATIC token over four years as part of the Polygon 2.0 initiative.

Polygon effectively revolutionizes Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system, similar to others such as Cosmos, Polkadot, Avalanche, among others, with the advantages of Ethereum’s vibrant ecosystem, security, and openness.

The upcoming Agglayer mainnet, launching in early 2025, will enable seamless cross-chain interoperability with Ethereum and beyond, using pessimistic proofs for secure transactions. Focused on DeFi, GameFi, and AI dApps, Agglayer aims to eliminate liquidity fragmentation and create a more unified blockchain ecosystem.

7. Arbitrum – Leading the Way in Ethereum Scaling with Recent Token Unlocks

Arbitrum is a Layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, designed to improve scalability, reduce transaction fees, and maintain the security of the Ethereum mainnet. It achieves this by processing transactions off-chain while leveraging Ethereum’s security through rollups.

Arbitrum’s advantages include security and compatibility with Ethereum. Additionally, it offers greater throughput and lower fees relative to Ethereum. This is achieved by shifting much of the computation and storage burden off-chain.

Arbitrum’s native token, $ARB, is used for governance. The developers behind Arbitrum, Offchain Labs, announced the shift to a DAO structure – the Arbitrum DAO. Token holders can vote on proposals that affect the protocol upgrades, features, the election of a Security Council, and funds allocation.

Last week, Arbitrum conducted a significant token unlock, releasing 92.65 million ARB tokens—equivalent to approximately $96.81 million in value. This unlocks accounts for 2.26% of the token’s circulating supply.

What About Ethereum 2.0?

‘Crypto 2.0’ can also refer to existing projects that have upgraded their ecosystem.
For example, Ethereum 2.0 builds on the original Ethereum, transitioning from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
The upgrade will allow Ethereum to operate more efficiently. For example, according to a Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI) study, Ethereum 2.0 consumes 99.9% less energy than its original framework.

Methodology

How We Analyze and Review Cryptocurrencies

1000+ Crypto Assets Reviewed

300+ Research Hours

14 Key Variables Evaluated

50+ Expert Opinions Examined

To ensure our readers receive unbiased, thorough, and reliable information, we conduct extensive research and analysis of a wide range of cryptocurrencies. We assess each crypto asset based on 14 distinct criteria, some of which include:

Market Potential: We evaluate the likelihood of future growth and the overall potential within the crypto market.
Liquidity and Trading Volume: We analyze the ease of buying and selling cryptocurrencies and their trading activity.
Community and Support: We examine the level of community engagement and the quality of support available to users.
Price History and Market Sentiment: We review historical price data and current market sentiment.
Security Measures and Past Breaches: We check for strong security protocols and any history of security breaches

By following this thorough approach, we provide comprehensive and reliable reviews tailored to the needs of crypto enthusiasts and investors alike.

Why Buy Crypto 2.0 Coins?

Before investing in the best crypto 2.0 coins, it is important to assess their viability.

Below, we explore some of the reasons to invest in this niche market.

Second Chance to Replicate High Growth

2.0 coins are often launched to replicate the success of other cryptocurrencies. These are usually cryptocurrencies that have generated sizable returns since they were launched.

For example, according to CoinMarketCap, Shiba Inu was priced at just $0.000000001009 when it was launched in 2020
By November 2021, Shiba Inu was trading at over $0.00007
This amounts to gains of almost 7 million percent
In turn, Shiba Inu is now a multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency project

However, whether or not crypto 2.0 coins can achieve similar gains to the projects they copy remains to be seen.

Upgraded Projects to Improve on Deficiencies

Another angle of crypto 2.0 coins are projects that have made changes to their original framework. This is often to improve deficiencies, such as speed, fees, scalability, or energy efficiency.

For example, we mentioned earlier that Ethereum 2.0 improved on the original Ethereum framework. It did this by upgrading to the more efficient proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

Ethereum price

On the one hand, Ethereum 2.0 has already yielded excellent results, considering that transactions now consume over 99% less energy. However, Ethereum 2.0 is still in development. This is because scalability is still capped at just 29-30 transactions per second.

Nonetheless, the Ethereum ecosystem is moving in the right direction. As such, many believe that Ethereum is one of the best cryptocurrencies to buy.

Project Relaunches and Splits

The best crypto 2.0 coins can also relate to project relaunches. This is often because of issues with the original project framework, resulting in a relaunch of the respective coin.

For instance, if the underlying network was hacked, a relaunch is often the way to go. In many cases, holders of the original cryptocurrency will receive a proportionate number of coins.

New Cryptocurrencies With Micro Valuations

that allow investors to gain exposure right from the start. For instance, Solaxy was launched ten days before this guide was written and has already generated $4.6 million in its presale. This indicates significant investor interest and suggests that there is plenty of room for growth, making it appealing to those looking for the best ICOs.

Small Investments are Possible

While many of the best crypto 2.0 coins are considered high-risk, there is no need to break the bank to invest. Instead, these cryptocurrencies can be purchased in very small amounts. This is ideal from a risk-management perspective.

After all, while some of the crypto 2.0 coins discussed today could witness rapid growth, they could also lose the vast majority of their value.

Another way to reduce the risk is to diversify across multiple crypto 2.0 coins. If one takes off, this could more than counter the losses experienced from the other coins in the portfolio.

Conclusion

In summary, crypto 2.0 coins are one of the most trending niches in the market right now. In this guide, we discussed some of the top crypto 2.0 coins that are causing waves in the market.

Just remember that many crypto 2.0 coins are risky. Ultimately, investors should never risk more than they can afford to lose.