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Grayscale Research just published its new “Top 20” list for promising altcoins in Q3 2025. The list mostly remains the same from Q2, removing Lido DAO (LDAO) and Optimism (OP) to add Avalanche (AVAX) and MORPHO.
The firm assessed these altcoins on their market sector performance and individually. AVAX and OP are both smart contract protocols, but it swapped the two out due to company-specific circumstances.
Grayscale’s Newest Top 20 List
Grayscale Research periodically makes lists like this, updating its “Top 20” alongside “Assets Under Consideration” and other sector-specific assessments.
The firm uses a diverse set of criteria to assess its preferred altcoins, tracking which market sectors perform better than others. Today, Grayscale released its new recommendations for Q3 2025:
Grayscale used a complicated metric to compile this list; for example, it added and removed altcoins from the same market category.
It categorized LDAO under “Utilities & Services,” which was the lowest performer, and replaced it with MORPHO, from the second-highest “Financials.”
However, AVAX and OP are both smart contract protocols, and Grayscale assessed that this sector didn’t grow or shrink much. In other words, Avalanche’s business developments must account for its place in Grayscale’s list.
In Q2 alone, new partnerships gave the blockchain a surge in on-chain activity, whereas Optimism suffered a 54% drop in ETH reserves.
Grayscale further clarified that Ethereum’s new focus on interoperability could make an L-2 like Optimism redundant. AVAX’s organic growth stands out in contrast, making it a clear choice for Grayscale’s list.
The firm expressed similar concerns for LDAO, as the SEC might approve ETF staking soon, removing the blockchain’s main market appeal.
MORPHO grew significantly in the last year, but that isn’t why Grayscale put it on the Top 20 list. Instead, the research firm was highly optimistic about its potential to outperform competitors in its own market sector:
“This past month, Morpho announced Morpho V2, designed to bring DeFi to traditional financial institutions. Grayscale Research is optimistic about the future of on-chain lending activity, and Morpho seems well positioned to potentially capture a meaningful share of that growth,” Grayscale claimed.
Grayscale’s findings and commentary are insightful, but it’s important to remember that it’s a research firm, not a market mover. It cautioned potential investors that all 20 of these tokens are very volatile.
In fact, all four of these assets slightly decreased in value since Grayscale released this list, even the ones it was optimistic about.