President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. will delay imposing his tariffs for 90 days could provide a unique buying opportunity for crypto investors. Quite simply, it could be the time to load up on cryptos that will continue to perform well, even when higher tariffs go into effect this summer.
Right now, I have two names on my crypto investment radar: Bitcoin (BTC 4.00%) and Render (RENDER 3.62%). Both are top 50 cryptocurrencies based on market cap, and both are up during the past 30 days, despite the tariff-induced volatility. In addition, I'm keeping my eye on one red-hot sector of the crypto market that could yield some interesting investment opportunities later in 2025.
Bitcoin
The obvious no-brainer pick here is Bitcoin. Historically, Bitcoin leads the market either higher or lower, so if you're bullish on crypto, then you need to be bullish on Bitcoin. During the past month, Bitcoin gained a modest 1%.
Image source: Getty Images.
But here's the thing: Market participants are desperately looking for a store of value and safe asset during these difficult market conditions, and that's exactly what Bitcoin claims to offer. It's digital gold in the eyes of many, and it has true global appeal. If super-sized tariffs drag down global markets, money may flow into Bitcoin as a refuge from the turmoil.
Render
Render is up nearly 25% over the past 30 days. You might remember Render from 2024, when it was being talked about as a potential millionaire-maker. It was part of the initial AI crypto boom, and in March 2024, it skyrocketed in price to $13.60.
CRYPTO: RENDER
Key Data Points
Render delivers computing power from the cloud, and that's why it is seeing a resurgence right now. Given the current market uncertainty, companies will likely cut back on big capital expenditures until they can figure out what tariffs mean for them. That means they won't invest in huge data or computing centers. Instead, they will likely turn to cloud-based solutions, such as those offered by Render.
My only caveat here is that Render is still down a mind-boggling 50% for the year, and more than 70% from its March 2024 highs. And it's not by any means clear what type of scale it can offer in terms of computing power for AI projects. After all, it was originally created to offer computing power for rendering computer graphics, and not for powering large language models. But if you buy into the AI resurgence investment thesis, Render could be worth a closer look.
Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization
Many investors may have never heard of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and that's a good thing. It means you might be able to grab a rising star at a bargain price.
Simply put, RWA tokenization refers to the transformation of real-world assets (think stocks and bonds) into digital assets that live on the blockchain. Doing so opens up enormous potential gains for transparency, liquidity, cost savings, and efficiency.
In this year's Annual Chairman's Letter to Investors, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink dedicated an entire section to the merits of RWA tokenization. That's huge, because BlackRock is the largest asset management firm in the world. And many top consulting firms now think that RWA tokenization could be a multitrillion-dollar market opportunity by 2030.
The caveat here, though, is that since RWA tokenization is so new, there can be enormous risk investing in any of the new "RWA coins" that have emerged in recent years. In mid-April, for example, rising star Mantra (OM 7.02%) lost 90% of its value in a span of mere hours, for reasons that are still being investigated.
So buyer beware. If you are interested in finding potential investment opportunities in RWA tokenization, sites such as CoinMarketCap provide a listing of top RWA coins ranked by market cap.
Are any cryptos really tariff-proof?
At the end of the day, there may not be any cryptocurrency that is truly "tariff-proof." The types of tariffs being levied on China (currently 145%, but check back in about 24 hours, because they might have gone up again) are truly staggering. It's not an overstatement to say that the world has never seen anything like this before.
If you are looking for ways to "tariff-proof" your portfolio, the best option right now is Bitcoin. After all, as crypto enthusiasts are gleefully pointing out these days, there are no tariffs on Bitcoin. If ongoing tariff uncertainty weakens the U.S. economy substantially, investors may start fleeing into Bitcoin as one of the few potential safe haven assets in the world right now.
