Kaspa, IOTA, and Helium offer unique blockchain innovations that boost speed, scalability, and decentralized rewards—making them top picks for traders and investors in 2025.
Current price: $0.08749
Market cap: $2.24B
Kaspa (KAS) is a proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency utilizing the GHOSTDAG protocol, which allows multiple blocks to coexist rather than orphaning those created in parallel. This innovative approach transforms the blockchain into a blockDAG, significantly enhancing transaction speed and security. Kaspa currently operates at one block per second, with long-term ambitions of reaching 100 blocks per second.
The Kaspa network includes features such as Reachability for querying DAG topology, block data pruning, and simplified payment verification (SPV) proofs. Future developments will integrate subnetwork support, facilitating the implementation of layer 2 solutions. Additionally, Kaspa employs a unique monetary policy inspired by the 12-note chromatic musical scale, gradually reducing block rewards over time in a predictable manner. This approach ensures consistent coin emission rates even if the block rate changes in the future.
Current price: $0.2161
Market cap: $784.59M
The distributed ledger technology (DLT) IOTA functions through its directed acyclic graph (DAG) system named the Tangle. Transactions on the Tangle parallel process unlike traditional blockchains thereby improving speed and network scalability. This design allows IOTA to facilitate fast and efficient transactions without the need for miners or transaction fees.
The network enables three primary applications for native token and NFT generation and smart contract and layer 2 chain administrative functionality that works with Ethereum-compatible nodes. The IOTA 2.0 upgrade slated for 2024 will lead to complete decentralization which will optimize both network performance and security levels. Together with its staging network, Shimmer, IOTA provides a secure and permissionless infrastructure for Web3 applications.
Current price: $3.53
Market cap: $619.69M
Helium (HNT) operates as a network that boosts IoT device communication functionality. The Hotspot network uses decentralized wireless gateways with blockchain mining apparatuses to operate. Participants who deploy Hotspots contribute to network coverage and receive HNT tokens as rewards.
Helium’s infrastructure is built on the proof-of-coverage consensus algorithm, leveraging the HoneyBadger BFT protocol to maintain network security. The network also uses Data Credits, a non-exchangeable token, for transaction fees.