Key Projects Showing Momentum Into 2026

As 2025 draws to a close, crypto investors remain on the hunt for altcoins to buy that could deliver outsized gains going into the new year. December could bring heightened volatility and opportunities, and this year, several cryptocurrencies, including crypto presale projects, stand out for their strong momentum and catalysts.

Here are five cryptos to buy for massive returns in December, with Digitap ($TAP) leading the pack due to its superior utility and ground-level valuation.

1. Digitap ($TAP) — A fintech disruptor blending crypto with fiat.
2. Zcash (ZEC) — The most exciting privacy coin.
3. Tether Gold (XAUT) — Tokenized gold riding the bull run.
4. Astar (ASTR) — A superfast multichain smart contract project.
5. Hyperliquid (HYPE) — A next-generation trading platform.

Digitap’s Banking Utility Supports a Potential Crypto To Buy Case

Digitap created and now markets the world’s first “omni-bank,” where users manage fiat and crypto in one place. Users can send, receive, store, save, invest, and spend their money seamlessly. The Digitap debit card is now powered by Visa and allows users to spend either fiat or crypto anywhere Visa cards are normally accepted.

Key features that rank Digitap as the potential altcoin to buy include huge savings on global money transfers. Money remitters charge on average 6.2% to move capital across borders, but Digitap is able to undercut the industry with costs coming in as low as sub-1%.

An optional no-KYC signup process also opens the platform to a completely overlooked population. There are more than 1 billion adults worldwide without access to banking features or with subpar access. Many of these people live in countries where access to identification is just not possible.

Digitap’s financial inclusion is not only a noble mission, but one that will generate recurring revenue streams, likely for decades to come.

How Digitap’s Staged $TAP Presale Built Early Momentum

Digitap isn’t vaporware. Its bank app is live, and its credibility is backed by its Visa partnership. This partly explains why its crypto presale of its native $TAP has been running hot since it started in late summer.

Despite the broader crypto market selloff, Digitap eclipsed the $2 million raised milestone a lot faster than many had expected. The presale is structured in stages where the price of $TAP slightly increases after each stage. This provided a form of safe haven for investors as the price of $TAP has risen from its first stage of $0.0125 to $0.0361 today.

The team recently confirmed an expected exchange listing price of $0.14. This makes Digitap an attractive altcoin to buy as it still has plenty of runway ahead compared to where the token is modeled to trade when it launches on exchanges.

How Zcash Rode Privacy Tailwinds to Triple-Digit Gains

Zcash has been one of the few cryptos that managed to show a triple-digit percentage gain in the fourth quarter. The gain can be attributed to a market-wide resurgence in privacy coins and the passage of the U.S. Clarity Act, which explicitly recognized ZEC’s opt-in privacy model as being compliant with anti–money laundering laws.

This opened the door for institutional involvement and prompted Grayscale to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF. Zcash’s November halving also cut its block rewards in half, which historically marks the start of a rally.

With a blend of regulatory tailwinds and strong investor demand, Zcash stands out as a coin that could continue its comeback in December and beyond.

Why Tokenized Gold Appeals Ahead of a Possible Rally

Each XAUT token represents one troy ounce of physical gold, meaning Tether Gold offers tokenized exposure to the metal. With gold prices hitting record highs this year and the World Gold Council calling for a 15% to 30% rally next year, Tether Gold could end the year on a strong note with momentum carrying over into 2026.

Owning XAUT lets investors ride the gold bull market through a convenient digital token. Since it mirrors the price of gold, it is a strong pick ahead of expectations for a gold rally.

Why Astar’s Scaling Roadmap Matters for DeFi Builders

Astar is a rising star within the Polkadot ecosystem and caught fire in late 2025 thanks to major technical gains and growing adoption, specifically, the launch of the Astar zkEVM, a layer-2 scaling solution that is expected to handle up to 300,000 transactions per second by 2026.

This represents an astonishing achievement that rivals mainstream payment networks. With further upgrades, including the PolkaVM integration and Astar’s own DeFi applications, ASTR could be primed for a solid leg up in December and beyond.

How Hyperliquid’s L1 Exchange Rivals CeFi on Speed

Hyperliquid’s blazing-fast layer-1 exchange combines the performance of centralized exchanges with DeFi’s transparency. Hyperliquid dominates around 75% of the decentralized perpetuals market and processes enormous volumes on its order-book DEX.

The platform’s custom blockchain can handle 200,000 orders per second with sub-second latency. Most recently, Hyperliquid benefited from institutional adoption, including Nasdaq-listed Sonnet Biotherapeutics rebranding itself as a Hyperliquid treasury company.

As Hyperliquid looks to maintain its momentum, it could continue gaining share of global trading volumes. Its net income already rivals that of the Nasdaq exchanges, and it remains a solid crypto to buy as it still has room for plenty of growth ahead.

Why Digitap Leads December’s Search for Potential Cryptos to Buy

The new year is now less than a month away, and many crypto investors will be happy to see 2025 come to a close. The crypto market’s nearly uninterrupted bull run was fully interrupted in October, and even this year’s best altcoins to buy were punished hard.

However, there are still many gems in the market that could outperform in December and into the new year. Unlike many crypto presale projects that rely on hype, Digitap already has a live product, thousands of users, and a clear business model of generating real-world value.

Digitap’s fintech platform is bridging the fiat and crypto divide in a way that few projects have managed. This makes it an exciting crypto to buy as it looks to target a billion-plus market size in 2026 and beyond.

Discover the future of crypto cards with Digitap by checking out their live Visa card project here:

Presale https://presale.digitap.app  

Website: https://digitap.app 

Social: https://linktr.ee/digitap.app
Win $250K: https://gleam.io/bfpzx/digitap-250000-giveaway

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