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The 2026 U.S. midterm elections are shaping up to be an intriguing buying opportunity for crypto investors. The crypto industry has already poured nearly $200 million into the midterm elections, so there's obviously a lot at stake. Here are three cryptocurrencies that could see the biggest lift after the midterm elections.
First up is XRP (XRP +0.85%), which is trading for a price of just $1.40. It's down 60% from its summer 2025 highs, so XRP could be a coiled spring, just waiting to unwind.
Think back to November 2024. At the time, XRP was trading for just $0.50, and it looked like it was going nowhere. But as soon as Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, crypto euphoria soared to record levels, and XRP went absolutely ballistic. By January, it was trading for $3.40, a nifty gain of 580%.
Of course, there's no guarantee that XRP can generate the same kind of magic in 2026. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. However, it has one very important catalyst in its favor: the possible imminent passage of a new piece of pro-crypto legislation called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
If there's one crypto that could see the biggest gains from this legislation, it's XRP. That's because XRP is used to power the Ripple blockchain-based payment system for banks and financial institutions. Right now, the regulatory risk of using a crypto payment system is just too high for some institutions. But once the new legislation passes, it will likely remove this regulatory uncertainty hanging over XRP.
Another cryptocurrency to watch is Bitcoin (BTC +0.29%). It has been the market bellwether ever since its launch in 2009. As Bitcoin goes, so goes the crypto market. So if you're expecting a big pro-crypto rally after the midterm elections, one place to lock in those gains is Bitcoin.
Just like XRP, Bitcoin rallied hard after the 2024 presidential election. On Election Day, it was trading for just $69,000. By the end of the year, it had broken through the $100,000 price level.
The best part about Bitcoin is that, historically, it has performed best during the final quarter of the year. For good reason, October is known as "Uptober" in crypto circles. Over the past decade, Bitcoin is up an average of 20% in October, and an even more impressive 41% in November.
Hyperliquid
Finally, there's Hyperliquid (HYPE +3.34%), which has been on an absolute tear this year. It's up 235% year to date, making it one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies of 2026. On the strength of its recent run, Hyperliquid now ranks among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world based on market cap.
Until this summer, the problem with Hyperliquid was that it was an offshore decentralized exchange offering a product (perpetual futures) that was strictly off-limits to U.S. retail investors. That changed in May, when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gave the regulatory green light for perpetual futures trading.
Then, in August, at a meeting of top crypto executives at the White House, President Donald Trump made the surprising announcement that he was asking the CFTC to ease the way for Hyperliquid to begin operations in the United States.
So, it's a matter of when -- not if -- Hyperliquid is going to pull this off. The most likely scenario right now involves Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
How to put $1,000 to work
The only question is how to allocate $1,000 to these three cryptocurrencies. Given that Bitcoin currently accounts for 60% of the total market cap of the crypto market, it should probably account for a similar share of your $1,000 investment portfolio.
For $600, you can pick up 13 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT -2.42%), which remains the biggest Bitcoin ETF in terms of assets under management.
There are also spot ETFs available for both XRP and Hyperliquid. So you could split the remaining $400 between ETFs for these two altcoins. For example, you could pick up $200 worth of the Bitwise XRP ETF (XRP -4.86%), and $200 worth of the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF (BHYP -1.24%).
Just remember: You should be investing in these cryptocurrencies because you believe in their long-run growth prospects, not because you are trying to time the market. Yes, the midterm elections could help to catalyze big gains in 2026, but the really big gains will likely happen years down the road.
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