While many investors may still find crypto a viable addition to a well-diversified basket of stocks, you don't have to put cash into this high-risk class of investments in order to build a portfolio that stands up to the test of time. Even though stocks have been through their fair share of turmoil over the last 12 to 18 months, companies with promising businesses and paths forward to growth over the next five to 10 years abound.

If you have cash to invest in growth stocks right now -- money that you don't need for bills and other expenses in the foreseeable future and can instead let grow in your portfolio -- here are three names to consider the next time you go stock shopping.

Teladoc Health (TDOC 0.77%)isn't getting points from some investors if you look at its share price alone, but the trajectory of this telehealth business still looks promising even though growth has slowed from its pandemic heights.

Expecting pandemic-level growth to continue indefinitely would not have been realistic. While Teladoc has had to contend with some tough responses from investors partly because of a series of multibillion-dollar impairment charges it took on last year to write down the value of its pandemic acquisition of Livongo, those blistering losses (which were non-cash ones, I might add) appear to be receding slowly but surely.

The company ended the most recent quarter with more than 90 million members using its virtual services, which span from general medicine to dermatology to chronic condition management to mental healthcare. Teladoc serves a broad swath of customers -- from over half of the Fortune 500 to hospitals and health systems to individual healthcare consumers.

Revenue totaled $660 million for the latest three-month period, a solid 8% increase from one year ago. This was driven by an 8% growth in access fee revenue, such as those paid by employers so their workers can access Teladoc's services, and 10% growth in other revenue. The company's domestic revenue was up 7% from one year ago, but its international revenue popped by a whopping 17% on a year-over-year basis.

On the profitability front, Teladoc generated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to the tune of $89 million in the third quarter of 2023, a 73% hike from one year ago. The company also brought in free cash flow of $68 million for the three-month period. This doesn't even come close to looking like the story of a dying company.

Improvements to the bottom line are there, and Teladoc is growing its cash position and witnessing a steady uptick in revenue as its wide range of virtual health services continues to draw members from around the world. These are all good signs for the business moving forward, and patient investors may want to take note.

Etsy (ETSY 2.79%) is one of many e-commerce businesses that has had to contend with a challenging spending environment as fears of a recession remain ongoing and consumer belts remain tight.

Still, that isn't so much an issue to do with the underlying business itself as the environment in which it is operating right now. In the second quarter, Etsy -- which offers handmade and vintage items on its site -- reported gross merchandise sales (GMS) of $3 billion. That's down slightly from the same period in the prior year but up roughly 12% from three years ago. Consolidated revenue totaled about $630 million for the three-month period, up 8% from one year ago.

The Etsy marketplace, which accounts for most revenue and profits generated by the Etsy family of brands, achieved positive GMS growth on a year-over-year basis in May, June, and July, breaking the pattern of a series of months of negative year-over-year comparisons. It's also worth noting that as of the end of the second quarter, GMS per active buyer hit $128, a 28% increase from the same quarter in pre-pandemic 2019.

The company is also proving that even in this environment, it can retain consumer dollars and keep buyers coming back for more. New and reactivated buyers on the Etsy marketplace were up 7% year over year in the second quarter of 2023, while repeat buyers jumped an incredible 140% when compared to that cohort of shoppers four years ago. Etsy also brought in a net profit of more than $136 million in the first six months of 2023.

Over the long run, Etsy could still have plenty of growth to tap into as a leader in a unique niche of the wider e-commerce industry with its focus on specialty, vintage, and handmade goods. Long-term investors can snag a piece of the action.

Fiverr (FVRR 11.03%) got the attention of many investors earlier in the pandemic amid the work-from-home revolution. Although a difficult macro environment means businesses are spending less on talent in general, whether hiring full-time or freelance workers, that doesn't mean that this company is down for the count.

On the contrary, the company operates one of the world's leading platforms that connects freelancers with clients ranging from large public companies to mom-and-pop businesses to individual customers. Although Fiverr hasn't witnessed the explosive growth that it did during the pandemic of late, that doesn't mean the story is over for this business.

In fact, Fiverr has capitalized on the growth trajectory of its business as well as the freelance economy in the last few years to expand its platform's reach and set itself up for competitive growth over the long term. It just launched an AI-powered matching service called Fiverr Neo and introduced new services like Fiverr Business Solutions to help larger organizations connect with freelancers.

The company had 4.2 million active buyers using its platform as of the end of the second quarter. While that was flat on a year-over-year basis, that figure represented a 33% increase from the same quarter three years ago in 2020.

Average spending per buyer on Fiverr in the second quarter was $265, representing just 2% growth from a year ago but 44% growth from three years ago. Also important to note is Fiverr's steady uptick in its take rate of transactions. In the second quarter of 2020, that take rate was 27%. Now, it's just shy of 31%. Fiverr generated more than $32 million in net cash from operating activities in the first half of 2023.

This business is slowly but surely shaping up its financials, and as the macro environment improves with time, it looks well positioned to benefit from a recovery in dollars spent by businesses of all sizes.

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3 Growth Stocks With More Potential Than Any Cryptocurrency - The Motley Fool

Bitcoin has now more doubled in value this year in a surprising resurgence from a tumultuous 2022 that had some skeptics predicting the demise of digital assets. The largest cryptocurrencyby market value rallied for a third day, pushing the price back to around $35,000, the highest level in about 18 months. Bitcoin tumbled 64% last year amid industry scandals and bankruptcies.It reached a record of almost $69,000 in late 2021.Growing expectations that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will authorize exchange-traded funds that invest directly in the cryptocurrency after a decade of deliberation has fueled a more than 25% rally over the past two weeks.Sentiment is clearly bullish as more and more signs start to reveal what appears to be a likely, imminent listing for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the US, said Darius Tabatabai, co-founder at decentralized exchange Vertex Protocol.On Monday, a federal appeals court formalized a victory for Grayscale Investments LLC in its bid to create an ETF based on Bitcoin. Last week, Bitcoin briefly surged 10%, the highest price since August, on an erroneous report that BlackRock Inc had won SEC approval for an ETF.Tabatabai added that the exchange saw a new all-time record for shorts being liquidated over the past 24 hours, with one of the highest volume days ever. Bulls largely came roaring back and brought some much needed optimism to what has been a fairly bleak market for some time, Tabatabai said. Matthew J Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co, LLC, said that geopolitical strains are also contributing to the rally. I think investors are thinking that the increase in geopolitical hotspots in the world is raising the odds crypto will be an important currency quicker than they thought previously, Maley said. The three-day rally is the largest since March. When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, Bitcoin rallied for four consecutive days, climbing above $26,000 for the first time since June of last year. While Bitcoin prices might experience a short-term price pullback, the currency is poised to continue rising over the long term, according to James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares.Before the ETF hype, Bitcoins price closely mirrored the expected probabilities of a December rate hike, Butterfill said. As these probabilities decrease in light of increasing treasury yields, it seems it could further support prices, poising to shape the next bull market for Bitcoin over the longer term.

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Bitcoin has more than doubled this year in resurgence - IndiaTimes

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For over 30 years, "The Simpsons" has been tackling trending topics. On Sunday, the show took on non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

What Happened: Past episodes of "The Simpsons," under the helm of creator Matt Groening, have been known to predict things before they come true. The show even predicted Donald Trumps becoming U.S. president. The newest episode has NFT fans excited. Perhaps "The Simpsons" is predicting a new bull run of the popular digital assets.

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Sunday's "Treehouse of Horror XXXIV," which aired on Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOX)(NASDAQ:FOXA) owned Fox, featured three chapters. "Wild Barts Can't Be Token, the first chapter sees Bart turned into an NFT. His mother, Marge Simpson, goes into the blockchain to rescue him.

Many NFT fans were able to spot references to famous works of digital art throughout the episode including references to digital artist Beeple and the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. Other artwork featured included "The Goose" by Dmirtri Cherniak, artwork from XCOPY, Nyan Cat and CryptoKitties.

Beeple enjoyed the episode, which became the theme of an Everydays daily piece of digital art.

"Impossible to overstate the impact of Simpsons on me growing up, bucket list moment," Beeple tweeted. "Seriously such a MASSIVE part of my childhood and now that I think about it, a lot of my desire to document history through art probably comes from them."

Beeple's daily digital art featured a boy on a bean bag watching "The Simpsons." "12-Year-old Beeple Achievement Unlocked," the artist said.

Chris, the creator of Nyan Cat also took to Twitter, saying that seeing his artwork on "The Simpsons" was "wild."

Several collections paid tribute to The Simpsons shortly after the episode aired, including Springfield Punks by Simpsons parody artist Rino Russo. The NFTs, which were free mint, hit a floor price of over 0.40 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) on Sunday night before falling to 0.15 ETH on Monday and down to 0.05 ETH, or around $92.64 on Tuesday.

Related Link: How To Buy NFTs

Why It's Important: This isnt the first time that The Simpsons mentioned Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). During an episode that aired on Dec. 8, 2013, an episode called "Yellow Subterfuge" revolved around Krusty the Klown going broke.

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Lisa Simpson encourages him to sell the foreign rights to his show for broadcasts in other countries.

Krusty also tells Lisa how he became broke.

"Yeah, all it takes is some bad luck at the ponies, worse luck in the Bitcoin market, heavy investment in a high-end bookmark company," Krusty says.

Bitcoin traded at around $795.87 at the time the episode aired. Anyone who invested when "The Simpsons featured the leading cryptocurrency enjoyed a significant return.

A 2020 episode of "The Simpsons" titled "Frinkcoin" featured Jim Parsons providing education about cryptocurrency.

A 2022 episode also features Krusty the Klown once again sharing that he is broke, this time from investing in NFTs, which he calls "non-funny TV shows."

Another item in the Sunday episode of "The Simpsons" featured a picture of a golden statue, which closely resembles the NFTs from VeVe, a company that Simpsons owner The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) previously partnered with.

As shared previously by Benzinga, Disney partnered with VeVe to launch NFTs based on several of its hit IP, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and "The Simpsons."

In 2021, a golden statue NFT depicts Homer Simpson choking Bart. It was released on VeVe along with a NFT golden state of Bart's skateboard. These pieces of digital art marked the first officially licensed Simpsons digital collectibles.

Some media companies and consumer products companies embraced NFTs. Disney has been relatively quiet outside its partnership with VeVe. Returning CEO Bob Iger praised the technology and said there is a big opportunity for Disney going forward.

A 1997 episode from "The Simpsons" may have predicted the rise of Bitcoin, according to a Reddit thread and post shared by The Chainsaw.

In the episode, a store called "Crypto Barn" is described as a "place for codes." It aired over 10 years before Bitcoin was launched. Its likely a coincidence, but given the show's history of predicting things, the episode might be part of the show's uncanny odds of getting things right.

Read Next: If You Invested $1,000 In Tesla Stock After Elon Musk Appeared On The Simpsons, Heres How Much Youd Have Today

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'The Simpsons' Episode Features NFTs, Inspired Collections Soar In Value: Springfield's History With Cryp - Benzinga

By Dan Cairns, news reporter

Friday 3 November 2023 08:48, UK

Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of defrauding customers of his cryptocurrency exchange out of billions of dollars.

The 31-year-old could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison after stealing money from clients of FTX.

A Manhattan jury convicted him on all seven counts after a month-long trial.

FTX collapsed last November, shocking financial markets and wiping out the crypto tycoon's estimated $26bn (21bn) fortune.

He was arrested in the Bahamas in December and extradited to the US.

Bankman-Fried - who pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five of conspiracy - clasped his hands together as the verdict was delivered.

He admitted "mistakes" in running FTX when he testified last week, but denied stealing at least $10bn of his customers' money.

Prosecutors claimed he used the funds for risky bets at his hedge fund Alameda Research - with a huge financial black hole emerging when crypto markets fell sharply.

FTX abruptly halted withdrawals last November and crypto's second-largest exchange - with more than a million customers - went bankrupt.

Bankman-Fried's fall from grace has seen him compared to well-known financial fraudsters Bernie Madoff and 'Wolf of Wall Street' Jordan Belfort.

"He didn't bargain for his three loyal deputies taking that stand and telling you the truth: that he was the one with the plan, the motive and the greed to raid FTX customer deposits - billions and billions of dollars - to give himself money, power, influence," prosecutor Danielle Sassoon told the jury.

"He thought the rules did not apply to him. He thought that he could get away with it."

Bankman-Fried built 'pyramid of deceit'

He was the mop-haired, cargo short-wearing darling of the crypto world.

Sam Bankman-Fried build the FTX cryptocurrency exchange into a business valued at $32bn.

There were flash TV ads featuring basketball icon Steph Curry and actor Larry David. Tennis star Naomi Osaka wore FTX branded gear and the company logo adorned the stadium of the Miami Heat.

FTX was huge and Sam Bankman-Fried rode high on excess.

Home was a $35m property in the Bahamas, a place where he knew the neighbours - FTX spent $300m buying up vacation properties on the island nation for company staff.

But it was success built on fraudulent foundations.

In the words of the prosecution, Bankman-Fried built a "pyramid of deceit" and treated FTX as his own personal piggy bank, defrauding customers out of more than $10bn.

The consequences of his arrest have since reverberated through the crypto world - other firms have collapsed and there has been a tightening in regulation.

Bankman-Fried's defence lawyers argued that the 31-year-old was simply a "math nerd" who never set out to break the law and was a victim of circumstances beyond his control.

He is the math nerd who can count on a lengthy stay in prison.

Alameda's former CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh pleaded guilty and gave evidence against Bankman-Fried last month.

They said he told them to help Alameda loot funds from FTX and lie to lenders and investors.

The defence claimed the trio had falsely implicated him to get a lighter sentence, but after their testimony Bankman-Fried took the calculated risk to give evidence.

He admitted making a mistake by not having a dedicated risk management team, but claimed he thought Alameda's borrowing from FTX was allowed.

He told the jury he did not realise how big the debts had become until just before both firms collapsed.

Read more:Why industry may never recover from spectacular downfall of 'crypto king'How FTX founder went from 21bn empire to jail

The son of Stanford law professors, and an MIT graduate himself, Bankman-Fried was known for his distinctive curly hair and casual dress - as well as mixing with celebrities.

His trial even heard that he believed he had a chance of one day becoming US president.

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Bankman-Fried had been in custody since August after the judge said he had probably tampered with witnesses and revoked his $250m bail.

He will be sentenced on 28 March 2024.

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Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of defrauding FTX crypto customers out of billions of dollars - Sky News