As for second best, I'd say it's Ethereum. It's second best as an investment, it has a big community which makes it seem more reliable than many other coins, and it's been around for a long time as a consistent #2 after Bitcoin.
Some people would think that their's no second best to Bitcoin well they might be partially right cause if you check the community behind Bitcoin and how it's price has attained some certain level, you'll see that there's no other Cryptocurrency that comes closer but then I won't leave out Ethereum, ETH might be no where close to BTC but it has value and it's market value is okay as Well and
I believe if Bitcoin never existed, ETH would've been the best Cryptocurrency asset for investment. However, I love Bitcoin for it's transpiracy, it's blockchain is the most confidential block explorer used as a search tool for crypto transactions and I consider it the best Cryptocurrency asset that anyone would think of holding for a long term purpose, I picture Bitcoin as the future of money and we'll see how possible it come be in future.
If BTC had never existed , ETH would never have appeared because all altcoins were created based on bitcoin , copying ideas from bitcoin and even ETH.
I'm not a bitcoin maximalist but I have to admit that bitcoin is the best and only currency we should own long term and for our actual uses. The rest of the market is no different from speculation , so we need to be more careful instead of looking for another coin to put our trust in instead of bitcoin. ETH may not be close to bitcoin but it is really big but that is not enough for me to have long term faith in it . The crypto industry is very new and things are developing very fast and anything can happen so I wouldn't put my hopes on any other project other than bitcoin.
Well, Bitcoin is the father of all existing Cryptocurrencies and with the popularity that it's name has garnered among investors and non investors, it stands among one of the best currencies in the world with a sure hedge against inflation and with it being a good store of value as time progresses.
If one is considering investing in assets that is privately owned and obscure from those around, Bitcoin ranks more than gold or any other physical asset in this regard and with it being more secure and private, am sure any true investor can build up wealth in silence until it is time to liquidate or diversify into more physical assets.
I think Etherum comes second to none both with its own original idea that serves a purpose for both NFT and non NFT users.