Contrary to Hollywood portrayals, it\u2019s not all \u201cmodels and bottles\u201d for portfolio managers, unless those bottles solely contain aspirin and the models they are chasing can be found in a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day (or, more likely, quarter), portfolio managers must show they can add value or else clients will find someone who can or even just buy an index fund.<\/p>\n
Those same institutions that measured themselves against such benchmarks are now turning to bitcoin. Along with it comes interest in alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins).<\/p>\n
Five years ago, there may have been more than a few cryptos out there, but bitcoin accounted for roughly 95% of the entire market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies. In early 2018, it was just about a third of crypto\u2019s market cap as the initial coin offering (ICO) boom led to a plethora of new entrants. Many of the early alternatives died out but others did not (hello, ether). As recently as a year ago, bitcoin boasted 70% of the aggregate market cap. Today, bitcoin has only a little above 40%.<\/p>\n
What the DACS?<\/b><\/h2>\n
New entrants have once more grabbed the market\u2019s attention. Some appear to be more than a flash in the pan. Many will never catch fire. By CoinMarketCap\u2019s count, there are 15,765 cryptocurrencies as of Friday morning in New York, and that number grows every day, it seems, with many of those listed not trading on any markets at all.<\/p>\n
This past week, CoinDesk announced the launch of something called the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS)<\/a>. It covers the top 500 cryptocurrencies by market cap, a reasonable limit on the universe of relevant currencies. The goal is to give investors a sense of where a coin fits in this universe. It answers questions like, \u201cWhat are its peers?\u201d and \u201cWhat are its main competitors?\u201d<\/p>\n The six sectors identified are currency, smart contract platform, DeFi, entertainment, computing and digitization. Those, in turn, are broken down into industry groups which, in turn, are each made up of industries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n