Crypto index comparison, tier 4
FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series Alternative: CCi30 Compared
The CCi30 Cryptocurrency Index is the rules-based alternative to the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series. This page reviews the five sector indices under the eight-criterion CCi30 test and compares both approaches on universe, weighting, independence, track record, and investability.
What is the alternative to the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series?
The CCi30 Cryptocurrency Index replaces the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series for investors who need a whole-market benchmark. The CCi30 holds the 30 largest cryptocurrencies by smoothed market capitalization, weights them by the square root of that figure, excludes stablecoins by rule, and has published live values since 1 January 2015.
- 30 constituents
- Square-root weighting
- Stablecoins excluded by rule
- Live since 1 January 2015
- Independent, fully rules-based
What is the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series?
Launched on 24 October 2023 by FTSE Russell with Grayscale Investments, then described in the announcement as the world’s largest crypto asset manager, the Crypto Sector Index Series comprises five rules-based sector indices built on the Grayscale Crypto Sectors taxonomy. The five are Currencies, Smart Contract Platforms, Financials, Consumer & Culture, and Utilities & Services. Coverage extends to more than 150 protocols and is reassessed quarterly.
Where the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series falls short statistically
The manager-conflict argument at maximum scale
Every argument this site makes about asset-manager-branded benchmarks applies here with the largest possible coefficient.
The taxonomy that organizes the asset class is co-authored by the manager with the largest product shelf in that asset class, whose funds benefit from the categories that frame them. When the firm selling sector products also defines the sectors, the map has been drawn by the largest landowner.
Taxonomy is a judgment dressed as a measurement
Sector classification presupposes stable industrial categories in a market that is two engineering cycles away from reorganizing itself.
It is the same critique this site applies to MSCI’s thematic cuts. The launch materials illustrate the problem in one line: the Currencies sector groups Bitcoin with Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Stellar and Zcash, a set of pairings that is an analyst’s opinion, and a dated one, presented as structure. Market capitalization is the market’s own classification, revealed by capital at risk. The CCi30 Cryptocurrency Index makes no taxonomic bets, because an index’s job is to record the market’s verdicts rather than to author them.
Sectors are slices, not the market
Five sector indices multiply licensing SKUs while providing no answer to the first-order question, which is what the crypto market actually did. The series is a distribution architecture for a specialized view, as the announcement states plainly: the framework “formalizes our specialized view of the crypto landscape.”
Should the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Indices be used as a crypto market benchmark?
Institutionally weighty and structurally conflicted: a sector taxonomy authored by the asset class’s largest manager, licensed through a major index brand, answering questions no allocator asked while the whole-market question goes unaddressed. For the market itself, one number has existed since 2015, and no one who sells products in that market helped write it.
Method and sources
Methodology facts on this page come from the published documents of the provider; constituent lists change and should be re-verified before citation. The CCi30 rules are published in the methodology manual. The full comparison set is on the crypto index comparison hub, and the allocation calculator shows the CCi30 basket for any amount.