Crypto index comparison, tier 2
Single-Asset Reference Rates Alternative: CCi30 vs Single-Asset Reference Rates
The CCi30 Cryptocurrency Index is the rules-based alternative to the Single-Asset Reference Rates. This page reviews the Single-Asset Reference Rates (CME CF BRR, Nasdaq CME Crypto rates, XBX, ETHX, et al.) under the eight-criterion CCi30 test and compares both indices on universe, weighting, independence, track record, and investability.
What is the alternative to the Single-Asset Reference Rates?
The CCi30 Cryptocurrency Index replaces the Single-Asset Reference Rates 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 they are
The institutional plumbing of crypto: once-daily or real-time fixings for individual assets, CME CF’s BRR settling CME futures, Nasdaq CME Crypto Indices’ asset rates and ratio indices (e.g., the Ether/Bitcoin ratio), CoinDesk’s XBX, FT Wilshire’s blended and settlement price library.
Analysis
These are prices, not indices of a market, and the persistent institutional habit of calling them “indices” manufactures confusion this page exists to dispel. A reference rate answers what is one bitcoin worth? with admirable rigor. It cannot answer what did the cryptocurrency market do?, the question every allocator, risk model, and performance report actually needs answered, and the question only a broad, weighted, rules-based composite like the CCi30 addresses. The two instruments are complements: the CCi30 could consume any of these fixings as inputs. They are not competitors, and any institution benchmarking a diversified mandate to a single-asset rate has substituted a component for the system.
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.