S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched a new rules-based digital asset index designed to measure protocol activity using blockchain revenue rather than token prices or pure market-cap rankings. The move signals a broader push in crypto benchmark design: shifting from “token-driven” to “product-driven” metrics that aim to capture which networks are generating sustained economic usage.

According to a joint announcement from the firms, the index’s starting point is the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index, but it filters and ranks only networks that clear minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization, and liquidity. Networks that qualify are then ranked by aggregate protocol revenue over the prior two quarters and weighted using adjusted market capitalization, with portfolio concentration controls including a 35% cap on the largest holding and generally 20% caps on the rest. The index is rebalanced quarterly and is positioned for institutional allocation, potentially serving as a reference for investment products and actively managed digital asset portfolios.

Key takeaways

• S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital created an index that prioritizes protocol revenue—attempting to reflect real network activity beyond token price movements.
• The methodology screens for protocol revenue, market capitalization, and liquidity before ranking networks by revenue over the previous two quarters.
• Weights are derived from adjusted market capitalization, with concentration limits (35% for the top holding and generally 20% for others) and quarterly rebalancing.
• The index launched with 18 constituents, topped by Ether, BNB, Solana, TRON, and Hyperliquid.
• The launch adds to S&P’s expanding suite of digital-asset benchmarks and aligns with a wider industry trend toward institution-oriented crypto indices.

A benchmark built on protocol revenue

The core difference between this new product and many traditional crypto indexes is its selection logic. Rather than treating the market as a direct proxy for network value, the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index is built to distinguish established blockchain activity from speculative exposure by focusing on protocol revenue generation.

In practical terms, the index starts from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index universe, then applies eligibility thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization, and liquidity. Only networks that meet those requirements proceed to the ranking stage. The ranking itself uses aggregate protocol revenue over the prior two quarters, which helps smooth short-term spikes in activity while still tying inclusion to measurable economic output.

The weighting approach then blends that revenue filter with market-scale considerations: after ranking, constituents are weighted by adjusted market capitalization. The index’s structure includes explicit limits to reduce the risk of any single network dominating performance—an important feature for institutional users accustomed to diversified benchmark behavior.

For readers, the key implication is that this index may behave differently than market-cap-led benchmarks during periods when token prices and on-chain economics diverge. By construction, the methodology aims to reduce reliance on token market sentiment as the primary inclusion and weighting driver.

What the initial portfolio looks like

At launch, the index included 18 constituents. S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Indexology blog post, published alongside the rollout, listed Ether (ETH), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), TRON (TRX), and Hyperliquid (HYPE) as the five largest holdings.

That same blog post compared the new revenue-based selection against the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index and identified Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP (XRP) as the largest non-constituents under the new framework. The contrast highlights the asymmetry created by protocol-revenue methodology: even when a token is highly liquid or widely traded, it may be excluded if it does not meet the index’s protocol revenue criteria and related eligibility thresholds.

In other words, this benchmark is not attempting to replicate “the biggest coins by market size.” Instead, it is explicitly designed around a different question: which blockchain networks generate enough protocol revenue—relative to their market presence—to qualify for institutional-style basket inclusion.

Institutional use cases and the ETF backdrop

In its announcement, S&P positioned the index for institutional allocation and noted that it may serve as the basis for investment products or act as a reference benchmark for actively managed portfolios. While the filing does not automatically mean a spot ETF or any particular product will follow, it does reflect the growing role of index providers in turning crypto market theory into investable benchmarks.

This launch arrives as major market participants continue building multi-asset and rules-based frameworks that can be used by asset managers operating under traditional risk and governance expectations.

Cointelegraph previously reported that Hashdex launched the Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF on Feb. 14, 2025, described as the first multi-asset spot crypto exchange-traded fund in the United States. Shortly afterward, Franklin Templeton introduced the Franklin Crypto Index ETF on Feb. 20, 2025, tracking Bitcoin and Ether via the US CF Institutional Digital Asset Index, which is market-cap weighted.

The sector’s “index first” momentum has also extended beyond the strict boundaries of spot crypto. Earlier reporting cited MarketVector Indexes and Coinbase Asset Management launching the Coinbase Store of Value Index in April, a benchmark combining Bitcoin and tokenized gold using an inverse-volatility weighting model—an example of how crypto benchmarks are increasingly packaged alongside traditional diversifiers.

Separately, Cointelegraph noted remarks from Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan arguing that crypto index funds would be “a big deal in 2026” as the market grows more complex and investors seek broader exposure rather than trying to predict which networks become long-term winners. While Hougan’s comments were framed as forward-looking, they map closely to the rationale behind S&P and Pantera’s protocol-revenue approach: diversification is easier to justify when the benchmark rules are transparent and grounded in a defined economic metric.

S&P’s expanding crypto benchmark lineup

This new index is also part of a wider pattern inside S&P Dow Jones Indices: the provider has been building digital-asset benchmark offerings intended to translate crypto performance into familiar institutional product structures.

In October, S&P Dow Jones Indices introduced the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index, a composite that combines 15 cryptocurrencies with 35 publicly traded companies tied to the crypto ecosystem. The contrast with the new revenue-based index is instructive. The Digital Markets 50 Index uses a cross-asset structure spanning token networks and equity exposure, while the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index focuses on network economic activity and liquidity criteria—narrowing the lens from “crypto as an industry” to “crypto as protocol usage.”

Both initiatives reflect the same broad direction: building benchmarks that can support institutional research, portfolio construction, and eventually product engineering.

Looking ahead, investors and index users will likely focus on two practical questions: how the protocol revenue thresholds and revenue-based ranking hold up as network economics evolve, and whether future constituents shift meaningfully as quarterly rebalancing updates the revenue inputs. The index’s concentration caps should help manage risk, but the biggest watch item will be whether the revenue filter consistently separates durable network activity from short-lived speculative cycles.

Senate Republicans have released the proposed text for the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, including language on ethics that would bar all US federal officials — including President Donald Trump — from issuing or sponsoring any digital asset.

In the 616-page text of the CLARITY Act made public on Wednesday, US lawmakers included language that the White House described as the “most comprehensive and wide-ranging ethics provision in history.“ The bill said all public officials, employees and their spouses would be barred from issuing or sponsoring digital assets and crypto platforms would similarly be blocked from listing assets issued or sponsored by federal officials.

Text of CLARITY Act released on Wednesday. Source: Cynthia Lummis

According to Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s chief advocates, the ethics provisions would also apply to Trump, who faces significant pushback from lawmakers over earning more than $1.4 billion in 2025 from his crypto ventures. The ban on public officials would only be temporary, expiring on Jan. 20, 2029 — the day Trump’s second term as president will end. 

The US Attorney General will largely be responsible for enforcing the ban rather than state authorities. As of Wednesday, Trump’s former personal attorney and acting AG Todd Blanche was awaiting a Senate confirmation vote to head the Justice Department.

“I wouldn’t support the bill if that’s the language,” said Senator Angela Alsobrooks in a Tuesday statement to Politico on having the DoJ behind enforcement of ethics. “But we’ll keep working from that floor to reach an agreement that holds us all accountable.”

The CLARITY Act, which awaits a potential vote in the Senate before returning to the House of Representatives and possibly Trump’s desk, still needs support from several Democratic lawmakers to meet a 60-vote threshold. Many Democrats have explicitly said that they will not vote for any bill without strong ethics language to address what some have called the president’s “crypto corruption.”

Will enough Democrats sign onto the bill?

Notably, CLARITY’s ethics provisions did not appear to include children of public officials in its temporary ban. All three of Trump’s sons are co-founders of his family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business, and two launched a Bitcoin (BTC) mining company, American Bitcoin.

“This bill applies one ethics standard to everyone, including the President of the United States, and backs it up with real enforcement, real penalties, and a Department of Justice mandate to act,” said Lummis on behalf of the US Senate Banking Committee’s subcommittee on digital assets. “This is not talk.”

Related: Nigerian president signs order on approach to crypto regulation, taxes

Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly plans to put CLARITY up for a vote on the Senate floor sometime next week regardless of whether it has enough support from Democrats to pass. The chamber only has a few weeks to hold a vote before it breaks for state work periods.

“[E]thics is far from the only thing at stake,“ said Solana Policy Institute President Kristin Smith in reaction to the CLARITY text. “The Senate has added a full disclosure regime, an entire illicit finance section, and improved spot market regulation […] The Senate has a real chance to pass durable, bipartisan market structure legislation.“

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An affiliate of the cryptocurrency-aligned political action committee (PAC) Fairshake is attempting to influence voters in a primary race for Michigan’s 13th congressional district, with about $1 million in media on the line.

In filings with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) as of Tuesday, the Protect Progress PAC had spent more than $986,000 on ads supportive of Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar and opposing his challenger, Donavan McKinney. The reported expenditures came two weeks before the Democratic candidates were set to face off in an Aug. 4 primary to determine who will stand in the November general election.

Source: FEC

The media spending echoed Protect Progress’ moves from 2024, when the PAC spent about $1 million supporting Thanedar. That year, he defeated Democratic primary candidates with 54.9% of the vote, and Republican and other party challengers in the November election with 68.6%. 

Fairshake and its affiliates reported having $191 million in their war chest to potentially influence voters in key elections. The PACs are just a few of many aligned with the industry attempting to send what they consider “pro-crypto” candidates to the next US Congress. Others included Fellowship, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and Anchorage Digital, and the Blockchain Leadership Fund, a hybrid PAC backed by Anchorage and Chainlink Labs.

Related: Crypto-backed candidates notch wins in three US state primaries

McKinney did not run against Thanedar in 2024, nor had he appeared to have made any significant public statement directly supporting or opposing digital assets. Thanedar, in contrast, voted for many crypto-related bills while serving in the House of Representatives, including the CLARITY Act, GENIUS Act and Promoting Innovation in Blockchain Development Act. He also reportedly lost more than $600,000 in the second quarter of 2026 after investing $3.7 million of campaign funds into crypto companies.

“Shri has voted for every bill [Donald] Trump and the crypto lobby have brought to Congress,” said McKinney in a Tuesday statement on the PAC spending, adding:

“The crypto lobby is paying my opponent back for helping Trump make over $1 billion since taking office.”

PAC’s sights set on Washington as well

In addition to Protect Progress’ activity in Michigan, the PAC spent more than $100,000 on media supporting Representative Greg Stanton’s reelection bid in Arizona. Like Thanedar, Stanton voted in favor of CLARITY and GENIUS in the House. He won his primary on Tuesday for Arizona’s 4th congressional district with 65% of the vote.

The state of Washington’s party primaries, also scheduled for Aug. 4, could see some influence from a Fairshake affiliate. According to FEC filings, the Defend American Jobs PAC spent more than $65,000 on media to support Amanda McKinney, a Republican running for Washington’s 4th district who has made at least one public statement supporting crypto. Representative Dan Newhouse announced in 2025 that he would not pursue reelection in the district.

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Coinbase shares have fallen 4% to about $169 on July 22 as the CLARITY Act’s 2026 passage odds dropped 15 percentage points from the previous day’s peak.

Polymarket data places the bill’s chance of passing before the end of 2026 at 37%, down from 52% on July 21, after disagreements emerged over how proposed ethics restrictions should be enforced.

President Donald Trump had agreed to include ethics provisions in the market structure bill, helping lift the probability on Polymarket and sending COIN stock 9% higher on July 21. The compromise, however, failed to secure enough support after some Democratic senators objected to assigning enforcement responsibility to the U.S. Department of Justice instead of state attorneys general.

Senator Angela Alsobrooks described the White House proposal as an “unserious offer” and stated that senators would continue working on language capable of holding all parties accountable. Her comments weakened expectations that the latest concession would end the dispute holding up the legislation.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis also indicated that the text was not ready for a procedural vote. According to Tillis, lawmakers still need to make changes before senators can support advancing the bill, leaving its timetable uncertain despite the renewed negotiations.

Falling bill odds have interrupted COIN’s rebound

Monday’s policy optimism helped Coinbase shares close above $170 for the first time since June 2, but the rally lost momentum as the disagreement in Washington returned. TradingView data shows COIN opened at $172.25 on July 22, reached $174.96 and fell as low as $168.32 before trading near $169.11.

On the daily chart, the latest advance also pushed COIN above a descending trendline drawn from its May high. Tuesday’s decline brought the stock back below the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $170.89, making that level the first resistance buyers need to recover.

Momentum readings still show some support beneath the pullback. The chart’s moving average convergence divergence line has moved above its signal line, while the histogram has turned positive, a combination that TradingView’s indicator readings associate with improving bullish momentum.

COIN’s relative strength index stands at 53.68, above its moving average of 49.70 and well below overbought territory. According to the chart, this neutral-to-positive reading gives buyers room to extend the recovery if the stock retakes $170.89 and attracts follow-through demand.

Above that barrier, the Fibonacci retracement identifies $180.70 as the next resistance, followed by $190.51 and $202.65. A close above the $180.70 midpoint would strengthen the recovery case and place the psychological $200 area close to the 23.6% retracement.

Failure to reclaim $170.89 would leave COIN exposed to the 78.6% Fibonacci level at $156.92. The chart places the full retracement at $139.13, although the July price structure also shows several recent lows around $150 that could offer support before the stock reaches the lower target.

Bitcoin’s recovery to around $66,000 may provide an additional catalyst because Coinbase earns part of its revenue from crypto trading. Raymond James, however, expects subdued market activity to weigh on the company’s performance and has initiated coverage with a $158 price target, roughly 6.5% below COIN’s quoted level near $169.

Oppenheimer previously lowered its Coinbase target to $209, also citing soft spot-trading volumes during the crypto downturn. Despite its cautious stock forecast, Raymond James estimated that Coinbase’s expanding product range, including prediction markets, could eventually produce more than $100 million in annualized revenue.

New products and an SEC settlement support the business case

Coinbase added another service on July 22 by opening SUI staking to eligible customers. According to the exchange, users can begin with one SUI and earn estimated annual rewards ranging from 1.4% to 3.3% while keeping their tokens in their Coinbase accounts, although availability varies by location.

Alongside the product rollout, Coinbase secured a $150,000 settlement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over missing communications from former Chair Gary Gensler. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal disclosed the agreement on July 22, ending the exchange’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the regulator.

Under the settlement described by Grewal, the SEC will pay Coinbase and revise its record-retention rules after nearly 11 months of Gensler’s text messages were lost. Grewal wrote that the agency blamed a process that “automatically wiped” certain data, including communications Coinbase had requested while investigating how senior officials approached crypto policy and enforcement.

Coinbase had also sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2024 for records it believed could reveal efforts by U.S. regulators to limit crypto companies’ access to banking services. The SEC agreement resolves only the related records case, but it adds a legal win as investors assess the exchange’s regulatory position.

Attention now turns to Coinbase’s second-quarter results, scheduled for July 30. Analysts expect earnings of $0.19 per share, compared with a loss of $1.49 per share in the first quarter, making trading revenue, new services and management’s outlook key tests for COIN after its policy-driven rally.

Tesla has kept its 11,509 Bitcoin reserve unchanged while recording a $112 million after-tax loss on digital assets during the second quarter.

Tesla’s second-quarter shareholder update showed that the electric vehicle maker neither bought nor sold Bitcoin during the three months ended June 30. The decision extended a holding pattern that began after the company sold most of its original position in 2022.

Bitcoin’s sharp decline during the quarter reduced the reported value of Tesla’s remaining crypto assets. The cryptocurrency traded near $83,000 at the start of the period before falling as low as $58,000 in late June.

By the time Tesla released its results, Bitcoin had recovered to about $65,840. The rebound came too late to reverse the loss recorded for the reporting period because Tesla’s digital assets are measured using their fair value at the applicable reporting date.

Tesla adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s updated crypto accounting standard in 2024. Under those rules, eligible crypto assets are valued at current market prices, with quarterly gains or losses recognized through earnings.

The $112 million figure should therefore be described as an after-tax fair-value or mark-to-market loss, rather than an impairment charge under the accounting model Tesla previously used. The former impairment system generally required companies to record declines while preventing them from recognizing recoveries unless the assets were sold.

Tesla’s Bitcoin reserve remains untouched

Tesla’s reported balance of 11,509 BTC has remained unchanged across recent quarterly disclosures. At Bitcoin’s price of roughly $65,840 following the earnings release, the position was worth about $758 million, although its accounting value depends on the price used at the quarter’s close.

Arkham Intelligence also tracks 11,509 BTC in wallets associated with Tesla, placing the company among the largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holders. Tesla’s continued ownership contrasts with its decision to sell about 75% of its holdings during the second quarter of 2022.

The company entered the market in February 2021, when an SEC filing disclosed that Tesla had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin under a revised investment policy. Tesla said at the time that the purchase was intended to diversify its cash holdings and provide additional flexibility.

Following that investment, Tesla briefly allowed customers in the United States to buy vehicles with Bitcoin. Chief Executive Elon Musk suspended the payment option in May 2021, citing concerns about the use of fossil fuels in Bitcoin mining and transactions.

Tesla later converted roughly $936 million of Bitcoin into cash during the 2022 sale. Musk attributed the decision to uncertainty over COVID-related restrictions in China and the company’s desire to strengthen its cash position, rather than a loss of confidence in Bitcoin.

Since completing that disposal, Tesla has retained its remaining coins through several large price cycles. Its position survived Bitcoin’s fall below $16,000 in late 2022, the cryptocurrency’s subsequent recovery, and the latest decline toward $58,000.

No statement in Tesla’s second-quarter materials indicated that the company plans to restart Bitcoin purchases or reduce the reserve. Its unchanged balance instead continued the passive approach visible in its disclosures since the 2022 sale.

Tesla had recorded a $173 million after-tax digital-asset loss in the first quarter of 2026, according to its previous earnings report. Bitcoin declined from about $90,000 at the beginning of that period to roughly $68,000 by the end of March, reducing the value assigned to the same 11,509-coin position.

Revenue growth fails to prevent an earnings miss

Tesla’s core business delivered mixed second-quarter results while the Bitcoin loss weighed on its reported numbers. The company generated $28.2 billion in revenue, beating Wall Street’s estimate of approximately $26.4 billion and rising from $22.5 billion a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings came in at $0.33 per share, however, missing analysts’ expectations. Tesla also reported net income of about $1.11 billion, compared with $1.17 billion during the corresponding quarter of 2025.

Vehicle deliveries supported the revenue increase after Tesla handed over 480,126 cars during the quarter. The company’s delivery report put the total about 25% above the year-earlier period and made it one of Tesla’s strongest quarters by vehicle volume.

Profitability remained under pressure despite the sales recovery. Tesla reported an automotive gross margin of 16.3%, excluding regulatory credits, up from about 15% one year earlier but below the 19.2% recorded in the first quarter of 2026.

Heavy spending also pushed Tesla’s free cash flow to negative $1.1 billion, according to its shareholder update. The company ended the quarter with approximately $43.5 billion in cash and investments while continuing to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure, manufacturing projects, robotaxis and the Optimus humanoid robot.

Against those larger expenses, the $112 million digital-asset loss represented one volatile component of Tesla’s results rather than a cash outflow caused by a Bitcoin sale. Tesla’s filings show that the company still owns the same number of coins, leaving the reported value of the position exposed to Bitcoin’s price at future quarter-end dates.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital launched a digital asset index that tracks blockchain networks and protocols based on protocol revenue, marking a departure from crypto benchmarks built around market capitalization or token prices.

The index draws from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index but only includes assets that meet minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization and liquidity. Eligible networks are then ranked by aggregate protocol revenue over the previous two quarters and weighted by adjusted market capitalization, with the largest holding capped at 35% and the remaining constituents generally capped at 20%. The index is rebalanced quarterly.

According to an announcement from the companies, the benchmark is intended for institutional allocation and may serve as the basis for investment products or as a reference for actively managed digital asset portfolios. S&P said the rules-based framework is designed to distinguish established blockchain activity from speculative exposure.

The index launched with 18 constituents, with Ether (ETH), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), TRON (TRX) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) as its five largest holdings, according to an S&P Dow Jones Indices Indexology blog post. The blog identified Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP (XRP) as the largest non-constituents compared with the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index, reflecting the benchmark’s protocol revenue-based selection methodology.

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The launch also builds on S&P Dow Jones Indices’ broader expansion into digital asset benchmarks. Last October, the index provider introduced the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index, which combines 15 cryptocurrencies with 35 publicly traded companies tied to the crypto ecosystem.

Source: Tron DAO

Asset managers expand crypto index offerings

The debut follows a broader industry push to develop institutional-grade benchmarks for digital assets as traditional finance firms expand crypto offerings and tokenized assets gain traction.

Hashdex launched the Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF on Feb. 14, 2025, the first multi-asset spot crypto exchange-traded fund in the United States. Franklin Templeton followed six days later with the Franklin Crypto Index ETF, a market capitalization-weighted fund tracking Bitcoin and Ether through the US CF Institutional Digital Asset Index.

The trend continued in April when MarketVector Indexes and Coinbase Asset Management launched the Coinbase Store of Value Index, a benchmark combining Bitcoin and tokenized gold using an inverse-volatility weighting model to provide diversified exposure to the assets.

In December, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said “crypto index funds are going to be a big deal in 2026” as the market becomes more complex and investors seek broader exposure to digital assets. He argued that predicting which blockchain networks would emerge as long-term winners was increasingly difficult, making diversified index products a practical way to gain market exposure.

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