21Shares and CoinGecko Release The Global Crypto Classification Standard Report

21Shares AG ("21Shares"), the world's largest issuer of cryptocurrency exchange traded products (ETPs) and a subsidiary of 21.co, today released The Global Crypto Classification Standard report, in partnership with CoinGecko – the world's largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregator. The report creates a uniform way to categorize cryptoassets, so investors and regulators can better understand the nuances within the asset class. Unlike traditional financial assets, crypto varies drastically from one asset to another – creating a need for a standard way to summarize and understand the different assets. In order to solve this, the methodology introduced is composed of three levels of categorization, with each cryptoasset falling into one option within each level. The levels include:

• Level 1: Crypto Stack (i.e. cryptocurrencies, smart contract platforms, decentralized applications (dApps))
• Level 2: Market Mapping by Sectors (i.e. infrastructure, metaverse, decentralized finance) and Industries (i.e. developer tooling, payment platform, credit/lending)
• Level 3: Taxonomy of Cryptoassets (i.e. cryptocurrency, staked currency, governance token and more)

“Crypto is still in the early days – but it is key to have a standard way to classify the asset class so investors can understand both the commonalities and differences between the various assets,” said Eliézer Ndinga, Director of Research at 21.co, parent company of 21Shares. “Upon meeting with CoinGecko, we knew the company’s independent nature and reputation as a one-stop-shop to learn about new projects in the crypto space made them the right partner for this type of initiative.” In addition to the report published today, 21Shares and CoinGecko used the methodology proposed to evaluate the Top 100 crypto assets by market capitalization. The classification – done in partnership between the two companies – will be available on the CoinGecko website by summer of 2023. “Being able to systematically rank and classify cryptoassets, based on a research-driven approach, aligns well with our mission as an independent cryptocurrency data aggregator,” said Bobby Ong, COO and co-founder of CoinGecko. “We’re thrilled to team up with 21Shares to provide consumers worldwide with a framework to anchor on, as the space evolves.”