S & P and Pantera launch cryptocurrency indices led by ETH, BNB and SOL

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital jointly launch S & P Pantera Digital Asset Index

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital jointly launched the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index. The index is a new benchmark that screens digital assets through revenue, market value and liquidity indicators.

Summary

Standard & Poor's and Pantera have launched an index of 18 tokens specifically for institutional investors, focusing on income-generating digital assets. Currently, Ethereum (ETH), BNB, Solana (SOL), Wave Field (TRX) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) rank among the top five positions in the index. The benchmark first screens tokens by revenue, liquidity and market value before applying cap market value weighting. The two companies announced the launch of the product on July 21, while S & P index materials show its official release date is July 20. According to an official announcement, the index currently holds 18 digital assets and targets institutional investors seeking to track the broader part of the crypto market in a structured manner. According to S & P Dow Jones Indices, the top five component assets are Ethereum (ETH), BNB, Solana (SOL), Wave Field (TRX) and Hyperliquid (HYPE). This choice makes the benchmark different from crypto products that are highly concentrated in Bitcoin or rank assets only by market cap. S & P said the index focuses on agreements that demonstrate continued economic activity through agreement-level revenue.

Income rules shape the S & P Pantera Digital Assets Index

The index first selects assets from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index and then applies multiple qualification tests. The market value of newly incorporated component assets must exceed US$500 million and the liquidity ratio must be higher than 0.5. The market value threshold for existing component assets was lowered to US$250 million. The screening process then narrows the range of eligible assets to assets that meet the requirements of this benchmark economic activity. After preliminary screening, the index ranks eligible assets based on revenue generated in the past two quarters and continues to include assets until the selected asset group accounts for 99% of the total revenue of eligible assets. Standard & Poor's uses Artemis data to measure agreement-level revenue. The index then weights component assets based on adjusted market capitalizations and limits the maximum position to 35% and all other positions to 20%, at each rebalance. Cathy Clay, CEO of S & P Dow Jones Indices, said the company built the benchmark "around a fundamentals, economic-oriented framework designed for diversified investment portfolios." This structure allows the index to serve both as a benchmark for proactive strategies and as a potential basis for future index-linked investment products. Standard & Poor's also pointed out that negotiated revenue is a regular measure of economic activity rather than a forecast of future investor returns.

ETH, BNB and SOL lead the 18 token basket

The current top ten positions show how revenue screening is changing the composition of broad crypto benchmarks. Ethereum ranks among the largest component assets along with BNB and SOL, while TRX and HYPE rank among the top five. As such, the basket includes smart contract platforms and transaction infrastructure that generate measurable activity in its network. This approach also reduces the weight on token popularity itself. Dan Morehead, founder and managing partner of Pantera Capital, said: "The biggest friction point in the crypto space has never changed, and that is how assets are allocated." Pantera contributed digital asset research and governance experience to the project, while S & P provided its index design and administrative framework. The launch is the latest move by S & P Dow Jones to expand its digital asset portfolio. S & P previously announced plans to launch the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index in 2025, which combines 15 cryptocurrencies with 35 crypto-related public companies. The product takes a broader ecosystem approach, while the new Pantera Index narrows its screening around ongoing agreement revenue and economic activity.

Institutional encryption benchmarks continue to expand

Other financial market operators have also launched basket crypto products for professional investors. In June, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group launched Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures linked to eight major digital assets. This cash-settled contract provides investors with a regulated way to gain or hedge exposure to multiple cryptocurrencies without directly holding each base token. At the same time, S & P continues to advance work on connecting existing benchmarks with blockchain infrastructure. In April this year, S & P Dow Jones Indices and Kaiko announced plans to bring the iBoxx U.S. Treasury index to the Canton Network. The project aims to support index-linked products through on-chain index data, licensing terms and access controls. The S & P Pantera Digital Assets Index adds another model to this growing benchmark product set. The index does not build a basket based solely on market value, but rather screens for income and liquidity before applying cap market value weights. The composition of its 18 tokens and the current top ten positions make ETH, BNB, SOL, TRX and HYPE the core of the benchmark at the time of launch. S & P said the index could serve as a reference point for active managers and potential index-linked products. However, investors cannot directly invest in the index, and any investment products based on the index will be issued separately by a third party. The composition of the index may also change in future rebalances, depending on whether assets meet their screening rules.