Crypto asset manager Grayscale said on Nov. 12 that differences in business models, adoption, and token economics—the rules governing supply and holder incentives—were widening investment opportunities beyond bitcoin. Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s head of research, and Charlie Perkins, research associate, outlined the findings in their assessment of crypto’s expanding investment opportunities.

The commentary stated:

“As crypto matures, investors have more opportunities to seek differentiated returns through sector and asset selection beyond bitcoin exposure alone.”

Common market forces remain powerful, the authors noted, even as sectors become less correlated.

Over three years, bitcoin explained about half the differences in how much sector returns rose or fell in the firm’s analysis of crypto investment risk. The comparison used the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sectors, indexes grouping digital assets by function and use case. Among the 10 largest non-stablecoin assets, six different cryptocurrencies led quarterly performance over two years; bitcoin topped none of those quarters. The performance comparison used data through Nov. 4.

Grayscale’s earnings-based approach to token valuations examines fees generated by trading, lending, and other applications, alongside operating costs and distributions. Buybacks repurchase tokens, while staking rewards compensate holders who commit assets to support a network or protocol. New issuance creates tokens, and unlocks release previously restricted holdings; both can increase circulating supply and offset those benefits.

Tokenized equities provide another example of how adoption can affect networks differently. In July, Grayscale identified Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Canton Network, a public blockchain built for regulated markets, as potential beneficiaries of equity tokenization. Its analysis distinguished third-party wrappers, tokens representing claims on shares held through a separate entity, from issuer-sponsored shares issued directly on a blockchain. These models and regulated securities infrastructure could favor different networks.

That focus extends Grayscale’s broader argument about crypto’s role alongside concentrated stock holdings. In September, Pandl argued that digital assets could diversify crowded equity exposure without replacing stocks as a core holding. The latest findings address a separate question: how exposures differ within crypto itself.

Bitcoin’s annualized realized volatility, a measure of historical price fluctuations, was in the mid-40% range as of Oct. 31, down from triple-digit levels in earlier cycles, according to Grayscale. Extreme moves and momentum remain defining characteristics, with gains clustering and reversals turning sharp. Lower historical volatility therefore coexists with substantial price risk.

Schwab’s analysis of crypto portfolio allocations offers a complementary qualification: even small bitcoin or ether positions can significantly affect overall performance. Its framework considers expected returns, volatility, and correlations, or alternatively a risk budget, the share of overall portfolio volatility allocated to a holding. Different price behavior across tokens does not ensure protection during declines.

Within crypto, diversification and position sizing address different aspects of exposure: the spread across holdings and the capital committed to each. Grayscale’s historical portfolio tests reflected bitcoin’s strong realized performance during the study period and should not be treated solely as forecasts.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到[email protected]，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。