Goldman Teams With MSCI and Coin Metrics to Create Digital Asset Classification System

Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) has partnered with MSCI and Coin Metrics to launch a new digital asset classification system to better track coins and tokens to help investors and industry participants monitor the space.

Dubbed datonomy, crypto market participants will be able to track trends in different segments of crypto including smart contract platforms and decentralized finance (DeFi), and also screen various assets.

“The collaboration brings together MSCI’s expertise in critical decision support tools and services, Coin Metrics’ intelligence in the digital assets space and Goldman Sachs’ innovative platforms paired with over 150 years of experience in financial markets to help solve this problem for clients,” Anne Marie Darling, Goldman Sach’s head of marquee client strategy and distribution, said in a statement.

MSCI is the owner and sole administrator of the new classification system, according to the statement.

Separately, MSCI announced Thursday that it is launching its own set of digital assets indices in collaboration with Menai Financial Group and Compass Financial Technologies.

The indices seek to track the performance of the largest digital assets by market cap, digital assets that utilize proof of work consensus mechanisms and digital assets associated with tech platforms that support smart contracts.

CoinDesk has its own crypto taxonomy – the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS) – and has also developed its own set of crypto asset indices.

UPDATE (Nov. 3, 15:21 UTC):Adds information about MCSC's digital assets indexes.

UPDATE (Nov. 3, 19:18 UTC): Corrects spelling of datonomy.