Nasdaq’s proposal adds XRP, Solana, Cardano, and Stellar to the NCI to broaden crypto exposure.
Analyst Willy Woo argues Bitcoin should not be grouped with altcoins due to its monetary nature.
Institutional understanding of Bitcoin’s role is still evolving as market indexes expand their scope.
Nasdaq has sent a proposal to the SEC in hopes of expanding the Nasdaq Crypto Index (NCI). Added to the assets in the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto ETF (NCIQ) will be XRP, Solana (SOL), Stellar (XLM), and Cardano (ADA) following the proposal. The change is intended to include a bigger variety of digital assets in the benchmark.
Because of what they do in decentralized applications and smart contracts, these altcoins have attracted a lot of investors and developers. The inclusion of these assets should make Nasdaq’s cryptocurrency index more significant in the market, as institutional interest in digital assets keeps increasing.
Analyst Questions Bitcoin’s Inclusion Alongside Altcoins
The company’s expansion is viewed as a way to expand its activities, it has been criticized by market experts. Willy Woo, an analyst on the social media platform X, questioned the approach of including Bitcoin in the grouping with altcoins such as XRP. Woo noted that Bitcoin is unlike the recent assets because it serves as a monetary tool instead of being tied to a tech system.
https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/1931904984272236982
Woo argued that Bitcoin should be treated separately, citing its fixed supply and use as a store of value, similar to gold. He suggested that Nasdaq should have instead considered removing Bitcoin from the index to highlight its distinct monetary role, rather than placing it in the same category as programmable networks.
Institutional Understanding of Bitcoin's Role Still Developing
Woo’s remarks also highlighted a broader issue regarding institutional understanding of digital assets.He explains that many companies, including Nasdaq, have so far found it difficult to tell apart the monetary asset Bitcoin from blockchain platforms that host different apps.
Regardless of the debate surrounding cryptocurrencies, their prices are holding stable. In the latest market report, XRP was selling for $2.23, which is a 0.72% gain from the past day. The price of Bitcoin went up 1.78% and closed at $105,659.64. Adding new altcoins to the NCI shows a changing method of classifying digital assets and could impact the development of index crypto products in the future.
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