Goldman Sachs to Launch Data Service to Classify Digital Assets

Investment bank and Financial service firm Goldman Sachs has revealed it is set to release a data service to classify hundreds of digital coins and tokens so institutional investors can comprehend the rapidly growing digital asset class.

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Created in collaboration with global index provider MSCI and crypto data firm Coinmetrics, the data service is called Datanomy. The name was derived from the combination of data and taxonomy –  a branch of science focused on naming and classifying the natural world.

Datanomy is created to address the issue of many digital assets not being classified into their respective sectors. As the digital asset ecosystem has been expanding over the years, it could appear overwhelming to grasp if not familiar with the various sectors of the expansion.

Coin Metrics CEO Tim Rice said large asset managers wanted an “adult framework” to understand digital assets better and invariably discuss them.

Rice added,

“We’ve organized it in an intuitive manner that should help asset managers come into this asset class in a much more standardized fashion.This is the next phase of getting the underpinnings of the industry lined up so that everybody can embrace it, and we can figure out what the next directional move in the market is.”

Users can access Datanomy either as a subscription-based data feed or via Marquee – a platform by Goldman Sachs used as a digital storefront for institutional investors.

In addition, Datanomy provides users with analysis and research, as well as benchmarking performance, managing portfolios, or creating investment products depending on the sectors that include decentralized finance, smart contract platforms, metaverse, or value transfer coins.

Anne Marie Darling, head of the client strategy for Goldman’s Marquee platform, noted,

“We’re trying to create a framework for the digital asset ecosystem that our clients can understand because they increasingly need to think about performance tracking and risk management in digital assets.”

Digital assets on Datanomy would be divided into classes, sectors, and sub-sectors based on the usage of the tokens or coins. According to Darling, this will enable asset management firms and money managers at hedge funds to familiarize crypto with how equities can be debatable as industry sectors like finance or technology or themes like growth versus value stocks.

Notably, Datanomy is just one of the products Goldman Sachs has launched in recent times to achieve its expansion goal beyond Bitcoin-focused products in the crypto market. In June, the investment bank launched an Ethereum-linked derivative product to offer institutional investors indirect exposure to the cryptocurrency market.

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Ethereum supply shock: Exchange ETH reserves continue to fall after a 26% drop in 2021

The amount of Ether (ETH) held by all cryptocurrency exchanges has declined dramatically in the previous 12 months.

Blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant reported that Ethereum reserves on trading platforms dropped 26.29 million ETH to 19.22 million ETH year-on-year (YoY), indicating that traders’ preference to hold their tokens increased.

At least the Ether price performance in the same period indicates the same. Between August 25, 2020, and press time, the ETH/USD exchange rate exploded by a little over 730%— from $407 to $3,190, signaling an erratic inverse correlation between the Ethereum token prices and its reserves across all exchanges.

Ethereum reserves versus ETH/USD price performance YoY. Source: CryptoQuant

In detail, traders typically prefer to keep their crypto assets on exchange wallets when they wish to trade them in the near term. Otherwise, they move those assets to private wallets to control their own keys, a strategy that stems from the fears of losing funds to hacks and similar security breaches at crypto exchanges.

Ether deposits plunge

Another on-chain indicator, built by CoinMetrics to track the total number of Ether deposits to exchanges, also alerted holding sentiment among Ethereum traders. It noted that traders’ ETH deposits across all the trading platforms had plunged 21.11% YoY, from 413,772 ETH to 326,408.

Ethereum deposits on exchanges. Source: CoinMetrics, Messari

But in the last 30 days, the ETH deposits have dropped dramatically by 47.81%, signaling that many investors are expecting higher prices in the long term.

Meanwhile, the sum count of unique addresses holding any amount of Ether in the last 30 days has jumped 1.67%, coinciding with a 42% ETH/USD rally in the same period. On a YoY timeframe, the unique address count has jumped 30.87%.

Ethereum address count. Source: CoinMetrics, Messari

Supply Squeeze

The Ether holding sentiment has picked momentum in days leading up to and after a landmark Ethereum network upgrade on August 5, 2021. Dubbed as the London Hard Fork, the software update implemented a proposal called EIP-1559 that enabled gas fee burning on the Ethereum network.

This has added deflationary pressure as a result. In the first 20 days after EIP-1559 went live, the network has burned almost 92,595 ETH worth around $295.85 million, according to WatchTheBurn.com.

Related: Ethereum ‘liquidity crisis’ could see new ETH all-time high before Bitcoin — Analyst

More Ether went out of active supply as Ethereum invited participants to deposit 32 ETH to become validator on its upcoming proof-of-stake blockchain. Beacon Chain reports that the so-called Ethereum 2.0 smart contract has attracted a little over 6.9 million ETH worth around $22 billion.

Staked Ether in Ethereum 2.0 smart contract. Source: BeconCha.in

Additionally, demand for Ether continues to grow owing to Ethereum’s expanding ecosystem, containing projects from the booming decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token sectors. 

Last week, Lyn Alden, the founder Lyn Alden Investment Strategy, called the London upgrade a “tactically bullish” event, noting that it could easily push ETH/USD rates to over $5,000.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.