Crypto-asset Taxonomy for Investors and Regulators

TL;DR

This paper addresses the absence of a unified, asset-level taxonomy for crypto-assets by proposing a multidimensional framework that links technical design to market structure and regulation. It develops orthogonal dimensions—technical standard, centralisation, asset function, mechanism design, and legal dimension—and operationalises them through a CryptoAsset dataclass, mapping the top 100 assets to reveal design patterns and regulatory implications. The key contributions include an explicit centralisation decision framework (MDT), a structured mapping of assets to tradfi analogies, and empirical insights into issuer concentration, yield sources, and redemption mechanisms. The framework offers regulators and investors a practical tool for risk assessment and comparative asset analysis, with potential to inform MiCAR, Howey-type analyses, and cross-jurisdictional oversight.

Abstract

Crypto-assets are a main segment of electronic markets, with growing trade volume and market share, yet there's no unified and comprehensive asset level taxonomy framework. This paper develops a multidimensional taxonomy for crypto-assets that connects technical design to market structure and regulation. Building on established taxonomy guideline and existing models, we derive dimensions from theory, regulatory frameworks, and case studies. We then map top 100 assets within the structure and provide several detailed case studies. The taxonomy covers technology standard, centralisation of critical resources, asset function, legal classification and mechanism designs of minting, yield, redemption. The asset mapping and case studies reveal recurring design patterns, capture features of edge cases that sit on boundaries of current categorisations, and document centralised control of nominal decentralised assets. This paper provides framework for systematic study for crypto markets, supports regulators in assessing token risks, and offers investors and digital platform designers a tool to compare assets when building or participate in electronic markets.

Figures (7)

• Figure 1: Centralisation Decision Tree
• Figure 2: Reference Asset Decision Tree
• Figure 3: TradFi analogy Decision Tree
• Figure 4: Distribution of Explicit Features for Top 100 Assets. The top figure shows distribution of structural and constitutive design features: issuer, minting type, function, legal classification, and technical standard. The bottom figure shows distribution of economic and value-realisation features: yield source, distribution mechanism, stablecoin, redemption mechanism and form of claim. For compactness, we use notation personam/rem–reserve/issuer–issuer/holder for form of legal claim, where each position corresponds to claim in personam/rem, against reserve/issuer, proceeds to issuer/holder. The width of each path represents the number of assets in that path, while the colour indicates the logarithm of the mean market capitalisation of those assets as of 19 November 2025.
• Figure 5: Token Taxonomy Framework (TTF).