Grayscale has up to date its High 20 crypto belongings for the third quarter of 2025, naming Avalanche (AVAX) and Morpho as new entrants whereas dropping Optimism and Lido DAO, in accordance with a July 26 report.
The agency emphasised that the adjustments replicate a research-driven choice course of that favors on-chain traction over reputation or market capitalization.
Following these additions, the High 20 listing consists of a mixture of established names equivalent to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Sui, and Chainlink, together with DeFi protocols like Aave, Uniswap, Hyperliquid, and newer entrants like Bittensor, Ethena, Story Protocol, Aerodrome, and Geodnet.
Why AVAX and MORPHO have been added
Grayscale stated Avalanche made the lower following a noticeable enhance in exercise throughout its ecosystem.
The funding agency defined that Avalanche has seen significant progress in transaction volumes, which can be linked to the combination of blockchain-powered gaming titles and stablecoin utilization.
Whereas the long-term sustainability of this progress stays unsure, the agency sees it as a promising sign of traction throughout the community.
Then again, Grayscale acknowledged that it added DeFi lending protocol Morpho as a result of its speedy progress prior to now yr.
In response to the agency, Morpho doubled its complete worth to over $4 billion and generated an annualized payment earnings approaching $100 million through the previous yr.
As well as, its newly launched second model goals to draw institutional gamers and additional strengthen its place within the decentralized finance house.
Contemplating this, Grayscale wrote:
“Grayscale Analysis is optimistic about the way forward for on-chain lending exercise, and Morpho appears properly positioned to probably seize a significant share of that progress (together with the opposite lending-related protocols on the High 20 listing, Aave and Maple Finance).”
XRP is lacking from Grayscale’s listing
Notably, Grayscale’s revised listing doesn’t embrace a number of high-profile digital belongings equivalent to XRP, Cardano, BNB, and TRON.
Whereas these belongings stay among the many largest by market cap, Grayscale clarified that its High 20 listing focuses on belongings with sturdy fundamentals, upcoming catalysts, and sustainable community exercise.
In the meantime, these belongings have seen vital ecosystem developments and institutional adoption this yr.
For context, XRP has seen elevated consideration in current months, partly as a result of Ripple’s enterprise partnerships and continued enlargement of the XRP Ledger.
The identical might be stated for Cardano, which has made strides with its scaling roadmap and plans to include Bitcoin inside its DeFi ecosystem.
Nonetheless, each belongings have underperformed the broader market regardless of the present bullish sentiments within the trade.
CryptoSlate’s information exhibits that XRP has declined greater than 4% for the reason that begin of the yr and stays roughly 45% under its all-time excessive. On the identical time, Cardano’s ADA has fallen over 35% in the identical interval and sits greater than 80% under peak ranges.
So, this lack of worth momentum could also be one motive for his or her continued exclusion.
