S&P Launches Revenue-Driven Digital Asset Index, TRON (TRX) Among Top Five Core Holdings
- Core Thesis: S&P Dow Jones, in partnership with Pantera Capital, has launched a digital asset index that uses protocol revenue as the core screening metric. TRON (TRX) ranks among the top five weighted assets, driven by its $90 billion USDT circulation, 4 million daily active users, and robust revenue generation—marking a paradigm shift in valuation logic from narrative-driven to fundamentals-first.
- Key Elements:
- The index employs protocol revenue as its primary screening and ranking criterion. Based on a rules-based framework, it differentiates genuine blockchain activity from speculative exposure, designed specifically for institutional allocation.
- The index initially includes 18 assets, with TRON (TRX) positioned as one of the five most significant holdings. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple (XRP) are the most notable exclusions for failing to meet the revenue-based criteria.
- TRON’s USDT circulation exceeds $90 billion, facilitating approximately $7.9 trillion in total transfer volume during 2025, accounting for roughly 65% of global small-scale retail USDT transfers.
- TRON has established and expanded its AI fund to $1 billion, focusing on agent identity systems, micropayment settlements, and on-chain compute services, exploring the convergence of AI and Web3 finance.
- The index rebalances quarterly with a maximum holding cap of 35%, serving as a benchmark for investment products or as a reference for actively managed portfolio strategies.
Recently, S&P Dow Jones Indices partnered with renowned digital asset investment firm Pantera Capital to launch the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index. This index uses observable and sustainable protocol revenue as its core screening metric, aiming to provide institutional investors with a more systematic and transparent benchmark for digital asset allocation.
TRON’s native token (TRX) was successfully included, ranking among the top five weighted component assets alongside Ethereum, BNB, Solana, and Hyperliquid. This further highlights its leading advantages in fundamental dimensions such as protocol revenue, network utility, and on-chain economic activity. Concurrently, it serves as the best testament to TRON gaining recognition from top-tier institutions, supported by its over $90 billion USDT issuance, 4 million daily active users, and robust protocol revenue.
Index Uses 'Real Revenue' as a Yardstick, Highlighting TRON's Fundamental Strengths
Unlike previous crypto benchmarks centered on market capitalization weighting or token price, this index introduces "protocol revenue" as the primary screening and evaluation dimension for the first time. This marks a shift in the valuation logic of the digital asset industry, moving from "narrative-driven, market cap-centric" to a new phase of "fundamentals-based, prioritizing real value."
Methodologically, the index selects samples from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index. It only includes assets that simultaneously meet minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization, and liquidity. Assets are then ranked based on cumulative protocol revenue over the past two quarters and weighted by adjusted market capitalization: the single largest position is capped at 35%, and the cap for other constituent assets is generally 20%, with rebalancing occurring quarterly.
S&P emphasizes that this rules-based framework is specifically designed for institutional allocation, aiming to clearly distinguish "proven, established blockchain activity" from "speculative exposure." It can serve as an underlying benchmark for investment products or a reference for actively managed portfolios.
According to the official blog of S&P Dow Jones Indices, the initial composition of the index includes 18 constituent assets, with TRON (TRX) successfully ranking among the five most significant holdings. Under this stringent "protocol revenue-first" mechanism, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple (XRP) surprisingly became the most notable "absentees" compared to the broader index.
This outcome is highly compelling: TRON's selection is not reliant on hype but stems from its sustained, genuine, and quantifiable on-chain revenue and network usage value. As a leading global public chain, TRON has long ranked at the forefront of the industry in key fundamental metrics such as stablecoin settlement, daily active addresses, and transaction volume. Its inclusion as a core holding by a top-tier traditional financial institution like S&P serves as an authoritative endorsement of its network's tangible value-generation capability.
Deepening Stablecoin Leadership and Pioneering AI, TRON Forges a Global Value Transfer and Intelligent Infrastructure
The fundamental reason TRON maintains a top position in an index that prioritizes 'revenue' lies in its absolute advantage in the global stablecoin sector and its continuous technological innovation.
To date, the USDT issuance on the TRON network has surpassed the $90 billion mark, solidifying its position as the leading chain for global stablecoin settlement volume. In 2025, the total USDT transfer volume processed by TRON reached approximately $7.9 trillion, with daily USDT transfer values consistently exceeding $20 billion. It has also handled roughly 65% of global small-value retail USDT transfers (under $1,000), firmly dominating the small-value cross-border transfer space.
Leveraging its high-performance architecture with a block confirmation time of just 3 seconds and extremely low transfer costs, TRON has not only become a de facto dollar transfer channel for emerging markets in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia but is also extending this high-throughput, low-cost settlement advantage into the field of artificial intelligence (AI), aligning with the AI era trend.
As AI enters the era of autonomous agents (AI Agents), traditional bank accounts struggle to meet the high-frequency, micro-value, and unattended settlement needs of AI agents. TRON, with its powerful network efficiency, is positioned as key infrastructure for "integrating AI with Web3 financial systems."
TRON has established and expanded an AI fund to $1 billion, focusing on agent identity systems, micro-payment settlement, and on-chain computing services. Within its ecosystem, the financial infrastructure B.AI, built for the AI Agent era, has pioneered innovative scenarios where AI agents can seamlessly pay for calls to top-tier global large language models via cryptographic on-chain wallets.
From supporting massive cross-border remittances by human users to providing a decentralized high-frequency payment and resource invocation infrastructure for AI agents, TRON has created a powerful network flywheel effect. This ecosystem loop, driven by genuine payment demand and cutting-edge AI innovation, not only generates substantial and stable protocol revenue for the network but also transforms TRON from a traditional payment channel into a future-oriented intelligent value internet infrastructure.
Looking ahead, with the accelerated adoption of spot ETFs, multi-asset crypto index funds, and the integrated AI+Web3 ecosystem, public chains distinguished by real revenue, network utility, and forward-looking innovation will increasingly become the preferred choice for institutional allocation.
Being included in this joint index by S&P and Pantera Capital represents another authoritative validation by mainstream traditional finance of TRON's fundamental value and long-term prospects. Anchored by its robust on-chain revenue, vast base of real users, and innovative layout for the AI era, TRON is steadily advancing towards the core stage of the global value internet.
