In traditional markets, benchmarks are widely used for a variety of purposes, from settling derivatives trades to determining net asset value (NAV) for investment funds, among many uses in institutional finance, for more on finance, check out https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/. One might even go so far as to say that the prevalence of benchmark use is a hallmark of the extent to which any market is institutional in nature.

That’s a great question, and I’ve thought about it a lot myself. Traditional finance benchmarks like the S&P 500 or Dow Jones provide a long-term view of established industries and economies, while crypto benchmarks are much younger and more volatile. In crypto, benchmarks often track market cap, trading volume, or sector-specific indexes like DeFi or Layer-1 tokens. For example, I sometimes follow assets like ankr price to gauge how infrastructure projects are performing compared to the broader market. The key difference is stability—traditional benchmarks move steadily, while crypto benchmarks can swing dramatically in short periods