CF Benchmarks
CF benchmarks logo

Jan 03, 2023

CF Benchmarks Monthly Market Recap

This report has been designed to help you see at a glance which blockchain economic categories have been driving recent crypto market performance, get a sense of where institutional investors are allocating capital earmarked for digital assets, and understand how crypto fits into, impacts and is influenced by the broader market picture.

Hawkish Fed kills early price gains

  • Our portfolio indices erased their early December gains after the Federal Reserve doubled down on their fight to tame inflationary pressures.
  • Blue-chip tokens remained relatively resilient with our Ultra Cap 5 Index finishing the month just 1.3% lower and our Diversified Large Cap Index (-7.9%) outperforming the remaining cohort.
  • The CF Digital Culture Index finished the month as the worst performer (falling over 17%) and edging out last month’s laggard, the CF Smart Contract Platforms Index (-16.3%).

Monthly Index Performance

Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, as of December 31, 2022

Major Crypto-Pairs (USD)

Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, as of December 31, 2022
  • The two mega-cap tokens, Bitcoin and Ether, performed relative defensively, falling only 2.3% and 6.0% (respectively).
  • Doge finished the month as the worst performer, falling over 33% as the popular meme coin continued to pair its post-Twitter takeover rally.

Trailing Risk-Adjusted Returns

Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, total return indices referenced are denominated in USD, as of December 31, 2022
  • When compared to traditional asset classes, Bitcoin and Ether continue to provide the best risk-adjusted performance over a longer-time horizon.

Currency of Flows

Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, as of December 31, 2022
Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, as of December 31, 2022
  • Fund flows by asset-type remained broadly negative, falling -$96m with most of the decrease concentrated in ETH funds.
  • From a regional perspective, Europe and North America saw almost $100M in fund outflows as the Asia Pacific region edged a slight gain (+500K).

Futures Positioning and Open Interest

Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, as of December 31, 2022
Source: CF Benchmarks, Bloomberg, as of December 31, 2022
  • Bitcoin futures positioning remained slightly bearish in December, with net positioning rising from -456 to -346 contracts.
  • Open interest trends for Bitcoin and ETH futures was mixed, with Bitcoin futures edging slightly lower as ETH continued to climb higher.

On-chain updates: Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols

Source: CF Benchmarks, DeFiLlama, Kraken Intelligence, as of December 31, 2022
  • Total Valued Locked (TVL) in DeFi Protocols edged lower in the month of December (falling from $60bn to $57bn). This proxy for gauging the size of DeFi has stabilized in the $55bn to $65bn range since the FTX / Alameda collapse in November.

NFT Transactions and Volumes

Source: CF Benchmarks, DeFiLlama, Kraken Intelligence, as of December 31, 2022
  • Activity for NFTs rebounded in December, with both total transaction increasing over 20% and prices (or volumes) rising almost 30%.

Download The CF Benchmarks Monthly Market Recap here (PDF file)


The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell any of the underlying instruments cited including but not limited to cryptoassets, financial instruments or any instruments that reference any index provided by CF Benchmarks Ltd. This communication is not intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. Please contact your financial adviser or professional before making an investment decision.


Note: Some of the underlying instruments cited within this material may be restricted to certain customer categories in certain jurisdictions.


Gabriel Selby
Gabriel Selby

Gabriel Selby

More on this subject

Weekly Index Highlights, April, 27, 2026

Crypto extended its rebound for a second straight week, with BTC up 3.6%, and ETH adding 1.7%. Our CF DeFi Composite was the top thematic index gainer at +2.5%. Culture tokens led the CF DACS digital asset universe +6.5%, while BTC and USDT funding curves diverged sharply.

CF Benchmarks
CF Benchmarks

CF Benchmarks

6 mins read
Amundi Bitcoin ETP (BTCA) Lists on Euronext Paris, Priced by CF Benchmarks

Amundi Bitcoin ETP (Euronext ticker: BTCA) provides exchange-traded exposure to Bitcoin through a physically backed product that references the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR).

CF Benchmarks
CF Benchmarks

CF Benchmarks

2 mins read
Announcement of Consultation on Changes to the CF Dogecoin-Dollar Spot Rate Methodology

The Administrator is launching a consultation on proposed changes to the CF Spot Rate Methodology Guide relating to CF Dogecoin-Dollar Spot Rate (DOGEUSD_RTI).

CF Benchmarks
CF Benchmarks

CF Benchmarks

1 mins read
More posts...

Footer

Legal

Subscribe to our newsletter

The latest news, articles, and resources, sent to your inbox weekly.

By submitting this form, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Already subscribed? Manage your preferences

© 2026 CF Benchmarks Ltd. All rights reserved.

CF Benchmarks Ltd (“CF Benchmarks”), a company registered in England and Wales with company number 11654816 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Information about us can be found on the Financial Services Register (register number 847100).

Registered Office: 6th Floor One London Wall, London, United Kingdom, EC2Y 5EB.

You agree not to, and have no rights to, use the CF Benchmarks Data to create, calculate, issue, settle, maintain, support or develop any financial instruments (including but, without limitation exchange traded products, certificates, warrants, contracts for difference, swaps, binary options, structured products), indices, products, services (including but without limitation, portfolio management services, pre- and post-trade risk management services, or valuation services) or any other derivative works without the express written consent of CF Benchmarrks.

You agree not to analyze, reverse-engineer or disassemble any CF Benchmarks data and not to insert any code or product to manipulate the Website content in any way that affects any user’s experience. Unless CF Benchmarks gives you prior written permission, use of any Web browsers (other than generally available third-party browsers), engines, scripts, software, spiders, robots, avatars, agents, tools or other devices or mechanisms (such as crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or other technology) to navigate, access, copy in bulk, retrieve, harvest, index, search or analyse any portion of the Website is strictly prohibited.

No part of this information may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of CF Benchmarks Ltd. Use and distribution of the CF Benchmarks data requires a license from CF Benchmarks or its authorized licensing agents.

All information is provided for information purposes only. All information and data contained on this website is obtained by CF Benchmarks, from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Such information and data is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.

CF Benchmarks, nor its directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or implied, either as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness or merchantability of any information or of results to be obtained from the use of the CF Benchmarks indices or the fitness or suitability of the same indices for any particular purpose to which they might be put. Any representation of historical data accessible through CF Benchmarks indices is provided for information purposes only and is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

No responsibility or liability can be accepted by CF Benchmarks nor their respective directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors for any loss or damage in whole or in part caused by, resulting from, or relating to any error (negligent or otherwise) or other circumstance involved in procuring, collecting, compiling, interpreting, analysing, editing, transcribing, transmitting, communicating or delivering any such information or data or from use of this website or links to this website.

CF Benchmarks and its respective directors, officers, employees, partners or licensors do not provide investment advice and nothing accessible through CF Benchmarks, should be taken as constituting financial or investment advice or a financial promotion. Charts and graphs are provided for illustrative purposes only. Index returns shown may not represent the results of the actual trading of any assets.

CF Benchmarks is a member of the Crypto Facilities group of companies which is in turn a member of the Payward, Inc. group of companies.
  • Payward, Inc. is the owner and operator of the Kraken Exchange, a venue that facilitates the trading of cryptocurrencies. The Kraken Exchange is a source of input data for certain CF Benchmarks indices.
  • Payward, Inc. is the owner and operator of the Staked, a venue that operates the block production nodes for decentralized PoS protocols on behalf of institutional investors. Staked.us is a source of input data for certain CF Benchmarks indices.

Please refer to the individual product family documentation for more information about applicable input data sources.

By clicking Accept, you consent to CF Benchmarks's use of cookies.

Visit Cookie Settings to learn how CF Benchmarks uses cookies and to adjust your preferences.

Cookie Settings