Cryptoassets
The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond
Curated by Brian Kim, CPA — every pick gets a plain-English summary and the key takeaways.
Brian Kim, CPA · 2.89M YouTube Subscribers →What this book actually teaches
- 01Argues cryptoassets are a distinct asset class needing their own valuation frameworks, not repurposed equity-analysis tools.
- 02Introduces a three-part taxonomy: cryptocurrencies (money-like), cryptocommodities (computational resources), and cryptotokens (protocol-based access rights).
- 03Covers valuation approaches specific to the space — network-value-to-transactions ratio, Metcalfe's law proxies, on-chain transaction/address data.
- 04Addresses portfolio construction and custody/security practices for an asset class with extreme volatility and thin historical data.
- 05Published in 2018 — predates DeFi, NFTs, the 2022 collapses, and 2024 ETF approvals, so its frameworks need updating with current market data.
What's in this book
Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar's argument is that cryptoassets deserve to be treated as a distinct asset class — alongside stocks, bonds, and commodities — with their own valuation frameworks, not evaluated by borrowing equity-analysis tools that don't fit. The book is explicitly written for finance professionals and serious individual investors who want a rigorous, non-hype approach to allocating capital into the space.
The argument builds in stages. First, the authors categorize the space beyond "Bitcoin": cryptocurrencies (money-like assets), cryptocommodities (raw computational resources for decentralized applications), and cryptotokens (assets built on top of a protocol, granting access to a specific product or service) — a taxonomy meant to replace the flattening habit of calling everything "crypto" as if it's one asset. Second, they walk through valuation approaches specific to this asset class: network-value-to-transactions (an analog to the price-to-earnings ratio), Metcalfe's law as a proxy for network value, and on-chain data (transaction volume, active addresses) as fundamentals in the absence of cash flows or earnings. Third, they cover portfolio construction and risk management for an asset class with extreme volatility and a short historical track record — sizing positions, thinking about correlation to traditional assets, and custody/security practices for actually holding the assets.
The natural audience is investors and analysts who already understand traditional portfolio theory and want to extend it into crypto, not readers looking for a beginner's introduction to what Bitcoin is.
The caveats are real and dating matters here more than in a purely technical or historical book. Published in 2018, the book predates the DeFi boom, the NFT cycle, the 2022 collapses (Terra/Luna, FTX), and the 2024 spot ETF approvals — all of which reshaped the practical landscape the book's frameworks are meant to be applied to. The valuation methods themselves (NVT, Metcalfe's law proxies) remain useful conceptual tools but should be treated as a starting framework to be updated with current data, not a finished model.
Worth reading for the asset-class taxonomy and valuation-framework thinking, which still holds up conceptually. Pair it with more current market data before applying the specific valuation approaches to today's landscape.
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Buy on Amazon →About Chris Burniske
Read more from Chris Burniske and explore the full bibliography on ClearValue Books.
View Chris Burniske's page →Common questions about this book
Is Cryptoassets a beginner's guide to Bitcoin?
No — it assumes you already understand basic investing concepts and want a framework for evaluating crypto as an asset class. For a beginner-friendly primer on the underlying technology, start with The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains by Antony Lewis instead.
Is the book's valuation framework still accurate given it was published in 2018?
The conceptual framework — treating cryptoassets as a distinct class with their own metrics (network-value-to-transactions, on-chain data) — still holds up, but the book predates DeFi, the 2022 collapses, and 2024's spot Bitcoin ETF approvals. Use it for the analytical approach, then apply it with current market data rather than the book's own 2018 figures.
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