> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://gitbook-docs.coinmetrics.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://gitbook-docs.coinmetrics.io/reference-data/asset-groups-overview.md).

# Asset Groups Overview

## Overview

Asset Groups is Coin Metrics' system for grouping related assets into named categories, for example every USD-pegged stablecoin, or every tokenized real-world-asset product. Groups are organized like sets, which may or may not overlap or nest inside one another, and an asset can belong to several groups at once. Portfolio and product teams use it to pull the current membership of a group, or of a related set of groups, without maintaining their own asset lists by hand.

## How Groups are Organized

Groups are organized like sets which may or may not be overlapping or hierarchical. A group may inherit from a broader category, the way `rwa` is inclusive of `stablecoin`, or it may stand alone as its own property, such as an asset being pegged to the US dollar. Where a group does nest others beneath it, `constituents.groups` on its response lists those nested groups; a group with no nested groups returns an empty list.

Query [Asset Groups](/reference-data/asset-groups-overview/asset-groups.md) with no filters to see the current set of groups and how they relate to one another.

## How this differs from datonomy

[datonomy](/reference-data/datonomy-overview.md) and Asset Groups both categorize assets, but they serve different purposes and are not interchangeable:

* **datonomy** aims to be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive: every covered asset gets exactly one classification, based on its context of use, so the market has one consistent, standardized way to analyze the digital asset ecosystem. It is administered by an independent third party, MSCI, has a documented review process, and preserves a full dated history of every reclassification.
* **Asset Groups** aims for looser groupings rather than a single authoritative classification, and does not try to categorize the entire crypto ecosystem, only the assets that fit a given grouping. A group can be topical, inheriting from a broader category the way `rwa` includes `stablecoin`, or it can be structural, tagging assets that share an architectural or technical property, such as being pegged to the US dollar, wrapped, or staked, regardless of what the underlying asset is otherwise used for. An asset can belong to several groups of either kind at once. Asset Groups has no independent administrator, no versioned history, and no requirement for an asset to be considered for inclusion.

## API Endpoints

Asset Groups is served by a single endpoint, which returns both group membership and any nested groups in one response.

{% content-ref url="/pages/HJ3ZYfcJC57zKQBZOW8E" %}
[Asset Groups](/reference-data/asset-groups-overview/asset-groups.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Related

* [Asset Groups](/reference-data/asset-groups-overview/asset-groups.md): query group membership, at `/reference-data/asset-groups`.
* [datonomy Overview](/reference-data/datonomy-overview.md): the single-classification alternative, with dated history and versioning.
* [Asset Profiles](/reference-data/profiles-overview/asset-profiles.md): descriptive reference data for the same assets.


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