Citrini Research Excludes Bitcoin from 15-Token Crypto Basket in Favor of Fee-Generating DeFi

Macro and quantitative research firm Citrini Research unveiled a 15-token cryptocurrency basket that notably excludes Bitcoin ($BTC), pivoting capital toward protocol-level fee generation, tokenization (RWA), and on-chain financial infrastructure. Host of The Wolf Of All Streets Scott Melker highlighted the framework, which argues that while Bitcoin remains digital gold, emerging decentralized finance applications and exchange protocols present higher-beta upside as financial primitives move on-chain.
The portfolio heavily favors venues generating real protocol cash flow, led by top 10% allocations each to options platform Derive ($DRV), perpetual exchange Lighter ($LIT), and liquid restaking protocol Ether.fi ($ETHFI). Other core holdings include lending giant Aave ($AAVE) and synthetic dollar issuer Ethena ($ENA) at 9% each, alongside Solana ($SOL) at 8%. Citrini emphasized that growing network activity alone is insufficient without direct value capture, deliberately targeting platforms where trading, settlement, and borrow fees accrue directly to token holders rather than relying on pure monetary premium assets like $BTC.