The Defiant

S&P Dow Jones Adds Bitcoin and Ether Indices With ETF Providers Lining Up

The S&P Dow Jones Indices, the maker of likely the most widely referenced indices in finance, has added three crypto indexes to its offerings. The firm added the S&P Bitcoin, Ethereum and Crypto Mega Cap––a combination of BTC and ETH–– indices. The benchmarks can be used by the financial industry to track the underlying assets’…

By: Owen Fernau Loading...

The S&P Dow Jones Indices, the maker of likely the most widely referenced indices in finance, has added three crypto indexes to its offerings.

The firm added the S&P Bitcoin, Ethereum and Crypto Mega Cap––a combination of BTC and ETH–– indices. The benchmarks can be used by the financial industry to track the underlying assets’ performance. The indexes also mean that providers of exchange-traded products vying to launch the first US-based Bitcoin ETF will now be able to base their funds off the reputable data feed.

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The move further solidifies cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class with S&P saying that “enormous value is now being transacted in dozens of exchanges where there are no traditional market makers” in its announcement post which also conceded that “no one entity can fully control or halt the use of these currencies.”

S&P Dow Jones Indices said it plans to “include additional coins and broader-based indices such as large-cap and broad market benchmarks.”

Complex Products

The Mega Cap Index, which so far only includes Bitcoin and Ether, could evolve into an index which tracks the entire cryptocurrency market like Cryptex Finance’s TCAP ERC-20 token.

SPDJI maintains two of the most well-known indices in the world: the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The former is used in three of the top four ETFs in terms of assets under management according to ETF information company ETF Database.

Building Momentum

Grayscale Investments’ GBTC, a closed-end fund which has $36.6B assets under management, has been trading at a discount to NAV since Mar. 2. Were GBTC to convert to an ETF, the discount would snap back to the underlying BTC’s value.

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Grayscale does not currently have an ETF application pending, but eight companies, including Fidelity and Galaxy Digital, have already filed with the SEC to push for a Bitcoin ETF. Grayscale has however said that the company is “100% committed to converting GBTC into an ETF.”

With the world’s most reputable index firm has added crypto, a US crypto ETF seems almost inevitable.

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