S&P Dow Jones Indices says it will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021, using data from crypto company Lukka on more than 550 of the top traded coins
Anna Irrera / Reuters :
Context & Ripple Effects
S&P Dow Jones Indices is bringing a Wall Street-standard benchmark franchise into crypto, licensing pricing data from Lukka for indices spanning more than 550 of the most-traded coins. It follows the crypto-native first wave: CoinMarketCap's CMC Crypto 200 and ex-BTC indices listing on Nasdaq, Bloomberg, and Reuters terminals in 2019, and the Morgan Creek–Bitwise Digital Asset Index Fund packaging the top ten assets for institutions in 2018.
The division of labor matters: an incumbent index brand supplies legitimacy while a specialist crypto firm supplies the data plumbing. That structure is already paying off for Lukka, which per the related coverage went on to raise a Soros-led Series D and then a Marshall Wace-led Series E at a $1.3B valuation — though Reuters' Anna Irrera notes bitcoin's price run had not filtered through to the broader crypto industry, making institutional-grade benchmarks part of the bridge.
First-order effects
- Lukka becomes the data vendor behind one of the world's largest index providers, pushing its pricing on 550+ coins through S&P's distribution instead of crypto-native terminals.
- Institutional investors get a crypto benchmark under a familiar brand, lowering the operational hurdle that earlier offerings like Bitwise's fund had to overcome alone.
Second-order effects
- CoinMarketCap's indices now compete against an incumbent whose name carries weight with compliance-driven allocators, pressuring crypto-native benchmark providers on methodology credibility rather than price.
- Fund issuers of the Morgan Creek–Bitwise type gain a ready-made S&P-branded benchmark to track, potentially accelerating packaged crypto products aimed at pensions and advisers.
Third-order effects
- If incumbents keep absorbing crypto benchmarks, indexing becomes the standard on-ramp for regulated capital — the pattern that later shows up in Trump Media's Truth.Fi ETF agreement with Crypto.com and the London Stock Exchange's blockchain-based platform for funds.
- Data specialists like Lukka consolidate into core market infrastructure, with sovereign-grade experiments such as the US plan to publish GDP data on-chain extending the same logic from asset prices to official statistics.
The trend: Crypto is being absorbed into mainstream market infrastructure as incumbent index providers license specialist data firms, converting coins from a speculative niche into a benchmarked asset class.