MSCI Inc has announced the launch of digital asset indexes, offering a way to help investors evaluate sources of risk and return opportunities across the global digital-assets ecosystem.
The firm writes that these digital-asset indexes are the first of their kind from MSCI and seek to track the performance of the largest digital assets by market capitalization; digital assets that utilise ex-proof-of-work blockchain consensus mechanisms; and digital assets associated with technology platforms supporting smart- contracts.
The new indexes will leverage insights based on collaboration with experts such as Menai Financial Group, a provider of institutional-grade digital-asset investment products and trading services. The indexes will consist of a blend of single-digital-asset indexes designed and published by Compass Financial Technologies, a service provider of digital assets which specialises in the design, calculation and publication of market benchmarks, financial indexes, and quantitative investment strategies.
The firm writes that Menai’s expertise in digital assets continues to inform MSCI’s development of its digital assets solutions, which help investors to navigate the investment universe for digital assets, evaluate risks and challenges, and assess emerging opportunities and developments as the rapidly growing industry drives technological change. Compass, an independent Swiss-based company focused on the design, calculation and administration of market benchmarks and quantitative investment strategies, created the single-digital-asset indexes that are the foundational building blocks for MSCI’s new blended indexes.
Stephane Mattatia, Head of Thematic Indexes at MSCI, says: “The digital assets ecosystem is evolving rapidly along with investor demand for tools and solutions to help navigate this new asset class. Global investors are looking for greater transparency and insight into these markets and how best to participate in them in a manner that meets their high standards for professionalism, scale, risk management, and security. The launch of these indexes embodies MSCI’s commitment to bringing clarity to diverse asset classes and to create solutions that capture long-term, disruptive investment trends. MSCI takes a systematic and process-oriented approach in providing information to help investors gain transparency and make better investment decisions.”
