The role of benchmarks is to describe and measure markets. Providing transparent rules, documented governance, independent oversight and clear procedures under difficult conditions requires rigor and discipline. Index providers voluntarily adopt these disciplines, relying on standards refined over decades in other asset classes.
A new report from the Index Industry Association examines how digital asset indices are evolving to meet these expectations – and must continue to evolve as stablecoins and tokenized assets enter the scene. Transparency is rarely the loudest element of a market, but it tends to be the element that lasts.
Principled Perspectives
One market, not two: CoinDesk’s Dave LaValle on the convergence of crypto and TradFi
The conversation about crypto in client portfolios has changed over the past six months, and advisors who still think in terms of the old framework risk being caught off guard. In a new interview with The Wealth Advisor, Dave LaValle, president of CoinDesk Data & Indices, explained why.
The clearest signal came from Wall Street. “The Morgan Stanley team launched its Bitcoin ETF in early April, a little over a month later, and its assets exceed $230 million,” LaValle said. “To raise $230 million in one month is a little crazy.”
He presented crypto as a disruptive technology that needs two things to take hold: the technology itself, which exists, and regulatory clarity. The GENIUS Act established a framework for stablecoins backed by U.S. Treasuries, and the CLARITY Act, dealing with market structure, could come up for a vote “in the next couple of months.”
