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Since Bitcoin was created in 2009, more than 8,000 cryptocurrencies have been introduced. While this volatile market experiences frequent fluctuations, the industry market capitalization is estimated to be USD 798 Billion as of December 31, 2022 (source: Lukka). As the asset class becomes more recognized and accepted, investors are increasingly looking to incorporate cryptocurrency holdings into their portfolios. The S&P Cryptocurrency Indices were created to bring transparency to this dynamic new market.

The Emergence of a New Asset Class

Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, censor-proof, secure, and immutable. They are built on a distributed “blockchain” technology that solves the challenge of how to establish trust between unrelated parties over a network. As such, cryptocurrencies are viewed by some as having the potential to revolutionize how the world conducts financial transactions.

While cryptocurrencies have at times grabbed headlines for their remarkable appreciation, the market has been subject to extreme volatility. However, due to a variety of use cases and investment theses, institutional investors have begun participating in the market—supporting trading and building financial infrastructure. These trends point to a greater mainstreaming of the asset class and its increasing appeal to a wider range of investors.

About the S&P Cryptocurrency Indices

The S&P Cryptocurrency Indices are designed to bring greater transparency to a rapidly evolving market using a rigorous approach. To create the indices, S&P Dow Jones Indices sources pricing data from Lukka, a trusted, blockchain-native technology company that delivers leading products for the crypto asset ecosystem.

The Lukka Prime platform offers pricing data for more than 550 digital assets, many of which are currencies—including top-traded cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and Litecoin. Prices are compiled from over 10 digital exchanges, including the largest and most trusted, which represent a large portion of market liquidity.

From this list of eligible assets, S&P Dow Jones Indices applies additional screening and selection criteria to create each index depending on its specific objectives.

Bringing Transparency to an Emerging Asset Class:
S&P Cryptocurrency Indices

As interest in digital assets grows, the S&P Cryptocurrency Indices are designed to provide tools to measure and assess this evolving market.

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The S&P Cryptocurrency Index Family

Indices

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Number of Currencies Per Index & Average Market Cap


Data as of December 31, 2022
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices and Lukka.

Key Features of the S&P Cryptocurrency Indices

  • Transparent methodology

    with documented rules for the treatment of various digital actions, designed in line with index industry guidelines and regulations

  • Ongoing evaluation

    of the rules’ applicability to keep up with a rapidly shifting market

  • Industry-leading practices

    and infrastructure around pricing through our pricing provider, Lukka

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn about our index calculation, data sourcing, fair market value pricing methodology, and more.
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Who is S&P DJI’s provider for cryptocurrency data?

Our cryptocurrency pricing and reference data is provided by Lukka, Inc. via its Lukka Prime and Lukka Reference Data products. Lukka is a leading crypto asset data services provider for institutions, including fund administrators and fund auditors that serve over 160 active crypto funds as of May 2021. Lukka covers over 950 crypto assets. For more information about Lukka, please refer to the website: https://data.lukka.tech/prime/.

S&P Global, Inc., the parent of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, is an investor in Lukka. For information on S&P Global’s investment in Lukka, please see here. In addition, representatives of Lukka may provide consultative services to the S&P Digital Assets Index Committee from time to time.

What pricing is used as end-of-day for index calculation?

S&P Dow Jones Indices uses the Lukka Prime Fair Market Value end-of-day price taken at 4:00 p.m. EST for cryptocurrency index calculation. Other end-of-day index levels will be added for additional markets and regions as demand warrants. Lukka’s methodology is the first of its kind for designed specifically for determining the fair value pricing of liquid cryptocurrency assets.

What is Fair Market Value (FMV) Pricing?

The "Lukka Prime" Pricing & Valuation Methodology offers FMV pricing, an actual executed exchange price for liquid crypto assets via a multi-stage process. First, exchanges are pre-screened by Lukka according to its determined criteria such as oversight, efficiency, data transparency, and data integrity. Then, on a real time basis, Lukka designates a representative primary market from the pre-screened exchanges by using a ranking approach. The ranking considers several exchange characteristics—including jurisdiction, oversight and intra-day trading liquidity, and volume—to determine the best available executable price at a point in time for each trading pair of cryptocurrencies (each cryptocurrency can be traded against other currencies or cryptocurrencies, e.g. BTC/USD, BTC/ETH). An executed exchange price is used for each covered asset and represents FMV at a specific time. Read more about FMV here.

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