Financial advisors are at a turning point with digital assets. What started as a binary “Bitcoin or not” question has evolved into a diverse asset class supported by regulated indices, institutional-quality data, and investable products that advisors can confidently recommend.
Dave LaValle, President of CoinDesk Indices and Data, sat down with The Wealth Advisor to discuss how CoinDesk aims to professionalize crypto investing by applying the same rigor and transparency that underpin traditional financial benchmarks.
Crypto exposure increasingly dominates client conversations—even at modest allocation levels. Without proper structure and benchmarking, addressing client questions remains challenging. CoinDesk aims to change the dynamic by delivering the governance, transparency, and product ecosystem advisors already know from equities and fixed income.
Bitcoin ETFs and Advisor Access
January 2024 marked a turning point for advisors. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the first U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) created a legitimate, regulated pathway for including digital assets in client portfolios. Before that, investors eager to participate in crypto often went directly to exchanges—bypassing their advisors entirely.
“The advised market didn’t have the opportunity to incorporate digital assets into their clients’ portfolios because there wasn’t anything there for them,” LaValle explains. “And so many clients were just taking some money and going to directly buy them on an exchange.”
ETF approval transformed the conversation from hypothetical to actionable. Advisors could finally gain exposure to Bitcoin through familiar, exchange-traded structures offering daily liquidity, transparent holdings, and regulatory oversight.
LaValle views crypto as part of a lineage of innovations—like smartphones, the internet, and ETFs themselves—that have reshaped financial markets. “At the highest level, I think of crypto as a disruptive technology,” he says. “So, it’s super exciting to be at the precipice of this next generation of financial engineering and marrying two disruptive technologies to advance the intelligence and the financial advisors’ complexion of their portfolios.”
The integration of crypto and ETFs gives advisors a familiar framework to navigate new territory. Index-based products aim to allow for diversified exposure through regulated vehicles—without requiring token-by-token analysis or direct custody.
Regulation and Governance: Meeting Institutional Standards
CoinDesk operates under the same kind of regulatory framework that governs traditional benchmark providers. The firm is overseen by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and maintains benchmark compliance across more than 400 indices.
“This is the same level of standards that other very well-known traditional finance indexers can hold themselves up to,” LaValle says. “So, having that regulated benchmark and the ability for us to have high-quality governance and to be able to have benchmarks associated with some of the financial products and building high-quality indices is exactly the reason why we feel like we’re in a differentiated position.”
Until recently, crypto lacked the equivalent of an S&P 500 or Bloomberg Barclays benchmark—indices that define asset class structure for traditional markets. CoinDesk is working to fill that gap.
“Ultimately, crypto is one of a handful of asset classes that has not yet really had a benchmark,” he adds. “So, like the S&P 500 of crypto, we think our CoinDesk 5 and CoinDesk 20 brands are exactly that and have the opportunity to build out an ecosystem around that.”
Once credible benchmarks exist, the opportunities multiply. Asset managers can build ETFs or index funds. Exchanges can launch derivatives or structured products. The infrastructure supports an entire ecosystem of investable solutions.
Data Infrastructure: The Foundation of Credible Benchmarks
CoinDesk’s index and data capabilities are built on proprietary infrastructure—not third-party feeds. As LaValle explains, “The index and data engineering team pulls in pricing from 300-plus exchanges and then essentially normalizes that, cleanses it, systematizes it, stitches it all together to give a precise view on what the prices of more than 1,000 assets are.”
He emphasizes that crypto data requires a different approach than traditional markets. “Sometimes, when people think about data or data that’s supporting an indexing business, they think about traditional finance,” he says. Equity indices rely on standardized exchange feeds and official closing prices. Crypto markets, on the other hand, trade continuously across hundreds of venues, with no single source for a “true” market price.
Another complexity: crypto assets trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Traditional markets have clear opening and closing times that establish reference prices. Crypto markets never close.
“The concept of an official closing price doesn’t really exist,” LaValle points out. “So, the index methodology has to account for that, and we do a very good job of that. Therefore, there isn’t any disruption to the ability for our asset manager partners to strike a net asset value at 4:00 PM because the ETF is going to have an official closing price at 4:00 PM U.S. market hours.”
CoinDesk’s methodology seeks to solve for continuous trading by establishing consistent valuation points aligned with U.S. market hours while reflecting continuous global trading.
“We’re doing everything that’s happening in traditional finance from an indexing perspective,” LaValle says. “We’re super excited—we’re very proud about it.”
Index Products: CoinDesk 5 and CoinDesk 20
CoinDesk’s flagship indices—the CoinDesk 5 and CoinDesk 20—are designed to offer diversified exposure to the broader crypto market while filtering out assets unsuitable for institutional use.
CoinDesk 5 includes the five largest constituents from the CoinDesk 20, weighted by market capitalization and rebalanced quarterly. The methodology excludes stablecoins, memecoins, privacy coins, gas tokens, wrapped assets, and staked or pegged tokens. Grayscale’s CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (ticker: GDLC) tracks the index, marking the first U.S. multi-token crypto exchange-traded product (ETP).
CoinDesk 20 provides broader exposure across 20 assets while seeking to manage concentration risk. Bitcoin and Ethereum are capped at roughly 50% combined, allowing for meaningful representation of other tokens while still capturing about 80% of total market capitalization.
“The volatility characteristics of the CoinDesk 20 are a little bit higher given that you have capped the largest assets, which have lower volatility than the rest of those 20 that are coming into the index,” observes LaValle. “But obviously, it offers a broader benchmark for a broader set of the crypto market.”
Quarterly rebalancing keeps indices current as markets evolve. New assets that meet size and liquidity criteria enter indices while assets falling below thresholds exit.
“You’re not going to miss out on that opportunity if it becomes relevant and has a market cap that qualifies for inclusion,” he says. “The reality is, we have high-quality index methodology that allows investors to invest in our, let’s say CoinDesk 5, for example, and continue to have the opportunity to move and evolve and advance as the market also advances.”
The firm’s goal is to make crypto investing a familiar, structured, and advisor-friendly experience, LaValle says. “So, this is a very, very comfortable conversation to have with advisors, and therefore a very comfortable conversation advisors can have with their clients. That’s the most important thing.”
Building the Ecosystem
Indices serve as building blocks for broader product environments. Once credible benchmarks exist, possibilities expand. Asset managers develop ETFs and ETPs tracking those benchmarks. Exchanges list futures and options contracts. Banks structure notes and derivative products.
“You build this ecosystem around the index that affords investors both a high-quality experience and the exposures that they’re getting with also having a high-quality experience from a liquidity perspective,” LaValle explains.
As of June 30, 2025, CoinDesk 20 had generated more than $15 billion in trading volume, with 20-plus global investment vehicles using it as a benchmark. Altogether, more than $40 billion in assets are now tied to CoinDesk indices.
And LaValle says the firm is committed to continued innovation and expanding the product universe. “We’re super excited to continue to innovate and continue to bring index-based solutions, multi-token solutions to market,” he says.
Moving Forward
CoinDesk is helping to build institutional standards for digital assets through regulated benchmarks, proprietary data infrastructure, and diversified index products that seek to address advisor concerns about governance, transparency, and risk management.
Advisor conversations about crypto have evolved from “if” to “how.” Small, diversified allocations can offer meaningful exposure while mitigating risk. Index-based approaches can provide structure, governance, and transparency—helping advisors engage client curiosity with confidence.
CoinDesk also invests heavily in education. Advisors can access news and analysis at coindesk.com, detailed index documentation at indices.coindesk.com, data analytics at data.coindesk.com, and wealth management content at Consensus, CoinDesk’s flagship crypto conference.
For advisors, index-based products can offer a clear on-ramp into crypto. Regulated benchmarks are built to address compliance and governance concerns. Diversified indices aim to reduce single-asset risk. And ongoing education helps integrate digital assets within broader portfolio contexts rather than treating it as a speculative side bet.
Advisors navigating client interest in crypto now have structured pathways rather than binary choices. Index-based products from regulated providers such as CoinDesk might offer alternatives to individual token selection or complete avoidance. The industry continues maturing toward institutional standards, creating opportunities for advisors willing to engage thoughtfully with digital assets as part of comprehensive portfolio strategies.
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Additional Resources
- Contact CoinDesk Data & Indices
- Subscribe: CoinDesk’s Crypto for Advisors Newsletter
- Learn More: CoinDesk Data and Indices Overview
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CoinDesk Indices Disclaimer
CoinDesk is a portfolio company of the Bullish Group. CoinDesk Indices, Inc., including CC Data Limited, its affiliate which performs certain outsourced administration and calculation services on its behalf (collectively, “CoinDesk Indices”), does not sponsor, endorse, sell, promote, or manage any investment offered by any third party that seeks to provide an investment return based on the performance of any index. CoinDesk Indices is neither an investment adviser nor a commodity trading advisor and makes no representation regarding the advisability of making an investment linked to any CoinDesk Indices index. CoinDesk Indices does not act as a fiduciary. A decision to invest in any asset linked to a CoinDesk Indices index should not be made in reliance on any of the statements set forth in this document or elsewhere by CoinDesk Indices. All content displayed here or otherwise used in connection with any CoinDesk Indices index (the “Content”) is owned by CoinDesk Indices and/or its third-party data providers and licensors, unless stated otherwise by CoinDesk Indices. CoinDesk Indices does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, adequacy, validity, or availability of any of the Content. CoinDesk Indices is not responsible for any errors or omissions, regardless of the cause, in the results obtained from the use of any of the Content. CoinDesk Indices does not assume any obligation to update the Content following publication in any form or format.
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