The indexes have been developed in collaboration with Menai Financial Group and Compass Financial Technologies.

New York-based MSCI, a provider of decision support tools and services for the global investment community, has launched its first suite of digital asset indexes to help investors evaluate sources of risk and return opportunities across the global digital-assets ecosystem.
 
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, the firm said in a statement. 

They also track the digital assets that use 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 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 Swiss-based Compass Financial Technologies, a service provider for digital assets which specializes in the design, calculation and publication of market benchmarks, financial indexes, and quantitative investment strategies.
 
Stephane Mattatia, head of thematic indexes at MSCI, said: “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,” he continued. 

“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,” he said. 

The indexes will use datonomy – a new classification system for the digital assets market designed to make it easier to see how the market is moving. It can be licensed for a variety of use cases, such as the review and assessment of portfolio performance and reporting.