S&P Dow Jones Indices, a department of S&P Global, plans to launch a new hybrid index that mixes traditional stock markets with digital assets that offer a new opportunity for investors who want to navigate the rapidly changing crypto sector, the company announced on Tuesday.
S&P Digital Markets 50 index traces 35 listed companies involved in cryptoin, blockchain applications and financial services, along with 15 Cryptocurrencies drawn from S&P’s existing wide digital market index. The result is a benchmark across asset that captures the performance of both the companies that build the digital asset ecosystem and tokens running it.
Dinari, a platform that tokenizes US public shares, cooperated on the index design and will issue a token, called a “DSHARE,” to let investors track the index directly on the chain. The token is designed to be transparent and available across blockchain platforms.
The move reflects a broader trend: Institutional investors are increasingly treating digital assets as part of their core portfolios, not just speculative efforts. “From North America to Europe to Asia, market participants begin to process digital assets as part of their investment tool sets,” said Cameron Drinkwater, Chief Product & Operations Officer at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
In practical terms, the index could appeal to investors who want exposure to crypto without going all to fleeting tokens.
Crypto shares have risen in popularity this year as a wave of digital asset companies is being published and US regulators are starting to give clearer rules for the industry. Investors appear to respond to both the improved regulatory views and the mainstreaming of crypto-related business models. Coinbase (Coin) has risen 50% years to date. Meanwhile, Robinhood (HOOD), which has expanded its crypto offers and acquired a crypto exchange earlier this year, has seen its stock rise more than 250% since January.
Dinaris Tokenization Efforts also represent a push to modernize how index investment works.
“We are not just the tokenization of an index, we demonstrate how blockchain infrastructure can modernize reliable benchmarks,” said Anna Wroblewska, Dinari’s main business officer.
The digital markets 50 join S&P’s growing list of crypto-related indices and can signal a major shift in how digital and traditional funding continues to merge.
The launch date has not been announced.
