Nasdaq and CME Unveil Nasdaq CME Crypto Index as Institutional Benchmark
Nasdaq and CME Group have reworked the Nasdaq Crypto™ Index and relaunched it as the Nasdaq CME Crypto™ Index, aiming to establish a single, governance-driven reference for regulated digital-asset products. The collaboration signals an effort to marry Nasdaq’s index methodology with CME’s derivatives and market infrastructure, creating a benchmark designed for use by ETFs, structured funds, and other institutional-grade vehicles.
The change matters because a widely accepted, regulated benchmark can simplify product design, improve transparency, and reduce frictions for issuers and regulators. By offering an index backed by major market operators, the partners hope to support greater institutional adoption, tighter market surveillance, and clearer price discovery across spot and derivative markets—factors that could accelerate new product listings and capital flows into regulated crypto channels.