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- Galaxy Digital teamed up with Alerian to create eight indexes tracking assets linked to crypto and blockchain companies.
- Facebook, Mastercard, Square and Bitfarms stocks are among the constituents, as is Grayscale.
- The passive indexes are meant to let people invest in new crypto asset classes.
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Galaxy Digital Holdings, the crypto-focused firm run by billionaire former hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz, has lined up eight blockchain indexes for passive investors.
The financial services company's Galaxy Fund Management arm has joined forces with index provider Alerian and S-Network Global Indexes to create the products, which track the performance of assets ranging from big tech stocks, crypto industry stalwarts and investment vehicles.
There are four indexes in two groups, one focused on blockchain and the other on crypto-focused blockchain. They cover equities, futures, trusts and ETPs, as well as a global approach.
The new suite of indexes will give investors access to the emerging digital-assets ecosystem, according to Steve Kurz, Galaxy Digital's head of asset management.
"For the first time, thanks to the indexes we developed in partnership with Alerian, advisors have access to the entire ecosystem, including operating companies and crypto products traded on the open market," he said in a statement Tuesday.
Their constituents include Facebook, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Mastercard, which have recently engaged more with crypto as digital assets gain in mainstream popularity. Also featured are Jack Dorsey's digital payments provider Square, Nasdaq-listed crypto miner Bitfarms, crypto exchange Coinbase, and digital currency specialist Grayscale Investments.
"Index-based investing is continuously evolving and expanding into new asset classes and exposures to support the ever-growing demand from investors," Robert Hughes, Alerian's COO, said in the companies' joint statement.
Galaxy Digital CEO Novogratz is a vocal proponent of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, as well as of innvoations such as decentralized finance. He recently described these crypto efforts as a "serious, serious approach to rebuilding the financial architecture of the world."
Last week, Galaxy Digital and Bloomberg jointly launched a DeFi index fund to track the performance of the largest decentralized finance products. The pair have partnered on similar efforts, starting with the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index in 2018.
