S&P and Kaiko bring 4,000 digital asset benchmarks under one roof

In a recent press statement, S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) and digital asset data provider Kaiko announced the launch of the S&P Kaiko Digital Asset Indices suite. The platform consolidates their respective crypto benchmarks, reference rates, and multi-asset indices under a single co-branded offering. The new suite launches with more than 4,000 rates and indices across the digital asset market. S&P DJI said the move combines institutional benchmark governance with crypto-native market-data infrastructure.

It’s a relatively simple arrangement on paper. Kaiko supplies the market data, calculates the benchmarks and provides the methodology expertise, while S&P DJI manages administration, licensing and global distribution. The infrastructure at Kaiko integrates with over 150 trading venues and maintains 24/7 operations, an essential requirement for a financial ecosystem that remains active at all times.

However, the announcement matters beyond a branding exercise. 

Let’s break it down.

S&P Kaiko Digital Asset Indices target institutional scale

There is no shortage of pricing in digital asset markets. The challenge is deciding which price can be trusted for valuation, settlement, portfolio reporting, or even a derivatives contract.

That is where reference rates and indices come in handy. They are the financial market equivalent of a shared clock: participants need a consistent, transparent point of reference before they can reliably trade, value assets, or settle obligations.

Existing exchange-traded products, futures, options, and structured products using Kaiko benchmarks can now operate under the S&P Kaiko Digital Asset Indices brand. The two companies said the suite will run on a unified platform built on Kaiko’s technology stack.

The announcement follows Kaiko’s acquisition of Amberdata earlier this year, a deal that we described as part of the wider industrialisation of digital asset data. That consolidation matters because institutional users increasingly need standardised data infrastructure, rather than fragmented feeds from individual exchanges. 

A benchmark business, not a crypto bet

For S&P DJI, the partnership brings a familiar model into a volatile and fragmented asset class. The commercial value of benchmark providers does not come from predicting when a token will rise or fall but from creating trusted measures that funds, product issuers and market participants can use.

That is an important distinction.

The crux of the launch is more about putting existing data products into an institutional distribution and governance framework as opposed to simply inventing thousands of new tradable products. S&P DJI is an administrator under the EU Benchmarks Regulation and says its processes align with the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks.

For some time now, the industry has been moving in this direction, and we have continually explored how financial institutions need robust benchmark rates to support valuations, reporting, risk management and settlement in digital-asset markets.

In the context of digital-asset markets, establishing robust structural infrastructure carries more weight than the introduction of yet another high-profile token.