MSCI is partnering with Menai Financial Group to create tools for institutional investors looking to capture the blockchain and digital asset sectors.
MSCI will use Menai’s experience in digital asset investment products and trading services to create analytical tools for insights into asset performance, risk and classification.
The collaboration comes in response to increased interest in digital asset subindustries in recent years.
In a statement, MSCI said these will help investors better understand risks and challenges to capitalise on emerging opportunities in the sector and the relationship between digital assets and traditional assets.
It added it will announce what these new tools are once they become available.
Henry Fernandez, chairman and CEO of MSCI, said: “Digital assets often get conflated with cryptocurrencies but the market is far larger than that.
“Applications associated with digital assets are transforming long-established technologies such as payment, trading and settlement systems, among others.
Zoe Cruz, founder and CEO of Menai, added: “Institutional players are keen to participate in the digital asset markets but have historically struggled to find the means to do so in a way that meets the high standards of professionalism, scale, risk management, security and rigor required by traditional financial markets.”
MSCI becomes only the latest of the large indexing players to delve into the digital assets space, with FTSE Russell launching three cryptocurrency indices in October and S&P Dow Jones Indices debuting five crypto basket benchmarks in July.
