CME Group Launches New Crypto Indexes Excluding Bitcoin and Ether

CME Group has launched two new cryptocurrency benchmarks, including one that tracks 10 major digital assets while excluding Bitcoin and Ether.

The CME CF Emerging Crypto Index focuses on large crypto assets outside Bitcoin and Ether, using a free-float market-cap weighting method. This means assets with more tradable tokens have a greater influence on the index. It includes BNB, XRP, SOL, HYPE, LINK, Lumens, SUI, UNI, AVAX, and AAVE.

A second index, the CME CF Crypto Market Index, covers the same 10 assets plus Bitcoin and Ether, providing a broader market view.

How the indexes work

Both indexes update in real time every second, 24 hours a day. Daily settlement versions are published at 4 p.m. in London, New York, and Singapore/Hong Kong.

The Emerging Crypto Index is designed for use in financial products like funds and derivatives. It excludes meme coins and applies screens such as custody access and protocol usage based on total value locked.

Assets not yet meeting U.S. exchange listing standards may enter the index at a maximum combined weight of 10% if they are expected to comply within 30 days. After that, they must meet full standards to remain included.

The indexes are reconstituted and rebalanced twice a year, on the first business day of June and December.

Built for financial markets

CME states the indexes are intended for passive replication in funds and for settling derivatives. This follows the exchange’s June launch of Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures, which settle to a separate basket of large, actively traded cryptocurrencies.

Both new index families can be licensed for use in financial products, investment funds, or derivative instruments, according to CF Benchmarks.

Sources

• The Defiant