Crypto platform Bullish (BLSH) has named David LaValle president of CoinDesk Indices and Data, the company announced Tuesday. The move signals an institutional push for the index arm that oversees benchmarks tracking more than $40 billion in assets.
LaValle joins from Grayscale Investments, where he spent four years as global head of ETFs and played a key role in efforts to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot bitcoin ETF — a conversion completed in January 2024 after a pivotal court ruling against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Before Grayscale, he led VettaFi and held senior positions at State Street Global Advisors and Nasdaq, where he helped build the exchange-traded product marketplace and managed Nasdaq’s ETP marketplace during early bitcoin trust listing attempts.
CoinDesk Indices provides widely used digital-asset benchmarks, including the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX) and the CoinDesk 20 Index, which funds and exchanges use for pricing and product construction. LaValle’s appointment strengthens Bullish’s effort—since acquiring CoinDesk in 2023 and listing publicly—to expand index and data offerings aimed at institutional investors.
Why this matters: robust, transparent indexes are critical as asset managers develop funds, derivatives and structured products tied to crypto. LaValle’s background bridging traditional finance and crypto could help standardize methodologies and attract more institutional flows.
A note on risk: indexes shape product exposure but do not remove market risk. Methodology, liquidity and custody arrangements remain key considerations for investors and product issuers.
Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.