MSCI Launches First Suite of Digital Assets Indexes

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community, today announced the launch of digital-asset indexes, offering a way to help investors evaluate sources of risk and return opportunities across the global digital-assets ecosystem.

These digital-asset indexes are the first of their kind from MSCI and seek to track the performance of the largest digital assets by market capitalization; digital assets that utilize ex-proof-of-work blockchain consensus mechanisms; and digital assets associated with technology platforms supporting smart-contracts.

The new indexes will leverage insights based on collaboration with experts such as Menai Financial Group (“Menai”), a leading provider of institutional-grade digital-asset investment products and trading services. The indexes will consist of a blend of single-digital-asset indexes designed and published by Compass Financial Technologies (“Compass”), a leading service provider on digital assets which specializes in the design, calculation and publication of market benchmarks, financial indexes, and quantitative investment strategies.

Menai’s expertise in digital assets continues to inform MSCI’s development of its digital assets solutions, which help investors to navigate the investment universe for digital assets, evaluate risks and challenges, and assess emerging opportunities and developments as the rapidly growing industry drives technological change. Compass, an independent Swiss-based company focused on the design, calculation and administration of market benchmarks and quantitative investment strategies, created the single-digital-asset indexes that are the foundational building blocks for MSCI’s new blended indexes.

Stephane Mattatia, Head of Thematic Indexes at MSCI, said: “The digital assets ecosystem is evolving rapidly along with investor demand for tools and solutions to help navigate this new asset class. Global investors are looking for greater transparency and insight into these markets and how best to participate in them in a manner that meets their high standards for professionalism, scale, risk management, and security. The launch of these indexes embodies MSCI’s commitment to bringing clarity to diverse asset classes and to create solutions that capture long-term, disruptive investment trends. MSCI takes a systematic and process-oriented approach in providing information to help investors gain transparency and make better investment decisions.”

About the indexes:

Index	Summary
MSCI Global Digital Assets Indexes	Two separate indexes that aim to represent the performance of the top 30 or top 20 digital assets, respectively, as measured by their full market capitalization (excluding stablecoins).
MSCI Global Digital Assets ex Proof-of-work Index	Aims to represent the performance of digital assets, selected by market capitalization, that do not rely on a proof-of-work consensus mechanism. A consensus mechanism, also referred to as consensus protocol, allows a computer network to coordinate a distributed ledger. It allows a general agreement to be achieved by all participant nodes. A proof-of-work consensus mechanism requires substantial, energy-consuming computational work for the creation of new blocks containing transactions in the distributed ledger.
MSCI Global Digital Assets Smart Contract Index	Aims to represent the performance of digital assets, selected by market capitalization, that are associated with technology platforms supporting “Smart Contracts” features. A Smart Contract is a digital program that runs on a blockchain. It is a collection of programs and data that resides at a specific address on the underlying blockchain. Digital assets that support Smart Contracts functionality are capable of being used by a wide range of decentralized applications across industries.

The indexes will use datonomy^TM – a new classification system for the digital assets market. Delivered as a new data service, datonomy classifies coins and tokens based on how they are used. Designed to provide a consistent, standardized way to help market participants view and analyze the digital assets ecosystem, datonomy will help create an increased level of transparency into how the market is moving and can be licensed for a variety of use cases, such as the review and assessment of portfolio performance and reporting.

MSCI is the owner and sole administrator of this new classification system and may receive input on potential changes from the datonomy Advisory Board (“Advisory Board”), as well as other market participants. The Advisory Board members will be comprised of Goldman Sachs, MSCI, Coin Metrics as well as third parties that can provide expertise on maintaining datonomy. Inaugural third-party members will be announced at a later date.

About MSCI Inc.

MSCI is a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community. With over 50 years of expertise in research, data, and technology, we power better investment decisions by enabling clients to understand and analyze key drivers of risk and return and confidently build more effective portfolios. We create industry-leading research-enhanced solutions that clients use to gain insight into and improve transparency across the investment process.

The digital asset taxonomy named datonomy™ is owned and administered by MSCI and was developed by Goldman Sachs, MSCI, and Coin Metrics. None of Goldman Sachs, MSCI, Coin Metrics or any other party involved in or related to compiling, computing or creating datonomy makes any express or implied warranties or representations with respect to datonomy (or the results to be obtained by the use thereof), and all such parties hereby expressly disclaim all warranties of originality, accuracy, completeness, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to datonomy. Datonomy does not constitute investment advice, is not a solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell, or an endorsement of, any assets, does not assess, classify or make any statement regarding the regulatory status or standing of an asset, and no assurance is provided of the results of any investment or investment strategy using datonomy. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Goldman Sachs, MSCI, or Coin Metrics, or any of their affiliates or any third party involved in or related to compiling, computing, creating or licensing the data have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages. No further distribution, dissemination or use of datonomy is permitted without the express written consent of one of Goldman Sachs, MSCI, or Coin Metrics, including using datonomy for investment purposes.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or performance and involve risks that may cause actual results or performance differ materially and you should not place undue reliance on them. Risks that could affect results or performance are in MSCI’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year ended on December 31 that is filed with the SEC. MSCI does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. No information herein constitutes investment advice or should be relied on as such. MSCI grants no right or license to use its products or services without an appropriate license. MSCI MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN AND DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

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