Coindesk’s parent company, Crypto Platform Bullish (BLSH), said on Tuesday it had named David Lavalle, a longtime figure at Exchange-Traded Fund Industry, president of Coindesk Indices and Data.
Lavalle joined from Grayscale Investments and spent four years as global head of ETF. Hired in 2021, he contributed to his efforts to list the grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) on the Spot Bitcoin ETF and worked with certified participants and launch partners.
That product, once the largest bitcoin BTC$111,241.82 The global investment instrument was successfully converted in January 2024 after a landmark court ruling against the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Read more: Greyscale claims first spot Bitcoin ETF bragging rights to start trading
Before Grayscale, Lavalle served as chief executive officer of the global index and analytics company Vettafi. His career includes senior roles at State Street Global Advisors and NASDAQ, helping to build a product market for exchange products.
Lavalle led the ETP marketplace on Nasdaq when Winklevoss Brothers tried to list Bitcoin trust as an ETF in 2014 over a decade ago.
“Dave is a longtime friend and business associate. I’ve seen him lead, build and innovate at great institutions throughout his career,” said bullish CEO Tom Farley. “His expertise in both listed products and index business is second to none.”
Coindesk Indices has become one of the leading providers of digital asset benchmarks, with over $40 billion in assets tracking their products. The most widely adhered measures include the Coindesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX), the reference rate used in exchanges and funds, and the Coindesk 20 index.
“Coindesk has long been a trusted name for digital asset information services and we look forward to building on a strong foundation to provide institutional performance data and indexing solutions to asset managers and institutions around the world,” Lavalle said in a statement.
In the case of Bullish, which acquired Coindesk in late 2023 and recently published on the New York Stock Exchange, employment underscores the driving force behind institutional investors expanding their index and data businesses when they are looking for reliable pricing benchmarks. With cryptographic maturity, index products play a key role in shaping funds, derivatives and structured products related to digital assets.
Lavalle’s traditional financial and crypto-span experience will help the Coindesk index establish itself as a bridge between the two as the industry advances exposure to multi-token products beyond single token exposure.
