Nomura Research Institute (NRI), a leading thank tank based in Japan, has entered into partnership with Intelligence Unit (IU), a provider of digital asset solutions, to jointly launch a tradable cryptocurrency index.
The new NRI / IO Crypto-Asset Index will be used by financial institutions, according to a press release published Wednesday.
The index is based on data from MV Index Solutions (MVIS) and leading cryptocurrency data provider CryptoCompare.
Thomas Kettner, managing director at MVIS, said:
“We are pleased to launch this index for Intelligence Unit and the Nomura Research Institute. We are happy to offer our services and deep expertise in digital assets indexing to the Japanese market.”
The index provides reliable reference for the evaluation of performance through offering benchmarks designed with a clear and transparent methodology.
Akihiro Niimi, CEO of Intelligence Unit, said:
“Strong demand from institutional investors is contributing to the growth of crypto-asset funds, and well-diversified products like index funds are attractive as alternative investments. We will bridge the traditional financial world and the crypto-asset world by providing institutional grade crypto-asset benchmarks, further establishing the status of crypto-assets as alternative investments.”
The index is designed for Japanese institutional investors and crypto exchanges, taking into JPY and USD currency as well as custody solutions.
The index includes the digital assets shown in the table below:
Charles Hayter, co-founder of CryptoCompare, said: “As part of our collaboration with MVIS, we are excited to offer institutional investors in Japan the first crypto asset investible index.”
Founded in 1965, Nomura has nearly 13,000 employees working in over offices globally. The company records more than $4.2 billion in annual sales.
In 2018, the company announced launching crypto custodial services to address a perceived lack of “safekeeping options”.
IU was established in 2018 to provide digital asset services, including crypto-asset index funds and index derivative products.
