Traditional finance is once again betting on the crypto market. A leading exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) officially announced a partnership on Thursday to jointly launch an upgraded crypto index product. This collaboration updates the original crypto index to the "Leading Exchange-CME Crypto Index," marking a deep involvement of mainstream financial institutions in the digital asset market.

The composition of the new index is quite interesting — it includes 7 major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Chainlink, Cardano, Avalanche. This is not a random assembly but a selection of core assets validated by the market. A person in charge at a leading exchange revealed the idea: investors are no longer satisfied with single-asset allocations; index investing is the trend. Similar to index funds in traditional finance, this type of product allows ordinary people to gain direct exposure to multiple cryptocurrencies.

This is indeed good news for retail investors. Currently, the total number of cryptocurrencies approaches 3 million, making careful selection a nightmare. However, ETF products developed based on this index are different — passive investors can skip the tedious process of analyzing individual assets, set up exposure to 7 major cryptocurrencies with one click, and even beginners can participate smoothly.

Industry observers are optimistic about the crypto index product market in 2026. The reason is straightforward: ordinary investors want to allocate small amounts of capital to crypto assets with low barriers, without spending time researching various sectors. The progress of this collaboration between leading exchanges and CME also clearly indicates one thing — institutional players are accelerating their deployment. In fact, large institutions like Franklin Templeton and Grayscale have already launched similar index-based spot products. The entire market is becoming more regulated and mature.