Former Grayscale ETF Chief David LaValle to Lead CoinDesk Indices in Institutional Push

Crypto platform Bullish (BLSH), the parent company of CoinDesk, said Tuesday that it has named David LaValle, a longtime figure in the exchange-traded fund industry, president of CoinDesk Indices and Data.

LaValle joins from Grayscale Investments, where he spent four years as global head of ETFs. Hired in 2021, he was instrumental in efforts to uplist the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a spot bitcoin ETF, working with authorized participants and launch partners.

That product, once the largest bitcoin BTC$90,171.37 investment vehicle in the world, successfully converted in January 2024 after a landmark court ruling against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Read more: Grayscale Claims Bragging Rights for First Spot Bitcoin ETF to Begin Trading

Before Grayscale, LaValle served as chief executive of VettaFi, a global index and analytics firm. His career also includes senior roles at State Street Global Advisors and Nasdaq, where he helped build the exchange-traded product marketplace.

LaValle led Nasdaq’s ETP marketplace when the Winklevoss brothers first attempted to have a bitcoin trust listed as an ETF over ten years ago, in 2014.

"Dave is a longtime friend and business associate. I’ve watched him lead, build, and innovate at great institutions throughout his career," said Bullish CEO Tom Farley. “His expertise in both listed products and index businesses is second to none.”

CoinDesk Indices has become one of the leading providers of digital asset benchmarks, with more than $40 billion in assets tracking its products. Its most widely followed measures include the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX), a reference rate used by exchanges and funds, and the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), which captures the largest digital assets by market capitalization and trading volume.

“CoinDesk has long been a trusted name in digital asset information services, and I look forward to building on its strong foundation to deliver institutional grade data and index solutions to asset managers and institutions globally,” LaValle said in a statement.

For Bullish, which acquired CoinDesk in late 2023 and recently went public on the New York Stock Exchange, the hire underscores its push to expand the index and data business at a time when institutional investors are looking for reliable pricing benchmarks. As crypto markets mature, index products play a critical role in shaping funds, derivatives and structured products tied to digital assets.

LaValle’s experience straddling traditional finance and crypto could help CoinDesk Indices position itself as a bridge between the two as the industry moves beyond single-token exposure to multi-token products.