tl;dr
Matthew Sigel, VanEck's head of digital assets research, criticizes S&P Global for omitting major crypto companies from its latest update of the S&P 500 index. He highlights that despite meeting the criteria, firms like Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Robinhood, and Block were not included, potentially due...
VanEck's Matthew Sigel has criticized S&P Global for excluding major crypto companies from its latest S&P 500 index update, suggesting a possible bias against their sustainability and profitability. Despite meeting the criteria, firms like Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Robinhood, and Block were not included, potentially due to concerns about their business sustainability.
Sigel notes that S&P's criteria for the index include a market cap of at least $20.5 billion and positive earnings for the last four quarters, which the mentioned crypto companies should meet. Despite this, they were left out, leading Sigel to suggest a possible conspiracy. He emphasizes that the biggest crypto firms are noticeably absent despite seemingly being solid candidates.
Specifically, Sigel points out that crypto exchange Coinbase, business intelligence and Bitcoin hoarder MicroStrategy, retail trading giant Robinhood, and payments firm Block should have been added to the indices, but were perhaps left out due to concerns about the sustainability of their business models. He further mentions that there is doubt in the committee that these companies will remain profitable, despite meeting the quant marks needed according to the criteria.
Sigel's criticisms raise questions about the transparency and potential biases within the S&P 500 index update process, especially as it pertains to the inclusion of major crypto companies.