Why a Bloomberg licence matters in crypto index investing

In this article we discuss

• What a Bloomberg licence actually does for a crypto index
• Why BitSave does not use any unknown method to weigh crypto assets in or out
• How the methodology decides which assets are added and which are dropped
• Why you shouldn't simply copy the same coins or crypto assets yourself
• Why a licensed index, not a hand-picked basket, is the better bet for someone putting 1 to 4% of a portfolio into crypto for the long term

An index and a basket are not the same thing

Most people invest in crypto the hard way: pick a few coins, watch them, second-guess. An index is the calmer way in. The same logic that makes a Nifty 50 index product easier to live with than a hand-picked stock portfolio. You get broad exposure decided by a rule, not by a hunch or a hype.

But “index” and “basket” get used as if they mean the same thing, but they don’t.

Basket vs. Bloomberg-licensed index

A basket is a bundle of coins that a platform chose and is the same entity selling it to you as well. There is generally nothing public about how the coins were picked, who reviews them, or when they get dropped.

An index follows a published method. The constituents, the weights, and the rules for adding and removing coins are written down in advance and applied the same way every month. It is processed by the institution that owns the method, not by the platform selling access to it.

BitSave offers an index built by Bloomberg, known as Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI). Bloomberg, the financial-data authority that large financial institutions trust, decides the constituents using its own published methodology. BitSave licenses that index; it does not pick coins.

Why Bloomberg’s discipline matters

The heart of it is that Bloomberg’s methodology is subtractive, not promotional. It is built to remove coins that no longer meet its rules; including coins that are well-branded, heavily marketed, and popular at the moment.

A few of its guiding principles:

• It never includes meme coins. Hype does not earn a place. That also tells you something useful: anyone deep into those coins is usually trading for a quick gain, not investing for the long term.
• No single coin is allowed to dominate. Weight caps keep the index balanced, so one runaway coin can’t quietly become your whole portfolio.
• The rules run on a schedule, not on sentiment. Constituents are reviewed and rebalanced monthly, with each coin’s weight held within a set band.

The proof point is in the history of the BGCI. The methodology excluded FTX and Luna while both were still trading near their peaks. There was no forecast and no judgement call about either one. The rules simply did not let them in, and investors tracking the index were never exposed to the collapses that followed.

Important for any crypto index investor: Before you invest, work out whether the coin collection you’re buying is a marketing-led basket of popular names, or a method-led index like Bloomberg’s. They can look identical on the surface. They behave very differently when a hyped coin falls apart.

Why you shouldn’t just copy the index yourself

The obvious objection: “If Bloomberg publishes the coins, why not just buy the same ones myself?” You can. But you probably shouldn’t. Here’s why.

It’s a method, not a list. Bloomberg rebalances monthly and caps each coin’s weight (roughly 1% to 35%). The coins you copy today will have different values next month and the weights will need rebalancing again. To stay matched, you’d have to re-buy and re-weight correctly every month, forever.

Every rebalance is a tax event for you. A do-it-yourself portfolio triggers tax on every coin you sell to rebalance: 30% on gains plus TDS, per coin, every month. BitSave’s crypto index product works differently. You buy into the product and hold units - recorded in your tax records as BGCI — not the underlying coins. In your VDA tax records, what shows up are those units, not a dozen separate coins. The monthly rebalances happen inside the product. So they are not sales for you and attract no tax until you choose to withdraw or exit. For a long-term holder, deferring tax to a single exit event is a real, structural advantage a directly-held basket cannot match.

You can’t replicate a licensed method. The published constituents are a snapshot. The discipline behind them sits with Bloomberg under licence: what gets added, what gets dropped, and the rules that decide all of it. You can copy the holdings. You can’t copy the method.

Cost and custody add up. Buying a dozen coins in exact weights every month means trading fees, possibility of making errors, and self-custody risk on each one. Additionally, you need to rebalance the index yourself and every gain on rebalance then becomes taxable at 30% along with 1% TDS. BitSave does this at institutional scale, with assets held in cold storage and independently audited (Grant Thornton).

What it means for you

You get broad crypto exposure, decided by a financial authority, with guardrails you can actually name: no meme coins, no single coin running away with your money, a method that was able to exclude destructive assets such as  FTX and Luna. You hold units, you’re taxed once when you exit, and you don’t spend time rebalancing, every month.

A basket asks you to trust whoever assembled it. An index asks you to trust a method you can read. For a long-term investor putting 2-5% of a portfolio into crypto, that’s the difference worth paying for.

FAQ

What is the difference between a crypto basket and a crypto index?
A basket is a bundle of coins someone selected, usually the platform offering it. An index follows a published methodology that decides which coins are included, how they’re weighted, and when they’re added or removed. BitSave’s crypto index product is built on Bloomberg’s methodology.

Does Bloomberg endorse BitSave?
No. BitSave licenses Bloomberg’s index methodology. Bloomberg sets the rules for the index; this is not an endorsement of BitSave as a platform.

Why doesn’t the index include meme coins?
Bloomberg’s methodology is rules-based and subtractive. Meme coins don’t meet its criteria, so they’re never included, regardless of how popular or heavily marketed they are.

Did the methodology really exclude FTX and Luna?
Yes. Both were excluded while still trading near their peaks. The rules didn’t admit them, so investors tracking the index avoided the collapses that followed.

Can’t I just buy the same coins myself?
You can copy a snapshot of the holdings, but not the method. The index rebalances monthly under licence, and doing it yourself means re-weighting every month and paying tax (30% plus TDS) on every coin you sell each time. Holding BitSave’s product, you own units and defer tax until you exit.

How is BitSave’s crypto index product taxed?
You hold units (BGCI), not the underlying coins. Monthly rebalances inside the product are not taxable events for you. Tax applies only when you withdraw or exit.