S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Thursday the company will launch cryptocurrency indices next year, showing data of over 550 top virtually traded coins.

The S&P Global's subsidiary has chosen virtual currency company Lukka as the data provider. "With digital assets such as cryptocurrencies becoming a rapidly emerging asset class, the time is right for independent, reliable and user-friendly benchmarks," commented innovation and strategy chief at S&P Dow Jones Indices, Peter Roffman.

Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, has made significant gains over the year following the March market crash. Furthermore, it gained 1.68% over the last 24 hours to trade for $19,402.20 at 9:25 am ET.