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Crypto markets are no longer the Wild West — and that’s exactly the point, says Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks.

Speaking with host Rob Nelson on TheStreet Roundtable , Chung explained how CF Benchmarks — a UK-regulated subsidiary of crypto exchange Kraken — plays a critical role in making crypto markets more transparent and institution-ready.

“We call them benchmarks — that’s the regulatory term — but really they’re indices,” said Chung. “The S&P 500 or Russell 3000 for equities, the AGG for fixed income… CF Benchmarks provides those same kinds of indices, but for crypto.”

One of their most important roles? Pricing the Bitcoin ETFs that have taken U.S. markets by storm.

“There are many Bitcoin ETFs now, foremost of which is IBIT from BlackRock,” Chung said. “The Bitcoins held by that ETF are actually valued and benchmarked using the CF Benchmarks BRRNY — the Bitcoin Reference Rate New York variant.”

Every day, the ETF multiplies the number of Bitcoins it holds by that benchmark price — most recently over $83,000 — to calculate its net asset value (NAV). Retail investors don’t interact with CF Benchmarks directly, but their ETF shares are priced based on it.

“It’s how you get a reliable, transparent dollar value for the Bitcoins you own through ETF shares,” Chung said.

That kind of infrastructure is helping crypto move from fringe to mainstream.

“Ten years ago, Bitcoin was a fringe market,” said Chung. “But that’s changed. There’s increased institutional participation, and products like ETFs and CME Bitcoin futures are part of that evolution. Those futures are also settled using our benchmarks.”

The goal, Chung says, is to bring “tradfi-grade” infrastructure to digital assets — making crypto look more like Wall Street, and giving investors tools they can actually trust.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 2.6%, trading at $77,461.18, according to Kraken price feeds.