About the Project
CoinDesk is a market leader in the digital asset space, providing reliable crypto indices since 2013. They shape the market picture every day: news, analytics, infrastructure reviews, trends, covering everything from Bitcoin to blockchain platforms and Web3.
CoinDesk approached us to develop its own analytical SaaS product for real-time monitoring of the crypto market. The idea was simple and ambitious: to combine key cryptocurrency rates, market metrics, trends, and CoinDesk news feeds into a single crypto market analytics solution, so users wouldn’t have to collect this data across different tabs.
At the beginning of our partnership, they did not have a cryptocurrency price tracking platform that could comprehensively visualize market information and simultaneously amplify their content. Our task was to build such a system from scratch: intuitive, fast, and valuable to both experienced market players and those just diving into digital assets.
Interesting Facts
CoinDesk has been around for over 10 years. The crypto market intelligence platform started as a blog about Bitcoin and has since become one of the leading cryptocurrency and blockchain media worldwide.
CoinDesk is not just about news, but also about indices and market analytics. They created their own Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) in 2013, one of the first independent indices used by market professionals to assess Bitcoinʼs price. Their platform supports real-time index updates, minute-by-minute recalculations, and customizable methodologies.
CoinDesk is the engine of major crypto events. Every year, the company hosts Consensus, one of the largest conferences in the cryptosphere, bringing together thousands of attendees, investors, and industry leaders.
The company assigns a “Most Influential” rating based on year-end results. Annually, CoinDesk identifies the most influential people and projects in the crypto space, reflecting the fundamental contributions of leaders to the industry’s development.
The company has lived through key moments in crypto history. In 2022, CoinDesk found itself at the epicentre of the FTX collapse, when its investigation helped expose financial imbalances at Alameda Research – a momentous moment for the entire industry.
CoinDesk platforms meet high financial compliance and security standards. Their systems are designed with institutional-grade requirements in mind – the same ones used by the world’s largest investment firms.
Client Request
CoinDesk Indices approached Lumitech with a straightforward request: build a reliable and secure web platform from the ground up to support a new generation of crypto index and market products. Their previous system was not working in real time, could not scale effectively, and did not keep up with the rapid dynamics of the crypto market.
The new platform needed to be modular, secure, and performance-oriented. It needed to receive real-time data from multiple crypto APIs, aggregate and normalize market feeds, and collect and process news feeds into a single, consistent view. On top of this, there was a need to build crypto market dashboards and an admin interface to manage index rules, monitor their performance, and enable users to interpret complex information quickly.
Most importantly, the system had to provide high availability, strong security, and consistent accuracy in a volatile, 24/7 market. This required a fault-tolerant and scalable real-time data architecture, robust access control, and the level of resilience expected of an enterprise-class financial infrastructure.
Our Approach
To satisfy these needs, Lumitech adopted a data-first, performance-driven development approach. The work was carried out in close cooperation with the client’s design team and VP of Engineering: a classic collaboration-driven format. Special attention was paid to security, API request optimization, and data correctness.
Our team focused on creating a real-time data pipeline that ingests, processes, and recalculates customizable crypto indices with minimal latency. We began by:
conducting deep-dive workshops with the client’s product and data teams to synchronize in building a digital asset pricing engine;
mapping out the full lifecycle of index creation, update, and dissemination;
designing an infrastructure that can adapt to custom weighting methods, asset baskets, and data sources.
Our top priority was to ensure every component of the crypto index calculation system – from pricing feeds to engines – was both modular and resilient.
Technology Stack
For CoinDesk, we chose a stack that combines high performance, security, and real-time capabilities. The platform had to handle high-frequency data processing, support real-time data aggregation in crypto, integrate with multiple APIs, ensure stability at the financial systems level, and serve as a secure financial data infrastructure.
Therefore, the architecture was built on modern technologies that provide speed, scalability, and quality control at every stage – from the front end to infrastructure and testing.
Frontend: React, Next.js, TypeScript
Backend: Node.js, NestJS, PostgreSQL
Integrations: CoinGecko API, CryptoCompare API, RSS News Feed
Infrastructure: AWS (EC2, S3, RDS), Docker, GitHub Actions
Security: JWT, HTTPS/TLS, Rate Limiting
QA: Cypress, Postman
Challenges
While developing the platform for CoinDesk, the key thing was not just to launch the product, but to withstand the level of complexity expected of a financial-grade infrastructure. Below are the key technical challenges we addressed to ensure the system remained accurate, flexible, auditable, and easy to integrate with institutional clients.
Real-time market data integration with different API formats
Each provider had its own response structure, update frequency, and error logic, so we created a universal normalization layer that unifies all streams into a single format.
Optimization of a large number of updates in real time
Market data is updated every second, and sometimes even several times a second. We built a lightweight pipeline with real-time charts for crypto assets that processes hundreds of updates without delays or interface load.
Working with sensitive data (rates, capitalization, market volumes)
Any deviation or inaccuracy in the data can lead to incorrect user conclusions. We implemented multi-level verification, anomaly filters, and cross-validation from multiple sources.
UX coordination between the editorial and engineering teams
Editors aimed for maximum visibility, engineers – for productivity and the correct display of complex metrics. We conducted a series of workshops to find a balance between speed, simplicity, and informativeness.
Maintaining high performance under high data flow
Even during peak volatility, the interface had to remain smooth. We optimized rendering, caching, and query structure to ensure stability under any load.
Core Features
When building the platform for CoinDesk, we focused on the functionality that really matters to institutional clients: accuracy, speed, flexibility, and whole process transparency. Below are the key features of the system that ensure its reliability and value in working with market data.
Real-time cryptocurrency price tracking
Users can see current prices without delay, with continuous market data updates.
News parsing and aggregation from various sources
The system collects news from several authoritative sources, filters it, and displays it in a single feed alongside market indicators.
Interactive charts and market metrics
Dynamic charts, trading volumes, market capitalization, and other key indicators help users quickly assess the market’s state.
Analytics and insights section
A separate space for deeper reviews, trends and data interpretations based on CoinDesk content and expertise.
Secure authorization and data personalization
A reliable login and settings system allows users to receive relevant information based on their interests and access level.
Summary
This project was a significant milestone in Lumitech’s work in the fintech and crypto domains. Building a mission-critical platform that powers ETFs and financial instruments globally is both a technical and trust-based achievement.
As a result of our collaboration, we launched a full-fledged SaaS analytics platform that became an essential part of CoinDesk’s product strategy and significantly increased user engagement and time spent on the site. The company was subsequently successfully acquired, and this project became a logical milestone in its growth. We continue to maintain a warm, partnership-like relationship with the CoinDesk team and their VP of Engineering.
At Lumitech, we specialize in creating secure, scalable, and high-performance systems for complex domains like finance, crypto, and digital infrastructure. If you’re looking to build the next breakthrough in financial technology, we’d love to help.
Let’s talk about how we can build your platform.
