CoinMarketCap Looks to Repair Tainted Image with More Trustworthy Data

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By CCN: Started as a side project in May 2013 by a lone developer in a Queens, New York apartment, CoinMarketCap celebrated its six-year anniversary last week. The website, which keeps track of the market capitalization of bitcoin and more than 2,100 altcoins, commemorated the milestone with a few announcements. The changes come on the heels of the crypto data market site coming under fire for reportedly relying on faulty data when calculating exchange trading volume.

CMC will be working to create a more rigorous and robust philosophy for what data it does and doesn’t include in its algorithms. Through a CoinMarketCap Data Accountability & Transparency Alliance, or DATA, it will “promote greater transparency, accountability, and disclosure from projects in the crypto space,” according to the announcement.

The real-time blockchain data provider is also launching a new blockchain explorer. The company is hoping to make it easier and more intuitive for newbies to explore and interact with the blockchain. With its new blockchain explorer, CoinMarketCap promises a friendlier, more down to earth interface for users to learn about the blockchain.

CoinMarketCap user-interface circa 2013. | Source: CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap Dogged By Scandals

A Bitwise investigation published in March found that “at least 95 percent of all bitcoin trading volume is faked on unregulated exchanges.” CoinMarketCap was caught in the middle of the scandal, with Bitwise pointing to $6 billion in daily trading volume reported by the site vs. $273 million in actual volume.

CoinMarketCap’s Humble Beginnings in Tracking Crypto Market Capitalizations

When CoinMarketCap was started in 2013, there was no consistent way to keep track of and compare the relative performance of the already burgeoning number of altcoins. The nascent nature of the emerging cryptocurrency space has made their job that much harder. Leaders in the crypto industry have been quick to defend CoinMarketCap, including Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao:

He instead pointed the finger at the seemingly scammy exchanges that have faked their trading volume along the way.

No new business is without its flaws in the early stages of development, especially niche tech businesses. But as CoinMarketCap reckons with how to provide the best product as a real-time crypto market data company, here’s to wishing it all the best for the next six years.

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