Messari adds metrics to eliminate fake crypto trading volume

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Cryptocurrency research and analytics firm Messari has stepped up its game in light of recent fake trading volume reports. The firm has added two new metrics that it describes as critical to its suite of products.

The first, named “Real 10 Volumes” will monitor the trading volumes on 10 selected exchanges. According to Messari’s announcement, the following exchanges have reported significant and legitimate crypto trading volumes via their APIs: Binance, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Coinbase Pro, Bitflyer, Bittrex, Kraken, itBit, Gemini and Poloniex. In the coming months, the firm will vet and add more exchanges, the report revealed.

The update comes after a damaging report revealed that 95% of the current crypto trading volume is likely fake. The report by Bitwise, a crypto index fund provider, implicated CoinMarketCap which it said spreads the fake numbers. This creates a mistaken impression of the true size of the crypto market. The report claimed that for Bitcoin Core (BTC), the daily market is below $300 million and not $6 billion as portrayed.

Messari also added the Liquid Cap, a market cap alternative. Liquid Cap will be the product of the firm’s volume weighted prices with the liquid supply estimates. “We feel this more accurately reflects the outstanding network value of top crypto assets,” the report claimed. The Messari team already has all the information on the top 50 cryptos’ supply curve, the announcement claimed.

The total industry Liquid Cap by Messari will be lower than what CoinMarketCap and other aggregators report. This is because the firm will exclude the restricted supply from the calculations. The restricted supplies are the tokens that developers store away and are not available for trading.

Messari’s Liquid Cap will also discount Tether-denominated prices. According to them, these prices always trade at a premium to fiat spot markets. This further contributes to the misrepresentation of the actual market capitalization.

Lastly, the Liquid Cap will exclude stablecoins. This will significantly affect the overall capitalization, given the recent rise of stablecoins. While in the past Tether has dominated the scene, new entrants are challenging for the crown. Chief among them is USDC, a stablecoin by Circle that has received widespread support from exchanges.