Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

The integrity of cryptocurrency trading volume is of growing importance for many stakeholders in the cryptoeconomy. Now, another service with big cryptoverse backers has arrived to further actualize “transparent data infrastructure” in the space.

On August 27th, cryptocurrency data company Nomics unveiled its new so-called Transparency Volume service, which the startup hailed as the first time a cryptocurrency market aggregator site “has designated a percentage of trading volume for a given cryptoasset as “transparent.”

As the firm explained in its announcement, its process for arriving at what volume data is considered reliable involves relying on cryptocurrency exchanges that provide high-quality data:

“Transparent volume represents the amount of volume deemed ‘trustworthy’ and high quality by Nomics. ‘Transparent Volume’ might just as well be called ‘Trustworthy Volume’ […] Specifically, transparent volume is the amount of volume for a given cryptoasset that’s moving through transparent exchanges (i.e. exchanges to which we’ve awarded an A+, A, or A- transparency rating).”

Nomics, which counts ecosystem stalwarts like Coinbase Ventures, Polymath Network, and Digital Currency Group among its investors, said the new service offering was considerably influenced by Bitwise Investments’s springtime report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

That Bitwise report made waves in the space for asserting that approximately “95% of reported volume [to data aggregators] is fake,” suggesting many smaller cryptocurrency exchanges are not trustworthy.

Some Takeaways from Transparency Volume on Day One At launch, the new Nomics dashboard service indicated that the largest big-cap cryptocurrencies with the most transparent trading volume over the last 24 hours were BNB (33 percent), bitcoin (17 percent), Monero (15 percent), XRP (11 percent).

Less transparent among the top coins were litecoin (9 percent), EOS (8 percent), ether (7 percent), USDT (5 percent), and bitcoin cash (2 percent), according to the service.

Nomics suggested in their announcement that honing in on this kind of data could eventually help pave the way to the SEC approving a Bitcoin ETF in the United States:

“One of the SEC’s major concerns in approving a Bitcoin ETF is the percentage of trading volume that is unsurveilled and subject to manipulation, toxic influences, etc. Our transparent volume metric is intended to help institutions, state actors, and investors assess the percentage of reported trading volume for a given cryptoasset that is auditable and transparent.”

At press time, the cryptocurrency gave “A” transparency ratings to many of the space’s most recognizable trading platforms, including Binance, Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Bitstamp, Poloniex, Ethfinex, Gemini, and bitFlyer. Some of the firm’s “A+” platform’s included Deribit, IDEX, and Belfrics.

Toward Better Knowledge Some take cryptocurrency data at face value, but new understandings can be unlocked by approaching the data in different ways.

For example, the bitcoin dominance rate — the amount of the cryptoeconomy’s market cap that bitcoin (BTC) alone is responsible for — is currently hovering around 70 percent, according to most data aggregator sites.

But there might be a better way to compute that metric. For one, blockchain analytics firm Arcane Crypto recently released a report that the suggested the bitcoin dominance rate was actually above 90 percent in weighting all cryptocurrencies’ market caps against their trading volumes.

Another example is emphasizing “realized cap” stats instead of straightforward market cap data. As Coin Metrics’s Nic Carter has previously explained, the realized cap of bitcoin “roughly … measures the average cost basis of Bitcoin holders.” Notably, the original cryptocurrency’s realized cap just crossed the $100 billion USD mark.

Realized cap roughly (but not perfectly) measures the average cost basis of Bitcoin holders. It takes into account the price at which a given coin last changed hands (rather than treating them uniformly, as market cap does) https://t.co/lm2QDGoYsd

— nic ???? carter (@nic__carter) August 26, 2019

In a similar way, the aforementioned Nomics approaches the traditional metric of cryptocurrency trading volume in a new way so as to provide a more accurate depiction of the activity that is actually occurring.

Going forward, it seems likely that better data clarity could increasingly assuage regulators’ concerns toward the ecosystem.

William M. Peaster

William M. Peaster is a professional writer and editor who specializes in the Ethereum, Dai, and Bitcoin beats in the cryptoeconomy. He's appeared in Blockonomi, Binance Academy, Bitsonline, and more. He enjoys tracking smart contracts, DAOs, dApps, and the Lightning Network. He's learning Solidity, too! Contact him on Telegram at @wmpeaster

Crypto token unlocks may halve to $3B in August; SUI, FTN top list

tZERO Group, Inc., a blockchain-powered multi-asset infrastructure provider, announced a partnership with Polymath, the company behind Polymesh – an L1 blockchain built for real-world assets. The partnership brings together Polymath’s RWA blockchain tech and tZERO’s broker-dealer and tokenization capabilities to support issuers seeking to “tokenize assets on the Polymesh network.”

Polymath and tZERO will aim to support issuers interested in tokenizing on Polymesh while “leveraging tZERO’s infrastructure – including the potential for tZERO Securities to serve as broker-dealer of record where applicable.”

This collab enables issuers to complete primary offerings on Polymesh through tZERO’s tokenization and compliance workflows and, “where eligible, access secondary trading on tZERO’s SEC-regulated Alternative Trading System (ATS).”

The combined model streamlines issuer onboarding, “enhances regulatory confidence, and provides a pathway from issuance to lifecycle management.”

As part of the relationship, tZERO will also operate “a validator node on Polymesh, underscoring a commitment to the network’s governance, security, and long-term ecosystem development.”

Polymesh is said to be designed for regulated financial assets, “offering native identity, compliance, and governance frameworks.”

Pairing Polymath’s L1 chain architecture with tZERO’s regulatory and market structure expertise provides “issuers with a combined solution that is purpose-built for real-world tokenization at institutional scale.”

This collab strengthens the RWA ecosystem by “aligning Polymath’s L1 chain governance with tZERO’s regulated stack, enabling a foundation for issuers looking to launch, manage, and grow digital asset programs.”

Polymath is the fintech company tokenizing the global financial system.

The company is “transforming the private securities market with a white-label SaaS platform that tokenizes real-world assets.”

As mentioned in the announcement, Polymath lets issuers “design compliant, efficient issuance flows while integrating via APIs with custodians, fund-management platforms, cap-table tools, CRM systems, and KYC/AML providers.”

Polymath now reportedly brings “security, liquidity, and efficiency to private markets.”

Polymesh is described as an institutional-grade permissioned blockchain “built specifically for regulated assets.”

It streamlines traditional workflows and “opens the door to new financial instruments by solving challenges around governance, identity, compliance, confidentiality, and settlement.”

As noted in the update, tZERO Group, Inc. and its broker-dealer subsidiaries provide a “liquidity platform for private companies and assets.”

They offer solutions for issuers “looking to digitize their capital table through blockchain tech, and make such equity available for trading on an alternative trading system.”

tZERO, via its broker-dealer subsidiaries, “democratizes access to private assets by providing a simple, automated, and efficient trading venue to broker-dealers, institutions, and investors.”

As covered, tZERO Digital Asset Securities, LLC is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC.

It is the broker-dealer custodian of all digital asset securities that are “offered on tZERO’s online brokerage platform.”

It operates in accordance “with the SEC’s statement, dated Dec 23, 2020, regarding the Custody of Digital Asset Securities by Special Purpose Broker-Dealers.”