CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency price index and one of the most popular crypto websites by traffic volume, has announced the launch of two cryptocurrency indices on Bloomberg Terminal, Nasdaq Global Index Data Service, as well as Thomson Reuters Eikon and Börse Stuttgart. The indices will be calculated by German index provider Solactive, according to the details of the press release published on CoinMarketCap’s official blog Mar. 20.
Per the announcement, CoinMarketCap’s new benchmark indices will offer users the ability to reference coins with and without the influence of Bitcoin,
“most comprehensive ones on the market, covering the Top 200 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, one including Bitcoin, and one without.”
The first indices titled CMC Crypto 200 Index (CMC200), which includes Bitcoin, will cover more than 90 percent fo the global cryptocurrency market. The alternative index–sans Bitcoin–CMC Crypto 200 ex BTC index (CMC200EX) will allow investors the option of viewing the market in the absence of Bitcoin, which currently holds close to 50 percent of total market share.
According to CoinMarketCap CEO Brandon Chez, the website’s launch onto popular terminals such as Bloomberg and Nasdaq will increase user accessibility to cryptocurrency data and increase penetration into the traditional financial markets,
“We are excited to launch and share these indices with the market. These indices will promote greater accessibility to cryptocurrency data in an easier-to-digest format.
In partnership with Solactive, our chosen index administrator, we hope these professionally-calculated indices will serve to expand the reach of cryptocurrencies into the larger financial markets.”
The press release also includes information on the history of CoinMarkCap, explaining to users that the company was the first to create and quantify the terms “market capitalization,” “circulating supply” and “Bitcoin dominance” in reference to the crypto markets.
Solactive AG, the independent Germin index provider which will calculate CMC’s new indices, is also the provider for CBOE Bitcoin Futures index and over 3,000 custom-made indices. The press release also reports that the company is “fully compliant with the IOSCO Principles for FInancial Benchmarks.”
Fabian Colin, Head of Sales at Solactive further explained his company’s position in CMC’s indices launch,
“We are very proud to be chosen as CMC’s index provider of choice in this exciting journey. The ability to access CoinMarketCap data gives us the opportunity to develop custom indices for new clients. Conversations have already started.
We are looking forward to developing more crypto indices in the future, which will optimistically result in investable indices and might lead to further products.”
While CoinMarketCap has evolved into the most popular portal for investors to view cryptocurrency prices, the website has experienced a bit of controversy over the years. In Jan. 2018, the website made the sudden decision to remove Korean markets included in their price listing, causing many top coins to appear to drop double digits percentage points seemingly overnight. The result was a mass panic of crypto selloff, leading to further depressed prices and contributing to the shift in crypto’s bullish rally at the start of 2018 to what has become more than a year of “crypto winter” for coin prices.
Just this week, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao called into question the data presented by popular crypto price-trackers such as CoinMarketCap in response to a report alleging most cryptocurrency exchanges are publishing false trading volume.
