CoinMarketCap Makes First Acquisition to Further Improve Crypto Data Offering

As its bid to improve its crypto data offering continues, CoinMarketCap is snapping up a firm building technology said to provide a “true price” for cryptocurrencies.

In a move that marks its first ever acquisition, CoinMarketCap said in press release Wednesday that it is purchasing Hashtag Capital, a startup developing algorithms that analyse "all points of available liquidity" in order to more accurately reflect an asset.

Hashtag had originally been an absolute returns crypto trading fund, and began working on ways to create better quality markets data as part of its fund management. This project was what attracted CoinMarketCap to the company, according to the release. The Hashtag team will be joining CoinMarketCap once the acquisition is complete.

The news comes after CoinMarketCap launched a transparency initiative with a number of cryptocurrency exchanges on May 1. The effort saw the firms forming a new group, dubbed the Data Accountability & Transparency Alliance (DATA), to discuss ways to tackle concerns over cryptocurrency data reporting.

CoinMarketCap at the same time mandated that all exchanges listed on its platform must provide live trading and orderbook data or be removed from the platform’s adjusted volume calculations.

Cryptocurrency index fund provider Bitwise Asset Management has previously claimed that 95 percent of all reported bitcoin trading volume is faked and that the true spot market for bitcoin essentially exists on just 10 different exchanges.

“We are excited to push the envelope on cryptocurrency pricing at CoinMarketCap, going beyond our traditional volume-weighted average prices to even more sophisticated price algorithms and analyses,” said Brandon Chez, CEO and founder of CoinMarketCap. “The Hashtag Capital team will be able to add significantly to our data efforts, and drive the next phase of CoinMarketCap in providing data products to the market.”

In other CoinMarketCap news, the data provider has also made changes to its executive team, promoting Carylyne Chan from global head of marketing to chief strategy officer, while Emily Hurd advances from head of business development to chief revenue officer.

CoinMarketCap image via Shutterstock