Data Accountability and Transparency Alliance

An Industry in Flux

Everyone knows that knowledge is power. The quality of the information to support that power is, however, essential. Toward improving the quality of information it disseminates, CoinMarketCap has created the Data Accountability & Transparency Alliance (DATA).

Throughout these early days of the digital asset industry, it has long been known that manipulation and distortion of information is highly prevalent. That is to say wash trading and “fake volume” are familiar culprits. These unscrupulous techniques result in creating the illusion of a healthy and liquid trading environment. Along with regulatory compliance, trading volume data is quickly becoming a specific target for improvement. 

DATA Requirements

In response to the increasing attention that improvements in the information distributed industry-wide, on their 6th birthday CoinMarketCap announced surprise new policies. They are applicable for all cryptocurrencies, tokens and digital asset exchanges. The Data Accountability & Transparency Alliance defines these criteria.

The new requirements are going to be applied in 3 phases. CMC have laid down clear deadlines, and the burden of transparency and legitimate activity lays on the individual projects. Fortunately, previous years of experience and expertise gained by the BitShares community are more than adequate to make these adjustments.

The first of the three phases requires an update to the BitShares API, where the information on trading volume comes from. DATA will determine phases 2 and 3 following round-table discussions among industry stakeholders.

Phase 1 is already completed.

To quickly bring about action, the community embarked on a discussion via the official forum. The division of tasks and related GitHub activities are now underway. Accordingly, completing the API is the community's highest current priority. Lastly, preparations for the latter two steps have begun as well.

Ongoing Progress and Securing Alliance

Communication with related enterprises has also been ongoing. It will be very interesting for the entire industry to see which projects and cryptocurrencies remain visible on the CoinMarketCap website. Especially as CMC have also stated complying to the full 3 phases will also impact rankings; no longer by market capitalization alone.

Pressure to meet DATA requirements has become obvious. Consequently, the BitShares community has demonstrated its professionalism and responsiveness in addressing this vital matter. The BitShares community will continue working toward meeting the remaining Data Accountability & Transparency Alliance requirements for all 3 phases in a timely manner.