Research: 75% of Bitcoin Exchanges Report ‘Suspicious’ Digital Currency Trading Volumes
A site called TheTie released a report today that estimates over 86% of all reported Bitcoin exchange volume is suspicious, while 75% of exchanges report extremely dubious volumes. The research uses a different formula than other reports have: it values each website’s visitors and compares that value to the reported figures.
Potential Fake Crypto Volumes High Across The Board
For example, Bithumb, which has been the subject of previous investigations, was expected to have a monthly volume of roughly $1.2 billion based on an average visit value of $13,418. Instead, Bithumb reports over $28 billion. This means their reported volume is nearly 2,000% higher than what would be expected.
TheTie introduces the data saying:
“The weighted average trading volume per web visit for Binance, Coinbase Pro, Gemini, Poloniex, and Kraken was selected as a baseline volume per user to calculate expected volume. This amounted to $591 per web visit. BitMEX was not included because it is a futures exchange. This does not account for mobile app or API usage to trade – web traffic is an assumption for simplicity. Relative outlier detection is quite notable, so the outright number isn’t the main objective.”
TheTie hedges its statements by saying these are “potential” indications of fake volume.
Altcoin Exchange Bittrex Among the Most Reliable Reporters
Korea’s 2nd-Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchange Bithumb Resumes User Registrations
Crypto markets are stabilizing and improving. Enabling companies to begin focusing on their next phase of growth.
Bithumb, South Korea’s second-biggest crypto exchange by daily trading volume behind UPbit, will officially resume registrations for new investors as early as this week.
NH Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the country, is set to sign an agreement with Bithumb on August 30 to provide virtual bank accounts to Bithumb users, which will allow new users to trade on the trading platform.
In South Korea, cryptocurrency exchanges are required to operate virtual bank accounts so that users can withdraw and deposit Korean won without having to directly deal with their respective banks for efficiency and security.
What Bithumb’s Registration Resumption Means
Since early 2018, as its partnership with NH Bank was dematerialized and it experienced a $40 million security breach which disabled deposits and withdrawals on Bithumb for a whole month, Bithumb has not been able to accept new traders on its platform.
As CCN previously reported, an official from Nonghyup Bank told Business Korea:
“We have decided not to renew the contract because Bithumb still has problems in protecting consumers and information and preventing money laundering.”
As seen in its decline in profits in the third quarter of 2018, the trading volume and user activity of Bithumb stagnated due to its inability to support new users and facilitate trades in July.
But, this month, the government of South Korea approved UPbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and a few other cryptocurrency exchanges for having...