Digital Asset Research (DAR), a provider of crypto asset data and research, has released its October 2021 Crypto Exchange Vetting and Asset Vetting results.
In an environment where cryptocurrencies trade across hundreds of lightly regulated or unregulated exchanges, DAR’s vetting processes meet an industry-wide need for reliable crypto data by applying institutional-level diligence to digital asset markets.
Over 450 exchanges were evaluated to identify 21 Vetted Exchanges: Binance.US; bitbank; Bitfinex; bitFlyer; BITFRONT; Bitso; Bitstamp; Bittrex; CEX.IO, Coinbase; Coincheck; CoinField; Gemini; GMO Coin Co.; itBit; Kraken; Liquid; LMAX; Luno; Okcoin; and Zaif. B2BX and VCC Exchange were removed from the list of Vetted Exchanges after the latest evaluation.
Fourteen exchanges remain as Watchlist Exchanges for potential future inclusion on the Vetted Exchanges list: Bidesk; Binance; Bitcoin.com; BHEX; BKEX; CoinEx; CoinTiger; Dcoin; FTX; Gate.io; Huobi; LATOKEN; Poloniex; and Phemex. BitOffer, OceanEx, and ZB.com were removed as Watchlist Exchanges.
The Asset Vetting process evaluated over 1000 digital assets to identify 43 benchmark assets and over 600 non-benchmark assets. In the latest evaluation, Aave (AAVE); Bancor Network Token (BNT); Curve DAO Token (CRV); Decentraland (MANA); Dogecoin (DOGE); Elrond (EGLD); Kusama (KSM); Loopring (LRC); Polkadot (DOT); Polygon (MATIC); Solana (SOL); Sushi (SUSHI); The Graph (GRT); The Sandbox (SAND); and UMA (UMA) were added to the Benchmark Asset list.
The Benchmark Asset list also continues to include 0x (ZRX); Algorand (ALGO); Augur (REP); Basic Attention Token (BAT); Bitcoin (BTC); Bitcoin Cash (BCH); Cardano (ADA); Chainlink (LINK); Cosmos (ATOM); Dash (DASH); Enzyme (MLN); EOS (EOS); Ethereum (ETH); Kyber Network (KNC); Maker (MKR); Monero (XMR); OMG Network (OMG); Orchid (OXT); REN (REN); Qtum (QTUM); Stellar (XLM); Storj (STORJ); Synthetix (SNX); Tezos (XTZ); TRON (TRX); Uniswap (UNI); yearn.finance (YFI); and Zcash (ZEC).
“Our vetting processes continue to reflect the evolution of the crypto space. The increase in the Benchmark Asset list is largely attributable to an expansion of asset listings on Vetted Exchanges, which in turn are a direct result of higher prices and community interest, especially in alt coins,” says Doug Schwenk, DAR’s CEO.
The Exchange Vetting process combines quantitative and traditional qualitative due diligence to identify exchanges reporting accurate volumes and eliminate exchanges that are not appropriate for determining an accurate market price. During the Asset Vetting process, digital assets trading on Vetted Exchanges are evaluated to determine if they meet institutional investor standards for codebase construction and maintenance, community, security, liquidity, and regulatory compliance.
The results of the Exchange Vetting and Asset Vetting processes are used by DAR clients to determine accurate asset prices and to identify safe venues in the market. Results are also used for DAR Sector Indexes, the recently launched FTSE Bitcoin Index, FTSE Ethereum Index, and FTSE Cardano Index, as well as in the FTSE DAR Reference Price, a robust hourly reference price for digital asset market performance.
