Intercontinental Exchange Expands Crypto Data Feed (But Omits USD Token)

The latest update has seen the company widen its cryptocurrency data feed to an offering to over 60 digital assets. According to ICE’s website, the data is sourced from 30 trading venues and over 400 trading pairs. Considering ICE’s reputation and experience handling trading data, the product is most likely targeted towards institutional investors and investment fund managers. This development is encouraging and cements ICE’s engagement to provide a comprehensive set of services around digital assets. While most of the digital assets covered are already relatively popular, there certainly are some surprising inclusions.

Our enhanced crypto data feed now offers greater transparency: streaming real-time data for 400+ fiat and crypto currency pairs + new venues & full Level 2 data. @Blockstreamhttps://t.co/4hNVe3WElw pic.twitter.com/AmJdWP1L36

— ICE Data Services (@ICEDataServices) January 24, 2019

Strange Inclusions and Omissions

Six of the cryptocurrencies in the updated data feed are outside the top-100 cryptoassets by market capitalization. Aside from the errors in the tickers used, the list also includes all variants of Bitcoin Cash: Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Cash ABC, and Bitcoin Cash SV. (The project split of Bitcoin Cash has certainly caused a lot of confusion, however, the chains have already settled on the Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV names.) Another eye-catching addition is that of Dogecoin (DOGE), which started from an internet meme and now has a $240 million market capitalization. However, this could also be due to the demand from current customers and investors. An omission that wasn’t probably caused by poor demand is that of USDC. All of the major U.S. dollar-pegged tokens (TrueUSD, Paxos, Gemini US, and Tether) have found their way onto the list — but not the token of Coinbase and Circle. One potential conclusion for such an obvious omission is a misalignment of interests, but this is just speculation.

Bakkt Aside

The announced update may not be the news many are expecting from ICE, but the launch of Bakkt completely hinges on the approval of the Bitcoin Futures Contract from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Since the U.S. government has been in shutdown for all of 2019 and doesn’t appear to be opening anytime soon, the launch could happen much later in the year. Still, when one of the biggest stock exchange operators in the world starts expanding its cryptocurrency-related products, it is signaling an increased awareness and interest from prospective customers. Do you like the new update from ICE? How do you find the new additions to the cryptocurrency data feed? Share your opinion in the comments! 

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