It appears that Bitmain is expanding its reach into all areas of the crypto world, as it has launched its very own cryptocurrency index. The index is designed to track the price of a basket of cryptos in real time, and provide a daily reference price at 10am Hong Kong Standard Time. While this might feel like a gimmick to many people in the crypto sphere, it’s something that has been needed for a long time, as its presence will help make an exchange traded fund (ETF) more likely to happen.
Updated Every Second
Bitmain has announced that it will be updating the index every second of the day to ensure that the price data is correct at all times. Due to the extreme volatility that is currently seen in the crypto markets, this is actually a really sensible way to run the index. However, due to the fact that cryptos are traded at their own price on different exchanges, creating one price could prove tricky. Despite this, if all exchanges agree to begin using it, we could see one blanket price for cryptos, rather than some exchanges having higher or lower prices than others.
Bitmain in Rough Waters
A unified crypto price could help put Bitmain back in everyone’s good books – something it could really use at the moment. Out in California, Bitmain is currently being sued for $5 million after more than 100 plaintiffs allege that the company was illegally mining cryptos using their equipment. However, it looks like this could be a case of miners that didn’t know how to properly configure their mining equipment, which could prove to be Bitmain’s saving grace in court.
Final Push Towards an ETF
This new crypto index might help VanEck and SolidX with their final push towards creating the world’s first Bitcoin ETF. The pair are in their last round of talks and discussions with the SEC in the hope of managing to push the ETF through before the end of the year. If the duo manages to persuade the SEC, it will be the news that the crypto market has been waiting for, making it a Christmas to remember.
This new crypto index from Bitmain could be seen as a mining giant simply looking to control more of the crypto world and manipulating the price of crypto in order to boost profits. Yet, as its official IPO application nears completion, new features and products like this will certainly help it attract more investors and earn a higher valuation than expected.
