CoinGecko Releases ‘Trust Score 2.0’ to Boost Crypto Exchange Transparency

Market data aggregator CoinGecko has upgraded its “Trust Score” metric in a bid to bring more transparency to the crypto trading environment.

The company’s re-tooled scoring system will evaluate global cryptocurrency exchanges using more complex metrics, beyond just liquidity.

Speaking on stage at CoinDesk’s Invest: Asia event in Singapore, CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong said the firm has significantly increased the number of exchanges it is tracking, going from 45 exchanges 18 months ago to 363 now – a growth of 706 percent.

CoinGecko first revealed the Trust Score system in May 2019 in order to combat fake trading volume among cryptocurrency exchanges.

The new upgrade to the scoring system, now called Trust Score 2.0, will look at four additional major measurements, including exchanges’ API technical coverage, scale of operations, estimated cryptocurrency reserves and regulatory compliance.

“With the launch of Trust Score 2.0, progress is being made to promote transparency amongst cryptocurrency exchanges,” CoinGecko co-founder  TM Lee said in a statement. “We look forward to innovating further to better evaluate cryptocurrency exchanges based on a comprehensive set of data.”

With the new scoring system now live, CoinGecko has identified the top five crypto exchanges, according to its metrics. They are: Binance, Bitfinex, Bittrex, Poloniex and Coinbase Pro.

In a blog post released Wednesday, CoinGecko explained that 50 percent of its Trust Score 2.0 is based on exchanges’ liquidity, with 20 percent on technical coverage and 30 percent on scale of operations.

“Cryptocurrency Reserves and Regulatory Compliance categories are not included in the overall Trust Score 2.0 calculations for now but are considered candidates for inclusion in future Trust Score algorithm updates,” the company said in the post.

For the estimation of cryptocurrency reserve and regulatory compliance, CoinGecko said it’s working with Bitfury and Coinfirm, respectively.

CoinGecko cofounder Bobby Ong speaks at Invest: Asia 2019, photo by Wolfie Zhao for CoinDesk