CoinDesk Launches Bitcoin Price Index to Consolidate Exchange Spread
Bitcoin news source CoinDesk has launched a price index, intended to consolidate the prices Bitcoin is traded at across various exchanges.
The CoinDesk index represents an average of leading global Bitcoin exchanges but the formula is flexible enough to maintain only those exchange rates that conform to certain minimum criteria for price discovery and validity. Initially, those specific criteria are defined as:
(a) exchange must serve an international customer base;
(b) minimum trade size must be less than 1,500 USD or equivalent;
(c) banking transfers in or out of the exchange must be completed within seven days without special fees.
CoinDesk wrote on the occasion, “Mr. Charles Dow and Mr. Edward Jones probably felt this way at the launch of their now-famous average,” humbly comparing their new Bitcoin index to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stock market index originally conceived in 1896.
Here is an example of the spread between different Bitcoin exchanges.
This index has the potential to provide a single price to investors tracking the alternative currency.
CoinDesk is a news site launched in May 2013.
Interesting how the Mt Gox price always seems to be higher than the other exchanges and how this trend seems to be increasing over time.