Coindesk
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A global news resource on Bitcoin and digital currencies.
This London-based resource and news operation aims to be the “Reuters of Bitcoin” according to its founder Shakil Khan. As an angel investor in Spotify and bitcoin startup BitPay, Khan noticed a gap in the news coverage for bitcoin and digital currencies in general when other entrepreneurs constantly questioned him about bitcoin. CoinDesk was launched on May 1st 2013[1]. In September 2013, Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation joined CoinDesk as a contributing editor.
CoinDesk Information Centre
On August 21st 2013[3], CoinDesk launched a bitcoin information centre. This contained guides on everything from the very basics of digital currency to how to set up your own bitcoin mining rig.
CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index
CoinDesk launched a proprietary Bitcoin Price Index on September 11, 2013[2]. The Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) represents an average of bitcoin prices across leading global exchanges that meet criteria specifed by the BPI. It is intended to serve as a standard retail price reference for industry participants and accounting professionals.
Criteria for inclusion in the BPI are:
- Exchange must serve an international customer base;
- Exchange must provide a bid-offer spread for an immediate sale (offer) and an immediate purchase (bid);
- Minimum trade size must be less than 1,500 USD or equivalent;
- Daily trading volume must meet minimum acceptable levels as determined by CoinDesk;
- Banking transfers in or out of the exchange must be completed within seven business days.
Upon launch, BitStamp, BTC-e and CampBX met these criteria and were included in the index.
The main features of the index are as follows:
- The CoinDesk BPI is a simple average of leading XBT/USD exchange prices;
- The BPI is expressed as the midpoint of bid/ask spread;
- The BPI is updated every 60 seconds;
- If an exchange does not update its price for more than 30 minutes, it is omitted from the live BPI calculation until it is updated again;
- New index historical data commences on 1 July 2013;
- Prior index historical data is obtained via Mt. Gox;
- End-of-day high, low, and closing BPI is based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or British Summer Time (BST) when appropriate;
- Non-USD BPI prices are implied based on rates obtained via openexchangerates.org;
The CoinDesk BPI is now used by the Bitcoin Foundation[4], Bitcoin Insider and several charting platforms. A free API is available for developers.
External Links
- CoinDesk.com website
- @CoinDesk Twitter
- RSS Feed
References
- [1] TechCrunch - Shakil Khan launches CoinDesk a bitcoin resource
- [2] The Next Web - Baffled by the world of Bitcoin? This beginner’s guide will tell you everything you need to know
- [3] AllThingsD - What’s a Bitcoin Really Worth? CoinDesk Thinks It Has the Answer
- [4] CoinDesk launches proprietary bitcoin price index