- NYDFS denies Messari the opportunity to check spreadsheets containing some certain info about XRP
- Messari has accused Ripple of inflating XRP circulating supply and Market cap.
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has denied Messari, a platform offering crypto “metrics and live data, access to some requested clarity over Ripple’s XRP market cap that created ruckus in the cryptocurrency space late January.
Answering Messari on his request to know the average sales price XRP 11 was offered to Ripple’s enterprise customers from 2016 to 2019, the implied discount to spot rate, and the total XRP sold via XRP II, NYDFS responded, saying disclosing such information would result in a “substantial competitive injury to the subject enterprise”.
While claiming that it has spreadsheets that are partially responsive to Messari’s request, NYDFS says released information can be used to gain unauthorised access, or engage in fraud or other criminal acts as it contains transactional information on Ripple.
What Lead to the Enquiry
Late January, Messari’s research hints that the real circulating supply and market capitalization of Ripple’s digital asset XRP are overstated, pointing that XRP has lesser market cap and circulating supply than quoted on all exchanges, Indices, and CoinMarketCap.
From the report, Messari surmises that XRP’s liquid “circulating supply” and “market cap” could be increased by 48%.
The research points that the overstated value as at then, puts the total XRP “market cap” at $6.9 billion as against the widely represented $13.0 billion, making the digital asset exceedingly high by market cap.
Read: XRP is Extremely Superior than BTC, Comparing Bitcoin Utility to Gold a Joke?
During the period, Messari enjoined all major indices to revise their circulating supply for Ripple’s XRP “downward” to show the exchange’s real network liquidity. Messari, which sought input from Ripple with got no response, urged indices to desist from using Ripple’s XRP API for calculating actual supply.
Before the research, Ripple in its released 2018 Q4 report, stated that the average daily XRP volume was $585.7 million. As stated in the report, Ripple sold around $88.88 million worth of XRP, a value higher that the Q1 XRP sales.
Response from Messari over NYSDF’s Decision
The founder of Messari, Ryan Selkis, who made the enquiry on behalf of Messari Inc., said the response from NYSDF is a good “definition of regulatory capture”, pointing afterward that if regulated entity can go scot-free with this kind of “material obfuscation”, the present condition of the cryptocurrency space is nothing to write home about.
1/ In January, I filed a FOIL request with the NYDFS regarding Ripple's XRP II affiliate's sales and discount policies.
Remember, XRP II HAS A BITLICENSE.
Today, after 3.5 months, I received a response. They denied the request.
Thread: pic.twitter.com/INcLhgBTON
— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) May 13, 2019
