Crypto Exchange Bitstamp Rolls Out Tech to Spot Market Manipulation

Bitstamp, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, is upgrading its tech arsenal in a bid to attract institutional investors.

The exchange announced Tuesday that it's implementing the Irisium Surveillance platform to monitor for suspicious activity and market manipulation. Following Bitstamp's recent partnership with Cinnober, a tech provider for mainstream financial markets and a partial owner of Irisium, the crypto exchange will now adopt a tool that entities such as Asia Pacific Exchange Pte Ltd (APEX) use to detect illicit behavior.

“We are committed to crypto in the long term,” Bitstamp's CEO and founder Nejc Kodric said in a statement. “Our desire is to guarantee a fair and orderly market which reflects genuine supply and demand. Exploring new frontiers in preventing market manipulation is essential for the industry to mature.”

According to the Irisium website, the company provides tools to monitor manipulative behavior and compliance with European regulatory requirements, such as the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

"The system makes available the tools and analytical data to enable regulators to identify, track and investigate any trading activity" and "is already utilized by European regulators," the website says.

Alastair Goodwin, CEO of Irisium, said of the integration:

“Bitstamp’s pro-active adoption of Irisium and close partnership with us demonstrates their desire to increase transparency, integrity and confidence in the cryptocurrency market. ... Enhanced customer protection and market integrity will help drive adoption and market liquidity.”

Earlier this month, Bitstamp announced that it would be replacing its own trading engine with the TRADExpress platform created by Cinnober, a tech company providing solutions to entities like the London Metal Exchange.

This was only the first step of Bitstamp's effort to revamp its platform and make it more suitable for institutional investors, Cinnober's cryptocurrency and blockchain lead Eric Wall told CoinDesk at the time.

The next step, also in partnership with Cinnober, for Bitstamp will be to become the de facto clearinghouse for its own trades, Wall added.

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