Yesterday, we reported on some puzzling differences in numbers around the production volumes of a Canadian cannabis stock called Organigram – it seemed that those various Internet venues reporting on the company did not provide numbers that squared with each other. When we tried to contact the company, though, we kind of got a brick wall.
That’s not an uncommon problem for reporters, who often have to use those old stock phrases like “calls made to (X) were not returned by press time.”
Today, we have another example in the cryptocurrency space pointed out by Toju Ometoruwa at Cryptopotato.
It has to do with one of the biggest movers in the crypto world.
Ripple is a company that many are talking about in the context of cryptocurrency. With its broadly versatile XRP token and attractive corporate philosophy, Ripple is making waves in this market.
However, Ometoruwa has noted a problem in trying to report the total circulation of XRP.
Ometoruwa cites ForbesCrypto estimates of around 99 billion, and CoinMarketCap numbers at just over 40 billion. One of those numbers is more than twice the other, so Ometoruwa kept looking into what the real numbers are.
“Coinmarketcap doesn’t show that the undistributed portion of XRP is circulating, and cites the link provided as evidence for it,” Ometoruwa writes. “Forbes, on the other hand, believes that the full quantity of XRP’s supply is currently circulating, and the sentiment on Twitter (at least amongst XRP fans) seems to agree with Forbes. Supporters have pointed to this webpage (citing https://xrpcharts.ripple.com/#/) as evidence for why the full supply is, in fact, equal to the circulating supply.”
However, that’s not the end of it – Ometoruwa also points out that the market capitalization reported varies from 13.9 billion at CoinMarketCap to 34.4 billion at ForbesCrypto!
Even 24 hour volume, he is found, is significantly different.
“It’s hard to determine at this time which numbers are correct,” Ometoruwa writes.
We feel your pain.
Part of the reason it’s so hard to determine is that too many companies in growing industries do not invest in sufficient press and media contacts.
If the only numbers that reporters can access are secondary sourcing, that’s going to lead to abundant confusion. The Ripple case is a good example because of the prominence of this cryptocurrency.
As Ometoruwa mentions, Ripple has overtaken Ethereum occupy the number two spot in the cryptocurrency world – think about all of the attention that’s going to be lavished on this company and its XRP ticker as investors and others feverishly try to sort out key analysis numbers!
As for XRP’s value, which is at a three month low, it may just be trailing Bitcoin’s dramatic dissent – the number one household name in cryptocurrency is currently down to around $3600 which is dismally, abysmally low.
Look for real hard numbers and do other kinds of due diligence research to make your crypto currency investing smarter and more successful – and figure out how much volatility your portfolio can take!
