Crypto Market Integrity Coalition inducts 8 new members, plans training

The Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC) announced the induction of eight new members, the organization announced on Sept. 29. The organization, which now has 38 members who have all taken a pledge to uphold market integrity and efficiency, describes itself as such:

“CMIC […] gives a unified voice to the crypto industry’s commitment to continually improving market integrity and collaboration with regulators.”

According to its statement, CMIC is also developing market integrity training for digital asset markets to help compliance professionals counter manipulation.

The new CMIC members are digital asset trust and security company BitGo, crypto exchange Bittrex, blockchain analytics platform Crystal Blockchain, fintech firms FinClusive and Oasis Pro Markets, Web3 risk mitigation platform Merkle Science, digital assets platform Tokenomy and forensic services provider VAF Compliance.

.@FinClusiveCap is proud to join the Crypto Market Integrity Coalition (CMIC). Looking forward to working together to elevate standards and enable safe and regulated crypto growth. Go to https://t.co/2suE9kovi1 to join the effort #CryptoMarketIntegrity

— Amit Sharma (@ASharma_VT) September 29, 2022

CMIC is the brainchild of market surveillance firm Solidus Labs. Solidus cofounder and CEO Asaf Meir said, “Now more than ever before, it is clear that crypto’s potential depends on the ability to mitigate its new risks and provide demonstrable market integrity.”

The organization was founded in February with 17 members that included such names as Coinbase, Circle, Huobi Tech and CryptoUK. A second cohort of 13 members joined CMIC in April.

CMIC is one of a number of self-regulatory organizations (SROs) that have arisen without authority delegated by regulators. CMIC member CryptoUK was the first such SRO, founded in 2018, with similar organizations arising in Japan and South Korea later that year. The Japan Blockchain Association, notably, had 127 members as of June 2022.

The CMIC pledge reads, in part:

“We support and seek to participate in digital asset markets that demonstrate Market Integrity. […] Digital assets and digital asset market structure may present novel forms of market activity and market manipulation. We agree to continually educate ourselves as to these unique challenges and how to address them.”