Bitfinex’s Price for Bitcoin, $300 Higher than Market Rate, Excluded from CoinMarketCap

Market data resource CoinMarketCap (CMC) has excluded Bitfinex’s price for bitcoin (BTC) from its global average, its website showed on May 6.

The embattled exchange’s BTC price was $5,986.60 at press time — almost $300 higher than the current market rate of about $5,692. An asterisk has been placed next to its price on the CMC website to indicate its exclusion.

Explaining why some crypto prices and trading volumes are excluded, CMC’s website states:

“Some prices are manually excluded from the average, denoted by an asterisk (*) on the markets tab if the price does not seem indicative of a free market price.”

Bitfinex is fighting battles on several fronts at present. In late April, New York’s state attorney general alleged that the exchange lost $850 million and used funds from Tether, the stablecoin operator it is affiliated with, to cover the shortfall.

Both companies have denied the accusations — using a joint statement to claim the court filings were “riddled with false assertions.”

On May 3, NY’s attorney general requested the disclosure of documents concerning an alleged deal between Bitfinex and Tether, with Letitia James claiming that the firms “misled their clients and investors.”

A day later, an official document shared by a Bitfinex shareholder appeared to confirm that the exchange is planning an initial exchange offering IEO of up to $1 billion.