With the new addition, CoinGecko wants to expand its crypto data API offering and monitor wash trading in the markets.
Crypto data aggregator CoinGecko is doubling down on the NFT market with the latest acquisition aimed at expanding its API that offers data on digital collectibles.
In a blog announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 22, CoinGecko said it acquired Zash, an infrastructure company focused on non-fungible tokens, in a bid to offer more NFT-related metrics such as metadata, historical transactions, and lending data. The transaction price was not disclosed.
“We believe NFTs will continue to evolve and unlock new use cases globally, creating value for businesses and consumers.”
CoinGecko Founder Parit Patel
CoinGecko plans to roll out new services by the second quarter of 2024. Users could gain access to data on Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain), Bitcoin Ordinals, and Solana. In addition to metadata, users will also be able to collect information about NFT loans on marketplaces such as Blend, X2Y2, and NFTfi.
Among other features, Zash will also allow clients to monitor wash trading. However, this feature will only be available on “major collections” minted on Ethereum, CoinGecko said.
Historically, wash trading has been a concern in the NFT market, as many blamed this illegal practice of buying and selling assets at the same time as the main reason behind the 2022 NFT bubble.
According to Chainalysis, a blockchain forensics company, more than 100 profitable wash traders collectively made almost $9 million in profits from this activity. However, the company noted that the majority of NFT wash traders “have not been profitable,” adding that more than 150 wash trades resulted in losses of $416,984.
At press time, total sales on the market amount to $80.8 million, a far cry from its all-time high in August 2021, when the market generated more than $2 billion in daily sales, according to data from CryptoSlam.
CoinGecko operates as a platform that provides data and information on digital currencies and offers tools for users to quantitatively evaluate and classify their cryptocurrency holdings. Established in Singapore in 2014, the company was co-founded by TM Lee and Bobby Ong.
