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Winklevoss twins launch API for Bitcoin index
Posted On 22 Jul 2014
The Winklevoss Index (referred to as the WinkDex), which launched back in February, is a blended Bitcoin index that they hope will become the canonical Bitcoin price for Bitcoin companies all over the world. The index is run by the Winklevoss twins: investors who were involved in the early creation of Facebook and have expressed considerable interest in Bitcoin in recent months. The WinkDex collects data from Bitcoin exchanges all over the world, and merges the data together to calculate an accurate price. The WinkDex was developed in an attempt to provide an accurate way to price assets for the Winklevoss’ upcoming Bitcoin trust.
The WinkDex has already seen some success (the trust is supports is going to be listed on NASDAQ), but today Fortune magazine reported that the WinkleVoss twins will be releasing an API to allow a number of Bitcoin-based services to use the Winkdex price automatically. This would be useful for everyone from e-commerce giants trying to keep BTC prices pegged to a USD value, to Bitcoin trading bots looking for arbitrage opportunities.
Cameron Winklevoss told Fortune:
“We’ve spent a lot of time trying to build a really cool tool. Obviously the index will be big for us because it will be used to price any future ETF. But we also wanted to build on this for the betterment of the Bitcoin community. […] There’s going to be volatility, naturally, in any system that is new and getting its footing. But I think if you and I are trying to price some good or product, having a smoother near-term price makes more sense. A blended Bitcoin price is important, because you want to smooth it out and use a two-hour window. We look at every single trade.”
While is only a first step, it is an important one, Cameron emphasized. He said:
“That’s the fun part a little bit, is not knowing what the hell people are going to do on it. It’ll be really interesting to see what people do. And even though ostensibly an API of a pricing product is not super sexy, this matters to the Bitcoin community.”
If the WinkDex successfully becomes the standard, and is used across the Bitcoin industry, it will further the twins apparent goals of becoming a bridge between the Bitcoin and traditional financial sectors, serving as a legitimizing force for Bitcoin industry and a change-bringer for traditional finance. Both are profitable roles, and both would help to provide an element of stability to the often ephemeral nature of Bitcoin establishments.
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