Bitstamp apologises for Messari report in which XRP was called ‘toxic asset’

The cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp apologised for publication of Messari’s 134-page report. In it, the founder of the analytics service Ryan Selkis spoke unfavourably about some cryptocurrencies.

1/3 Yesterday we posted a syndicated report by Messari, parts of which contained language and content that does not reflect Bitstamp’s views or values. We would like to apologise for that.

— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) December 9, 2020

The trading platform sponsored the “Crypto Thesis for 2021” review. They admitted that they had not thoroughly reviewed the document, “parts of which contained language and content not reflecting Bitstamp’s views or values”.

2/3 We did not complete a thorough enough review of the 130+ page report before it was published. This is on us, we should have done better.

— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) December 9, 2020

In the report Selkis used crude and uncensored language toward several tokens. The Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Ripple’s XRP he called toxic, and forks Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) were described as useless.

“Toxic assets XRP and XLM, which are kept afloat by regulatory oversight, go against everything that drew me to crypto. Litecoin is basically Bitcoin’s production test network. Attack it and steal money if you can,” wrote the founder of Messari.

Bitstamp removed the link to the publication and stressed that it “seeks to bring to the public a variety of viewpoints … provided they do not express disrespect toward any part of the community”.

3/3 Our goal with sponsoring crypto research reports is to bring a diverse variety of viewpoints and insights to the public free of charge (even if they do not fully reflect our own views) but only so far as they are not disrespectful toward any part of the community.

— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) December 9, 2020

In reply, Selkis said he deliberately kept a joking tone. In his view, humor is “the only thing that keeps people reading 134-page reports in a 280-character world”. The issue is that @Bitstamp may have expected a more cerebral «Pro» piece from our analysts vs. the yearly TBI hot takes.

3/ Humor is the only thing that keeps people reading 134 page reports in a 280-character world.

The issue is that @Bitstamp may have expected a more cerebral «Pro» piece from our analysts vs. the yearly TBI hot takes.

— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) December 9, 2020

Followers of XRP and some users praised Bitstamp’s decision to remove the link to the report.

Messari Report Crypto Theses for 2021 by ForkLog on Scribd

As noted in the 2019 Messari report, analysts indicated that XRP’s market capitalisation could be overstated by more than $6 billion.

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