Up to 86% of total reported cryptocurrency trading volume is likely fake, according to analysis of exchange website visits

Bitwise released a 104-page white paper on Friday, which examined exchanges for fake volume, and found that roughly 95% of reported trading volume in bitcoin is fake or non-economic in nature. Bitwise used screen scrapers to collect live trading data from over 80 exchanges for a period of several months. The only 10 exchanges that passed Bitwise’s tests are Binance, Bitfinex, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, bitFlyer, Gemini, itBit, Bittrex, and Poloniex.

Still, Bitwise's study ignores the real volumes on the hundreds of exchanges which they deem to have majority fake volumes. The asset manager estimated that there is an increase of 12% in volume if the approximation of real volume on HitBTC, Huobi, and OKEx is included. But none of the other exchanges are considered. Bitwise says that while the real volume on exchanges that engage in faking volume is "non-negligible," the firm does not believe it would materially change the conclusions of the paper.