Classification of cryptocurrency coins and tokens by the dynamics of their market capitalisations

We empirically verify that the market capitalisations of coins and tokens in the cryptocurrency universe follow power-law distributions with significantly different values, with the tail exponent falling between 0.5 and 0.7 for coins, and between 1.0 and 1.3 for tokens. We provide a rationale for this, based on a simple proportional growth with birth & death model previously employed to describe the size distribution of firms, cities, webpages, etc. We empirically validate the model and its main predictions, in terms of proportional growth (Gibrat's law) of the coins and tokens. Estimating the main parameters of the model, the theoretical predictions for the power-law exponents of coin and token distributions are in remarkable agreement with the empirical estimations, given the simplicity of the model. Our results clearly characterize coins as being "entrenched incumbents" and tokens as an "explosive immature ecosystem", largely due to massive and exuberant Initial Coin Offering activity in the token space. The theory predicts that the exponent for tokens should converge to 1 in the future, reflecting a more reasonable rate of new entrants associated with genuine technological innovations

Liquidity of bitcoin – insights from Polish and global markets

Bitcoin can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies as well as for fiat currencies on many different platforms. Nevertheless, its real convertibility may be limited by market liquidity. The main aim of this article is to characterize and compare big and small bitcoin markets in terms of liquidity. I examine four platforms with high trade volume: Kraken, Bitstamp, BitFlyer and BTCBOX, as well as small entities which enable bitcoin to be traded in Polish zloty: BitBay and BitMarket. I compare the number of trades and the time between trades on selected bitcoin markets, determine the volume distribution throughout the day and analyse the dynamics of Amihud’s illiquidity measure – ILLIQ. I find that an exchange which is among the global leaders in terms of trading bitcoin in a particular traditional currency can be considered a smaller market in terms of trade volume in another traditional currency. Moreover, the results imply that BitBay and BitMarket can be perceived as local markets. They are mainly used for trading in Polish zloty, and are illiquid in terms of trading in the remaining traditional currencies. Home bias, the fact that they offer a possibility of trading in a less popular currency (in comparison to the world reserve currencies), and that have their interface in Polish, may give these platforms a competitive advantage.Bitcoinem można obracać na wielu różnych platformach, wykorzystując do tego inne kryptowaluty, jak również waluty tradycyjne. Niemniej jego rzeczywista wymienialność może być ograniczona przez płynność rynku. Głównym celem artykułu jest scharakteryzowanie i porównanie wybranych giełd kryptowalut pod względem płynności. W tym celu przeanalizowano cztery platformy, które odznaczają się wysokim wolumenem obrotu: Kraken, Bitstamp, BitFlyer i BTCBOX, a także dwa małe podmioty umożliwiające handel w polskim złotym: BitBay i BitMarket. W artykule przedstawiono porównanie rynków pod względem liczby zawartych transakcji, średniego czasu pomiędzy kolejnymi transakcjami czy rozkładu wolumenu obrotu w ciągu dnia. Ponadto przeanalizowano zmiany w czasie miary płynności – ILLIQ. Wyniki pozwoliły stwierdzić, że platforma, która znajduje się wśród globalnych liderów w obrocie bitcoinem w danej walucie tradycyjnej, może być postrzegana jako podmiot mały, jeśli zostanie wzięty pod uwagę obrót w innej walucie tradycyjnej. Ponadto najbardziej popularne platformy umożliwiające wymianę bitcoina na polskiego złotego, czyli BitBay i BitMarket, mogą być uznane za rynki lokalne. Są one głównie wykorzystywane do handlu w złotym. W przypadku obrotu bitcoinem w innych walutach tradycyjnych cechuje je bardzo niska płynność. Czynniki takie jak home bias, możliwość handlu bitcoinem w mniej popularnej walucie tradycyjnej (w porównaniu ze światowymi walutami rezerwowymi) oraz interfejs użytkownika w języku polskim mogą dawać pewną przewagę konkurencyjną tym platformom

An empirical analysis of smart contracts: platforms, applications, and design patterns

Smart contracts are computer programs that can be consistently executed by a network of mutually distrusting nodes, without the arbitration of a trusted authority. Because of their resilience to tampering, smart contracts are appealing in many scenarios, especially in those which require transfers of money to respect certain agreed rules (like in financial services and in games). Over the last few years many platforms for smart contracts have been proposed, and some of them have been actually implemented and used. We study how the notion of smart contract is interpreted in some of these platforms. Focussing on the two most widespread ones, Bitcoin and Ethereum, we quantify the usage of smart contracts in relation to their application domain. We also analyse the most common programming patterns in Ethereum, where the source code of smart contracts is available.Comment: WTSC 201

What are the main drivers of the Bitcoin price? Evidence from wavelet coherence analysis

Bitcoin has emerged as a fascinating phenomenon of the financial markets. Without any central authority issuing the currency, it has been associated with controversy ever since its popularity and public interest reached high levels. Here, we contribute to the discussion by examining potential drivers of Bitcoin prices ranging from fundamental to speculative and technical sources as well as a potential influence of the Chinese market. The evolution of the relationships is examined in both time and frequency domains utilizing the continuous wavelets framework so that we comment on development of the interconnections in time but we can also distinguish between short-term and long-term connections.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

Some stylized facts of the Bitcoin market

In recent years a new type of tradable assets appeared, generically known as cryptocurrencies. Among them, the most widespread is Bitcoin. Given its novelty, this paper investigates some statistical properties of the Bitcoin market. This study compares Bitcoin and standard currencies dynamics and focuses on the analysis of returns at different time scales. We test the presence of long memory in return time series from 2011 to 2017, using transaction data from one Bitcoin platform. We compute the Hurst exponent by means of the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis method, using a sliding window in order to measure long range dependence. We detect that Hurst exponents changes significantly during the first years of existence of Bitcoin, tending to stabilize in recent times. Additionally, multiscale analysis shows a similar behavior of the Hurst exponent, implying a self-similar process.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1605.0670

Some stylized facts of the Bitcoin market

In recent years a new type of tradable assets appeared, generically known as cryptocurrencies. Among them, the most widespread is Bitcoin. Given its novelty, this paper investigates some statistical properties of the Bitcoin market. This study compares Bitcoin and standard currencies dynamics and focuses on the analysis of returns at different time scales. We test the presence of long memory in return time series from 2011 to 2017, using transaction data from one Bitcoin platform. We compute the Hurst exponent by means of the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis method, using a sliding window in order to measure long range dependence. We detect that Hurst exponents changes significantly during the first years of existence of Bitcoin, tending to stabilize in recent times. Additionally, multiscale analysis shows a similar behavior of the Hurst exponent, implying a self-similar process.Fil: Fernández, Aurelio. Universitat Rovira I Virgili; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Basgall, María José. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Informatica. Instituto de Investigación En Informatica Lidi; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Hasperué, Waldo. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Informatica. Instituto de Investigación En Informatica Lidi; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Naiouf, Ricardo Marcelo. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Informatica. Instituto de Investigación En Informatica Lidi; Argentin

The political imaginaries of blockchain projects: discerning the expressions of an emerging ecosystem

There is a wealth of information, hype around, and research into blockchain’s ‘disruptive’ and ‘transformative’ potential concerning every industry. However, there is an absence of scholarly attention given to identifying and analyzing the political premises and consequences of blockchain projects. Through digital ethnography and participatory action research, this article shows how blockchain experiments personify ‘prefigurative politics’ by design: they embody the politics and power structures which they want to enable in society. By showing how these prefigurative embodiments are informed and determined by the underlying political imaginaries, the article proposes a basic typology of blockchain projects. Furthermore, it outlines a frame to question, cluster, and analyze the expressions of political imaginaries intrinsic to the design and operationalization of blockchain projects on three analytic levels: users, intermediaries, and institutions.</p