IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/glofin/v65y2025ics1044028325000316.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Will technological advancement affect Bitcoin trading and pricing? Evidence from BRC-20 tokens

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Ziwei
  • Yang, Haijun
  • Li, Zhen

Abstract

We reveal how technological innovation impacts cryptocurrency network operations and market information structures, using BRC-20 tokens as an example. By collecting on-chain blockchain data and exchange data from March 2023 to March 2024, we find that the introduction of BRC-20 tokens significantly alters Bitcoin transaction activity, manifests as a decrease in unique addresses, increased per-unit transaction fees, and extended confirmation times. Furthermore, we expand the research framework for Bitcoin market price efficiency by identifying market information, public information, private information, and noise in the Bitcoin market. We show that introducing BRC-20 tokens increases the market information share while reducing dependence on public information, with almost no negative impact on the share of private information. Finally, we construct a “technological innovation, blockchain response, market adjustment” dynamic analysis framework to evaluate and reveal that the Bitcoin network has significant self-healing capabilities and can quickly digest the impact of new types of tokens after major technical upgrades such as ORDI listing, announcing and launching the BRC-20 swap, and the Ordinals Jubilee update. This research provides investors with empirical evidence of the Bitcoin network's self-healing capabilities, helping them more accurately assess the short and long-term impacts of technological shocks on the market, thereby formulating more effective investment strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Ziwei & Yang, Haijun & Li, Zhen, 2025. "Will technological advancement affect Bitcoin trading and pricing? Evidence from BRC-20 tokens," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:65:y:2025:i:c:s1044028325000316
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044028325000316
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Chiu & Thorsten V Koeppl, 2019. "Blockchain-Based Settlement for Asset Trading," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1716-1753.
    2. Humoud Alsabah & Agostino Capponi & Octavio Ruiz Lacedelli & Matt Stern, 2021. "Robo-Advising: Learning Investors’ Risk Preferences via Portfolio Choices [Mean-variance versus Full-scale Optimisation: In and out of Sample]," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 369-392.
    3. Diebold, Francis X. & Yılmaz, Kamil, 2014. "On the network topology of variance decompositions: Measuring the connectedness of financial firms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 182(1), pages 119-134.
    4. Kawahara, Jun & Sonoda, Koki & Inoue, Takeru & Kasahara, Shoji, 2019. "Efficient construction of binary decision diagrams for network reliability with imperfect vertices," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 142-154.
    5. Isabel Casas & Eva Ferreira & Susan Orbe, 2021. "Time-Varying Coefficient Estimation in SURE Models. Application to Portfolio Management," Journal of Financial Econometrics, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 707-745.
    6. Sensoy, Ahmet, 2019. "The inefficiency of Bitcoin revisited: A high-frequency analysis with alternative currencies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 68-73.
    7. Alvarez-Ramirez, J. & Rodriguez, E. & Ibarra-Valdez, C., 2018. "Long-range correlations and asymmetry in the Bitcoin market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 492(C), pages 948-955.
    8. Divakaruni, Anantha & Zimmerman, Peter, 2023. "The Lightning Network: Turning Bitcoin into money," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    9. Alvarez-Ramirez, Jose & Rodriguez, Eduardo, 2021. "A singular value decomposition approach for testing the efficiency of Bitcoin and Ethereum markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    10. Binh Thai Pham & Hector Sala, 2022. "Cross-country connectedness in inflation and unemployment: measurement and macroeconomic consequences," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1123-1146, March.
    11. Bertucci, Louis, 2024. "Bitcoin Ordinals: Determinants and impact on total transaction fees," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    12. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    13. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2020. "Trading and arbitrage in cryptocurrency markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100409, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Bruno Biais & Christophe Bisière & Matthieu Bouvard & Catherine Casamatta, 2019. "The Blockchain Folk Theorem," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1662-1715.
    15. Tsang, Kwok Ping & Yang, Zichao, 2021. "The market for bitcoin transactions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Vidal-Tomás, David & Ibañez, Ana, 2018. "Semi-strong efficiency of Bitcoin," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 259-265.
    17. Jonathan Brogaard & Thanh Huong Nguyen & Talis J Putnins & Eliza Wu, 2022. "What Moves Stock Prices? The Roles of News, Noise, and Information," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(9), pages 4341-4386.
    18. Wilkoff, Sean & Yildiz, Serhat, 2023. "The behavior and determinants of illiquidity in the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    19. Cipollini, Andrea & Mikaliunaite, Ieva, 2020. "Macro-uncertainty and financial stress spillovers in the Eurozone," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 546-558.
    20. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2020. "Trading and arbitrage in cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 293-319.
    21. Stefano Martinazzi & Daniele Regoli & Andrea Flori, 2020. "A Tale of Two Layers: The Mutual Relationship between Bitcoin and Lightning Network," Risks, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-18, December.
    22. Lee, Seungho & Meslmani, Nabil El & Switzer, Lorne N., 2020. "Pricing Efficiency and Arbitrage in the Bitcoin Spot and Futures Markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    23. Jiang, Yonghong & Nie, He & Ruan, Weihua, 2018. "Time-varying long-term memory in Bitcoin market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 280-284.
    24. Zhou, Yuqin & Liu, Zhenhua & Wu, Shan, 2022. "The global economic policy uncertainty spillover analysis: In the background of COVID-19 pandemic," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    25. Easley, David & O'Hara, Maureen & Basu, Soumya, 2019. "From mining to markets: The evolution of bitcoin transaction fees," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 91-109.
    26. Corbet, Shaen & Lucey, Brian & Urquhart, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies as a financial asset: A systematic analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 182-199.
    27. Gur Huberman & Jacob D Leshno & Ciamac Moallemi, 2021. "Monopoly without a Monopolist: An Economic Analysis of the Bitcoin Payment System [Blockchain Economics]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(6), pages 3011-3040.
    28. Diebold, Francis X. & Yilmaz, Kamil, 2012. "Better to give than to receive: Predictive directional measurement of volatility spillovers," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 57-66.
    29. Aslam, Faheem & Memon, Bilal Ahmed & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Bouri, Elie, 2023. "The dynamics of market efficiency of major cryptocurrencies," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    30. Athey, Susan & Parashkevov, Ivo & Sarukkai, Vishnu & Xia, Jing, 2016. "Bitcoin Pricing, Adoption, and Usage: Theory and Evidence," Research Papers 3469, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    31. Gabauer, David & Gupta, Rangan, 2018. "On the transmission mechanism of country-specific and international economic uncertainty spillovers: Evidence from a TVP-VAR connectedness decomposition approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 63-71.
    32. Yukun Liu & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2021. "Risks and Returns of Cryptocurrency," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(6), pages 2689-2727.
    33. Qinghua Zheng & Chutong Yang & Haijun Yang & Jianhe Zhou, 2020. "A Fast Exact Algorithm for Deployment of Sensor Nodes for Internet of Things," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 829-842, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shimeng Shi & Jia Zhai & Yingying Wu, 2024. "Informational inefficiency on bitcoin futures," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 642-667, April.
    2. Hanna Halaburda & Guillaume Haeringer & Joshua Gans & Neil Gandal, 2022. "The Microeconomics of Cryptocurrencies," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 971-1013, September.
    3. Bruno Biais & Christophe Bisière & Matthieu Bouvard & Catherine Casamatta & Albert J. Menkveld, 2023. "Equilibrium Bitcoin Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(2), pages 967-1014, April.
    4. Huynh, Nhan & Phan, Hoa, 2023. "Emotions in the crypto market: Do photos really speak?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    5. Muhammad Anas & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad & Larisa Yarovaya, 2024. "The use of high-frequency data in cryptocurrency research: a meta-review of literature with bibliometric analysis," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-31, December.
    6. Abakah, Emmanuel Joel Aikins & Wali Ullah, GM & Adekoya, Oluwasegun B. & Osei Bonsu, Christiana & Abdullah, Mohammad, 2023. "Blockchain market and eco-friendly financial assets: Dynamic price correlation, connectedness and spillovers with portfolio implications," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 218-243.
    7. Makarov, Igor & Schoar, Antoinette, 2021. "Blockchain analysis of the Bitcoin market," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118897, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Muhammad Owais Qarni & Saiqb Gulzar, 2021. "Portfolio diversification benefits of alternative currency investment in Bitcoin and foreign exchange markets," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    9. Luciano Somoza & Antoine Didisheim, 2022. "The End of the Crypto-Diversification Myth," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 22-53, Swiss Finance Institute.
    10. Sokolov, Konstantin, 2021. "Ransomware activity and blockchain congestion," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 771-782.
    11. Sila, Jan & Kocenda, Evzen & Kristoufek, Ladislav & Kukacka, Jiri, 2024. "Good vs. bad volatility in major cryptocurrencies: The dichotomy and drivers of connectedness," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Ignasi Merediz‐Solà, 2021. "Where Do We Stand In Cryptocurrencies Economic Research? A Survey Based On Hybrid Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 377-407, April.
    13. Nikolaos A. Kyriazis, 2019. "A Survey on Efficiency and Profitable Trading Opportunities in Cryptocurrency Markets," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, April.
    14. Cynthia Weiyi Cai & Rui Xue & Bi Zhou, 2023. "Cryptocurrency puzzles: a comprehensive review and re-introduction," Journal of Accounting Literature, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 26-50, June.
    15. Chen, Bin-xia & Sun, Yan-lin, 2024. "Risk characteristics and connectedness in cryptocurrency markets: New evidence from a non-linear framework," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    16. Dunbar, Kwamie & Owusu-Amoako, Johnson, 2022. "Cryptocurrency returns under empirical asset pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Divakaruni, Anantha & Zimmerman, Peter, 2023. "The Lightning Network: Turning Bitcoin into money," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    18. Flori, Andrea, 2019. "News and subjective beliefs: A Bayesian approach to Bitcoin investments," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 336-356.
    19. Sakkas, Athanasios & Urquhart, Andrew, 2024. "Blockchain factors," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    20. Cong, Lin William & Mayer, Simon, 2022. "The Coming Battle of Digital Currencies," Applied Economics and Policy Working Paper Series 320020, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:65:y:2025:i:c:s1044028325000316. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620162 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.