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Evolutionary dynamics of cryptocurrency transaction networks: An empirical study

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  • Jiaqi Liang
  • Linjing Li
  • Daniel Zeng

Abstract

Cryptocurrency is a well-developed blockchain technology application that is currently a heated topic throughout the world. The public availability of transaction histories offers an opportunity to analyze and compare different cryptocurrencies. In this paper, we present a dynamic network analysis of three representative blockchain-based cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Namecoin. By analyzing the accumulated network growth, we find that, unlike most other networks, these cryptocurrency networks do not always densify over time, and they are changing all the time with relatively low node and edge repetition ratios. Therefore, we then construct separate networks on a monthly basis, trace the changes of typical network characteristics (including degree distribution, degree assortativity, clustering coefficient, and the largest connected component) over time, and compare the three. We find that the degree distribution of these monthly transaction networks cannot be well fitted by the famous power-law distribution, at the same time, different currency still has different network properties, e.g., both Bitcoin and Ethereum networks are heavy-tailed with disassortative mixing, however, only the former can be treated as a small world. These network properties reflect the evolutionary characteristics and competitive power of these three cryptocurrencies and provide a foundation for future research.

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  • Jiaqi Liang & Linjing Li & Daniel Zeng, 2018. "Evolutionary dynamics of cryptocurrency transaction networks: An empirical study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0202202
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202202
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Lin, Dan & Wu, Jiajing & Xuan, Qi & Tse, Chi K., 2022. "Ethereum transaction tracking: Inferring evolution of transaction networks via link prediction," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 600(C).
    4. Qiao, Xingzhi & Zhu, Huiming & Hau, Liya, 2020. "Time-frequency co-movement of cryptocurrency return and volatility: Evidence from wavelet coherence analysis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Yang, Ming-Yuan & Wu, Zhen-Guo & Wu, Xin, 2022. "An empirical study of risk diffusion in the cryptocurrency market based on the network analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    6. Manavi, Seyed Alireza & Jafari, Gholamreza & Rouhani, Shahin & Ausloos, Marcel, 2020. "Demythifying the belief in cryptocurrencies decentralized aspects. A study of cryptocurrencies time cross-correlations with common currencies, commodities and financial indices," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 556(C).
    7. Li, Mu-Yao & Cai, Qing & Gu, Gao-Feng & Zhou, Wei-Xing, 2019. "Exponentially decayed double power-law distribution of Bitcoin trade sizes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 535(C).
    8. Yang, Zixiu & Fantazzini, Dean, 2022. "Using crypto assets pricing methods to build technical oscillators for short-term bitcoin trading," MPRA Paper 115508, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Arnav Hiray & Pratvi Shah & Vishwa Shah & Agam Shah & Sudheer Chava & Mukesh Tiwari, 2023. "Shifting Cryptocurrency Influence: A High-Resolution Network Analysis of Market Leaders," Papers 2307.16874, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.

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