Diving deep on everything from the foundational to the bleeding edge
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Improving your Futures Roll: An Overview of the Basis Trade (Full Length)
Key Takeaways As futures volume balloons we take a look at the basis trade, which is when traders build a strategy around the difference between the spot price and futures contract price of a commodity. Unsurprisingly, volume shifts from the [...]
Bitcoin: A Novel Economic Institution (ARK Invest + Coin Metrics)
This paper lays out the case for Bitcoin. In Part 1, we describe how the Information Age gave rise to Bitcoin, a novel economic institution designed to challenge legacy financial systems.
The Business Trends of Crypto Exchanges (Full Length)
Key Takeaways Crypto exchanges have gone from nothing to a relatively mature industry very quickly. The maturation process of exchanges has made them the “apex predators” of the space, engaging in M&A and positioning themselves for entry into the public [...]
The DeFi Fee Explosion: How YAM’s Collapse Drove Ethereum Fees to New Heights (Full Length)
On August 12th Ethereum’s total daily transactions fees topped $6.87M, shattering the previous all-time high of $4.55M set in January 2018. The following day, Ethereum had $8.61M worth of fees, once again breaking the daily record. Blockchain transaction fees are [...]
Introducing the Coin Metrics Quarterly Supply Transparency Report (Full Length)
Key Takeaways Coin Metrics will release Quarterly Supply Transparency Reports, with today’s Q2 Supply Transparency Report being the first of its kind. This report hopes to bring insight into the supply dynamics of cryptoassets, specifically focusing on the activities of [...]
Q2 2020 Supply Transparency Report
The Coin Metrics Cryptoasset Supply Transparency Report brings visibility and insight into the actions of the key categories of a cryptoasset’s holders that are deemed to restrict supply from the market, as defined in the CMBI Float Adjustment Methodology. The [...]
Derivatives’ Disparities: Surveying the Bitcoin Perpetual Swap Market (Full Length)
Key Takeaways The derivatives market is fragmented and contract terms differ dramatically across exchanges. The quality of documentation in the space varies. We analyzed how each exchange structures their perpetual swaps, which are a type of derivative that approximates the [...]
Introducing Coin Metrics’ Trusted Volume Framework (Full Length)
Key Takeaways Fake trading volumes have been a dark mark on the industry - it is difficult to find a single metric to accurately sift through the reported numbers. We’ve taken a data driven approach to the problem and are [...]
Analyzing The Early Uses of Bitcoin (Full Length)
This feature is adapted from Antoine Le Calvez’ presentation at the MIT Bitcoin Expo 2020. Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin triggered many discussions around its raison d’être. Conflicts between different points of view of what Bitcoin is and should [...]
When Markets Misalign: Mispricings and Reference Rates (Full Length)
Key Takeaways Price discrepancies between exchanges can emerge for a variety of reasons, including market manipulation, exchange downtime, and trader error. These dislocations are aggravated by market inefficiencies that may prevent arbitrage. While market dislocations are particularly common for small [...]