Diving deep on everything from the foundational to the bleeding edge
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Ethereum’s DeFi Evolution: How DeFi Is Fueling Ethereum’s Growth (Full Length)
Decentralized finance reached new heights over the last few months as dozens of projects launched and large amounts of capital flowed in. A majority of decentralized finance (DeFi) apps have been built on Ethereum, and DeFi’s explosion has rippled across [...]
Bitcoin As An Investment (ARK Invest + Coin Metrics)
In Part 1 of this research, we described how we believe Bitcoin, a novel economic institution, satisfies the four assurances that maximize the probability of a robust and predictable financial system. In Part 2, we explore bitcoin as an emerging [...]
Measuring Bitcoin’s Decentralization (Full Length)
Key Takeaways Bitcoin’s decentralization can be quantified in terms of supply dispersion, hashpower distribution, and exchange consolidation, among other metrics. Key metrics like the number of active addresses and the network’s hashrate continue to rise. Bitcoin’s supply is becoming more [...]
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 [...]