Huobi Research Weekly (Vol.148) (2021.1.4–2021.1.10)
Abstract
This week, the overall market capitalization for the top 100 cryptocurrencies increased of 17.96%, with 89 projects increased in value to varying degrees. According to coinmarketcap, as of January 10, 2021, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies was 1034.5 billion U.S. dollars, increased of 17.96%, and the total market cap of the top 100 cryptocurrencies was 1023.7 billion U.S. dollars, increased by 18.32% from last week. 4 cryptocurrency projects entered the top 100 this week, namely SOL、BCTB、BCD and SNT. As of January 10, 2021, Bitcoin was traded at 38356.44USD, 17.05% higher than its price last week. Ethereum was traded at 1262.25USD, 29.50% higher than its price last week.
The hashrate of Bitcoin increased and Ethereum increased by this week. This week, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin increased and the difficulty of mining Ethereum increased. The average number of transactions per block increased but the average block size of Bitcoin decreased. The average number of transactions per block increased andthe average block size of Ethereum increased this week.The average transaction fees of Bitcoin increased and Ethereum increased. BCH was the most active project on GitHub this week.
The average bitcoin Hashrate for the entire network reached 149.5EH/s, increased by 4.33% from the previous week. Average Hashrate for the entire Ethereum network was 307.75TH/s this week, increased by 4.37%. Average difficulty for mining Bitcoin this week was 19.36T, increased by 4.14% from last week. The average difficulty of mining Ethereum this week was 3915.42TH, increased by 4.57% from that of previous week.
In network activity, the average size of each block was 1.26MB, decreased by 10.00% from last week; there were on average 2312 transactions recorded in each block, increased by 17.48% from the previous week. The average number of transactions per block in Ethereum this week was 194.8, increased by 6.80%. The average size of each block was 43607.84 bytes, increased by 0.99% compared to last week. Average transaction fees of Bitcoin this week was $13.901, increased by 68.70% from last week. Average transaction fees of Ethereum this week was $7.159, incresead by 39.50% from last week. The total number of Bitcoin addresses was 64336534, increased by 683947 (1.07%). Bitcoin cash was the most active project on GitHub this week, with 65 commits submitted in the past week.
In terms of community activity, Tron, Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular communities on Facebook. On Twitter, the most popular communities are Bitcoin, Ripple and Tron.
2 investments activities took place in the blockchain industry this week, Furucombo got 1.85 million dollars in seed round investment from SevenX Ventures，Defiance Capital etc, Roxe got strategic investment from Zero to First capital.
1. Weekly Market Review
1.1 Market overview
This week, the overall market capitalization for the top 100 cryptocurrencies increased of 17.96%, with 89 projects increased in value to varying degrees. According to coinmarketcap, as of January 10, 2021, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies was 1034.5 billion U.S. dollars, increased of 17.96%, and the total market cap of the top 100 cryptocurrencies was 1023.7 billion U.S. dollars, increased by 18.32% from last week, among which, SOL had the largest increased of 801.71%, bringing its market cap ranking from №112 to №42, AMPL had the largest decreased of -20.12%, bringing its market cap ranking from №71 to №89. In addition, there were 4 projects that entered TOP100, namely, BTCB (Bitcoin BEP2, increased 23.81%, Now №91), SNT (Status, increased 68.33%, Now №90), BCD (Bitcoin Diamond, increased 102.22%, Now №92), SOL (Solana, increased 801.71%, Now №42). As of January 10, 2021, Bitcoin was traded at 38356.44USD, 17.05% higher than its price last week. Ethereum was traded at 1262.25USD, 29.50% higher than its price last week.
The overall 24h trading volume increased this week. Overall, the 24h trading volume increased by 15.12% compared with the same period of last week. In this week, 65 of the top 100 projects increased in 24h trading volume, led by BTCB with a weekly increase of 23822933.33%; there were 35 projects decreased in their 24h trading volume, there were 20 projects that saw over 20% decrease in their 24h trading volume, while 4 projects fell by more than 50%, led by SC, with a decreased of -89.33%.
The top 10 cryptocurrencies’ market value increased, the market share distribution remained stable. On January 10, 2021, the overall market cap of the top 10 cryptocurrencies was 949.4 billion USD, increased by 19.04% from last week, accounting for 91.77% of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, increased by 0.84% from last week. The market value proportion of TOP10 project basically stable. BTC’s dominance was 68.95%, decreased by 0.53% from last week.
1.2 Segment Analysis
Among TOP 100 cryptocurrency project segments, the total market cap of Application Project got the largest increase. The average market cap of Platform Project got the largest increase. As of January 10, 2021, the total market cap of coin projects reached 784.8 billion USD, increased by 17.29%. The average market cap of coin projects reached 15.6 billion USD, increased by 14.94%. The total market cap of platform projects reached 178.1 billion USD, increased by 28.05%. The average market cap of platform projects reached 7.12 billion USD, increased by 38.29%. The total market cap of application class projects reached 46.7 billion USD, increased by 33.30%. The average market cap of application class projects reached 2.12 billion USD, increased by 27.24%. The total market cap of asset-backed token projects reached 24.8 billion USD, increased by 13.71%. The average market cap of asset-backed token projects reached 8.26 billion USD, increased by 13.71%.
The market segment distribution of the top 100 cryptocurrencies remained stable. As of January 10, 2021, among the top 100 projects, the number of coin class projects increase 1, application class projects increase 1, platform class projects decrease 2 and asset-backed token class remain the same.The largest overall market cap by segment was still coin projects, accounting for 75.86% of the total market cap of top 100 projects.
Note: According to the different attributes of cryptocurrencies, Huobi Academy of Blockchain Application will divide them into four categories: Coin, Application Class, Platform Class and Asset-backed Token.
Coin Project: Refers to a type of asset developed based on blockchain technology that does not correspond to a specific use scenario and whose main function is only the transaction target. Its asset value is mainly reflected by liquidity.
Platform Class Project: A type of asset that is associated with the development of the underlying technology of the blockchain and is supported by the right to use or participate in the platform.
Application Class Project: Refers to a type of asset that is associated with a specific application scenario and is supported by a certain right of use, participation, or dividend.
Asset-backed Project: Refers to a class of assets that is linked to actual assets such as gold and US dollars and supported by the value of physical assets.
2. Technical Statistics
2.1 Cryptocurrency Mining Statistics
The hashrate of Bitcoin increased and Ethereum increased by this week. From January 4, 2021- January 10, 2021, the average bitcoin Hashrate for the entire network reached 149.5EH/s, increased by 4.33% from the previous week.
Average Hashrate for the entire Ethereum network was 307.75TH/s this week, increased by 4.37%.
This week, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin increased and Ethereum increased. As of January 10, 2021, average difficulty for mining Bitcoin this week was 19.36T, increased by 4.14% from last week. The average difficulty of mining Ethereum this week was 3915.42TH, increased by 4.57% from that of previous week.
The number of blocks in Bitcoin increased by 2.56%,Top 5 rankings had changed. The overall distribution of the Ethereum mining pools rankings not changed, the number of blocks decreased by 1.59%. In the past week, Bitcoin mined 1121 blocks, increased by 2.56% from the previous week. Among the top five pools were F2Pool、Binance Pool、Poolin、BTC.com、AntPool, these 5 pools mined 189、140、125、111 and 104 blocks respectively, accounting for 16.86%、12.49%、11.15%、9.90% and 9.28% of all Bitcoins mined this week. The Hashrate was 25.35EH/s、18.78EH/s、16.77EH/s、14.89EH/s and 13.95EH/s, respectively.
In the past week, Ethereum’s entire network mined 48188 blocks, decreased by 1.59% in the previous week. The top five pools were SparkPool, Ethermine, F2pool,Zhizhu.top, and Nanopool, each mined 12399、9982、4981、3897 and 2374 blocks respectively, accounting for 25.7305%、20.7147%、10.3366%、8.0871% and 4.9265% of all Ethereum mined this week, respectively.
2.2 Activity Statistics
The average number of transactions per block increased but the average block size of Bitcoin decreased. The average number of transactions per block increased and the average block size of Ethereum increased this week. According to blockchain.info, from January 4, 2021- January 10, 2021, the average size of each block was 1.26MB, decreased by 10.00% from last week; there were on average 2312 transactions recorded in each block, increased by 17.48% from the previous week.
According to etherscan, the average number of transactions per block in Ethereum this week was 194.8, increased by 6.80%. The average size of each block was 43607.84 bytes, increased by 0.99% compared to last week.
Number of unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin increased by 73.25%. Number of unconfirmed transactions in Ethereum increased by 4.21% from the previous week. As of January 10, 2021, the number of 7-day average unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin network was 37561, increased by 73.25% from last week. There were 155420.58 unconfirmed transactions in the Ethereum network, increased by 4.21% from last week, with the lowest amount of unconfirmed transactions in the week being 103707 and the highest amount being 183418.
Total transaction fees of Bitcoin increased and Ethereum increased. As of January 10, 2021, average transaction fees of Bitcoin this week was $13.901, increased by 68.70% from last week. Average transaction fees of Ethereum this week was $7.159, incresead by 39.50% from last week.
The average number of distinct miners per day in Ethereum decreased. From January 4, 2021- January 10, 2021, the average number of distinct miners per day in Ethereum this week was 52.8, decreased by 9.28% from last week.
The number of nodes in Bitcoin decreased ,The number of nodes in Ethereum increased this week. As of January 10, 2021, there were 8703 Bitcoin nodes, decreased by 22.89% compared to last week, of which 1935 nodes were in the U.S, 1736 nodes were Germany, and 212 nodes were in China(№10), each accounting for 22.23%, 19.95% and 2.44% of the total number of Bitcoin nodes, respectively.
As of January 10, 2021, there were 11680 Ethereum nodes, increased by 14.24% from the previous week. Specifically, there were 3153 nodes in the U.S, 1834 nodes in Germany, and 1171 nodes in China, each accounting for 26.99%, 15.70%, 10.03% of total number of nodes, respectively.
This week, the growth rate for new addresses of Bitcoin increased. According to the data on blockchain, as of January 10, 2021, the total number of Bitcoin addresses was 64336534, increased by 683947 (1.07%).
BCH was the most active project on GitHub this week. From January 4, 2021 — January 10, 2021, Bitcoin cash was the active project repository on GitHub with a total of 65 commits.
2.3 Community Activity Statistics
The top three most popular cryptocurrencies on Facebook were Tron, Bitcoin and Ethereum in descending order, with 950k, 625k and 185k fans respectively. The top three most popular cryptocurrencies on Twitter were Bitcoin, Ripple(XRP) and TRON, with 1.2million , 1million, and 576k followers, respectively.
3. Weekly Blockchain News Review
3.1 Industrial Application
1. Visa-backed Bitcoin startup to launch Lightning-based global payments app
Zap, a Lightning Network payments startup backed by Visa through its Fintech Fast Track program, announced on Wednesday the rollout of Strike Global, a payments and remittances app using the Bitcoin layer-two technology. Strike Global is not too unlike traditional fintech apps, but it uses the Lightning Network for settlement. This means that payments can be essentially instantaneous and at a fraction of the cost of traditional payment rails.Strike Global has two types of transfers, depending on the recipient’s location. For countries with a developed banking system, Strike allows users to send payments without going through Bitcoin (BTC) themselves. Strike will automatically withdraw money from the user’s bank account, exchange it into BTC, and then exchange it back into the recipient’s fiat currency and banking system. For countries without developed banking systems, Strike allows users to hold their money either in Bitcoin or Tether (USDT). The cryptocurrency can then be exchanged into local cash or fiat through ad-hoc solutions like Bitcoin ATMs, LocalBitcoins and others. Strike simplifies many of the exchange processes in the back end to make the experience similar to other fintech apps.
2. Vietnamese bank issues its first letters of credit on the blockchain
Major Vietnamese bank HDBank has now become the first bank in the country to issue letters of credit, or L/C, using blockchain technology.According to a Wednesday report by local media outlet Viet Nam News, the issuance, document presentation and successful payment of L/C on the blockchain marks a major milestone toward HDBank’s stated goal to become a “happy digital bank.”The participants in the first transaction were a local fiber importer and a Taiwanese yarn manufacturer, along with the L/C advising bank in Taiwan.Letters of credit are important documents in international trade, providing a guarantee from a creditworthy institution, such as a bank, that a buyer’s payment to a seller will be received on time and for the correct amount. In essence, the bank underwrites the payment.Using blockchain technology for L/C has many advantages, such as offering a higher level of security and a permanent record of the transaction. It also reduces the time needed to process such transactions to a matter of hours.
3. Iconloop secures gov backing to test blockchain driver’s license project
Enterprise blockchain firm Iconloop has secured approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT to test its decentralized identity, or DID, technology system to manage driver’s license data in the country.According to an announcement from the company, the trial run aims to showcase the DID’s capabilities in offering secure data storage while preventing data forgery.Commenting on the project, Iconloop CEO Jonghyup Kim remarked that the company’s DID platform allows users to better manage their personal information straight from the Zzeung mobile phone app, instead of using physical driver’s license cards. The app also reportedly gives users greater control of their personal data.Iconloop’s DID test is coming at a time when digital identity adoption among South Koreans is on the rise. In August 2020, reports emerged that 1 million South Koreans already hold blockchain driver’s licenses.
3.2 International Policies
1. South Korea to introduce a 20% tax on crypto trading profits in 2023
The South Korean government issued an amendment on Wednesday to introduce a tax on profits from cryptocurrency trading. The proposal would introduce a variety of additional taxes on capital gains, with a progressive taxation schedule for gains in stocks. For cryptocurrency holders, anyone making an annual income of more than 2.5 million won ($2,300) from cryptocurrency profits will be taxed at 20%. The threshold is much lower than for stocks, where only gains of over 50 million won ($46,000) will be taxed.For cryptocurrencies owned before the beginning of the tax schedule, authorities will consider the highest of either the market price immediately before 2023, or the actual acquisition price.
2. Italian Banking Association launches experimental digital euro project
The Italian Banking Association, or ABI, has affirmed its support for the implementation of a sovereign European digital currency by beginning pilot studies on a digital euro project.According to an announcement, the association is working with its research and development arm, ABI Lab, and commercial banks in the country to develop an experimental digital euro.The ABI’s digital euro study will reportedly focus on two major areas — technical feasibility analysis and central bank digital currency programmability to create a distinction from existing electronic payment methods.Italian enterprise network firm SIA will assist the consortium in the technical feasibility studies. For ABI, the program is part of an effort to prepare Italian banks for a future that could include a digital euro. Commenting on the project’s goals and objectives, a spokesperson for ABI said:”The aim of the initiative is to proactively contribute to public debate and support banks operating in Italy as they prepare for the future. It doesn’t aim to anticipate the [European Central Bank] decision on the adoption of a digital currency but rather to explore possible use cases and reflect on the implications of its possible implementation beforehand.”
3. Kyrgyzstan’s central bank opens up crypto draft laws to public discussion
Kyrgyzstan’s central bank has completed the drafting of two bills designed to recognize and regulate the country’s emerging crypto sector.According to an official announcement, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic has opened up the two bills, “On the Processing of Cryptocurrencies” and “On amendments to legislative acts in the field of virtual assets,” to public discussion. The proposed legislation seeks to recognize cryptocurrency exchanges, outlining that exchanges must be operated by legal entities licensed with the country’s central bank. The bill contains reporting requirements aimed at reducing money laundering and terrorist financing risks.There are also protections for consumer rights, and provisions for enforcement action against fraudsters operating with virtual currencies.A separate bill introduces the concept of “virtual assets” into the Kyrgyz Republic’s civil code, identifying crypto assets as an object of civil rights. The bill also mandates the taxation of services provided by cryptocurrency exchanges.
4.Weekly Investment Activities
2 investments activities took place in the blockchain industry this week, Furucombo got 1.85 million dollars in seed round investment from SevenX Ventures，Defiance Capital etc, Roxe got strategic investment from Zero to First capital.
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Huobi Research was founded in April 2016 and started research and explorations in various aspects in Blockchain area since March 2018. We cover various fields such as Blockchain technology research, industry analysis, application innovation and economic model explorations. We aim to establish a research platform and to offer theoretical foundations as well as judgements of trends in Blockchain to the public, ultimately promoting the development of the Blockchain industry.
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