Huobi Research Weekly（Vol.90）（11.25–12.1）

15 min readDec 3, 2019

Abstract

This week, the hashrate of Bitcoin increased and the hashrate of Ethereum increased by this week. the difficulty of mining Bitcoin increased and the difficulty of mining Ethereum increased. The average number of transactions per block increased and the average block size of Bitcoin decreased. The average number of transactions per block decreased and the average block size of Ethereum increased this week. The average transaction fees of Bitcoin increased and the average transaction fees of Ethereum increased. ZSC was the most active project on GitHub this week.

the average bitcoin Hashrate for the entire network reached 91.12EH/s, increased by 0.34%.Average Hashrate for the entire Ethereum network was 173.89TH/s, decreased by 67.26%. average difficulty for mining Bitcoin this week was 12.970T, increased by 1.57% from last week.The average difficulty of mining Ethereum this week was 2532.424TH, decreased by 3.76% from that of previous week.

In network activity, the average size of each block was 1.02MB, decreased 9.73% form last week; there were on average 2165 transactions recorded in each block, increased by 0.93% from the previous week. the average number of transactions per block in Ethereum this week was 114.37, decreased by 3.05%. The average size of each block was 27530.0 bytes, increased by 8.30% compared to last week. As of December 1st, 2019, average transaction fees of Bitcoin this week was $0.753, increased by 47.65% from last week. Average transaction fees of Ethereum this week was $0.105, incresead by 2.94%.Total number of addresses on the Blockchain and Ethereum network reached 43.77 million and 78.27 million, increased 0.23(0.54%) million and 0.52(0.56%) million respectively. ZSC was the most active project on GitHub this week, with 81 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, BEOSIN got Strategic round investment from SURFILTER, The Blockchainer got strategic investment from Golden Phoenix.

1. Weekly Market Review

1.1 Market overview

This week, the overall market capitalization for the top 100 cryptocurrencies increased of 5.47%, with 81 projects increased in value to varying degrees. According to coinmarketcap, as of December 1st, 2019, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies was 202.1 billion U.S. dollars, increased by 5.47%, and the total market cap of the top 100 cryptocurrencies was 198.9 billion U.S. dollars, increased by 5.23% from last week, among which, Maximine Coin had the largest increased of 820.44%, bringing its market cap ranking from №190 to №40, SEELE Shares had the largest decreased of-19.52%, bringing its market cap ranking from №46 to №59. In addition, there were 5 projects that entered TOP100, namely, Maximine Coin (MXM, increased 820.44%, Now №40), Matic Network(MATIC, increased 76.18%, Now №79), Everus (EVR, increased 368.92%, Now №81), OKB (OKB, increased 26.93%, Now №96), Flexacoin (FXC, increased 21.05%, Now №97). As of December 1st, 2019, Bitcoin was traded at 7424.29 USD, 5.41% higher than its price last week. Ethereum was traded at 151.19 USD, 5.93% higher than its price last week.

The overall 24h trading volume decreased this week. Overall, the 24h trading volume decreased by 27.40% compared with the same period of last Huobi Research Weekly 4 week. In this week, 38 of the top 100 projects increased in 24h trading volume, led by EVR with a weekly increase of 962.46%; there were 61 projects decreased in their 24h trading volume, there were 33 projects that saw over 20% decrease in their 24h trading volume, while 16 projects fell by more than 50%, led by MONA, with a decreased of 81.73%.

The top 10 cryptocurrencies’ market value increased, the market share distribution remained stable. On NovDecember 1st, 2019, the overall market cap of the top 10 cryptocurrencies was 179.5 billion USD, increased by 5.07% from last week, accounting for 88.84% of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, decreased by 0.33% from last week. The market value proportion of TOP10 project basically stable. BTC’s dominance was 66.40%, decreased by 0.04% from last week.

1.2 Segment Analysis

Among TOP 100 cryptocurrency project segments, the total market cap of Asset-backed token project and the average market cap of Platform projects got the largest decrease. As of December 1st, 2019,the total market cap of coin projects reached 149.9 billion USD, increased by 5.25%. The average market cap of coin projects reached 4.16 billion USD, increased by 11.10%. The total market cap of platform projects reached 25.3 billion USD, increased by 9.74%. The average market cap of platform projects reached 0.76 billion USD, decreased by 6.88%. The total market cap of application class projects reached 19.19 billion USD, increased by 1.38%. The average market cap of application class projects reached 0.71 billion USD, increased by 8.89%. The total market cap of asset-backed token projects reached 4.50 billion USD, decreased by 2.18%. The average market cap of asset-backed token projects reached 1.12 billion USD, increased by 22.27%

The market segment distribution of the top 100 cryptocurrencies remained stable. As of December 1st, 2019, among the top 100 projects, the number of coin class projects decreased 2, application class projects decreased 2, platform class projects increased 5 and asset-backed tokenclass decreased 1. The largest overall market cap by segment was still coin projects, accounting for 75.34% 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 the hashrate of Ethereum increased by this week. From November 25th, 2019 — December 1st, 2019, the average bitcoin Hashrate for the entire network reached 91.12EH/s, increased by 0.34% from the previous week.

Average Hashrate for the entire Ethereum network was 173.89TH/s this week, decreased by 67.26%.

This week, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin increased and the difficulty of mining Ethereum increased. As of December 1st 2019, average difficulty for mining Bitcoin this week was 12.970T, increased by 1.57% from last week. The average difficulty of mining Ethereum this week was 2532.424TH, decreased by 3.76% from that of previous week.

The number of blocks in Bitcoin decreased by 8.85%. Top 5 rankings remain the same. The overall distribution of the Ethereum mining pools rankings remain the same, the number of blocks dereased 4.25%. In the past week, Bitcoin mined 937 blocks, decreased 8.85% from the previous week. Among the top five pools were Poolin,F2Pool, BTC.com, AntPool, Viabitcoin these 5 pools mined 183、140、129、105 and 60 blocks respectively, accounting for 19.53 % 、14.94 %、13.77%、11.21% and 5.76 % of all Bitcoins mined this week. The Hashrate was 16.87EH/s 12.91EH/s、11.89EH/s、9.68EH/s and 4.98EH/s,respectively.

In the past week, Ethereu’s entire network mined 41903 blocks, decreased 4.25% from the previous week. The top five pools were SparkPool, Ethermine, F2pool_2, Nanopool and Zhizhu.top, each mined 13678、9064、4641、3198 and 2262 blocks respectively, accounting for 32.6421%、21.6309%、11.0756%、7.6319% and 5.3982% of all Ethereum mined this week, respectively.

2.2 Activity Statistics

The average number of transactions per block increased and the average block size of Bitcoin decreased. The average number of transactions per block decreased and the average block size of Ethereum increased this week. According to blockchain.info, from November 25th, 2019-December 1st, 2019, the average size of each block was 1.02MB, decreased 9.73% form last week; there were on average 2165 transactions recorded in each block, increased by 0.93% from the previous week.

According to etherscan, the average number of transactions per block in Ethereum this week was 114.37, decreased by 3.05%. The average size of each block was 27530.0 bytes, increased by 8.30% compared to last week.

Number of unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin increased by 47.86%. Number of unconfirmed transactions in Ethereum increased by 0.71% from the previous week. As of December 1st 2019, the number of 7-day average unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin network was 9843, increased by 47.86% from last week. There were 35540.1 unconfirmed transactions in the Ethereum network, increased by 0.71% from last week, with the lowest amount of unconfirmed transactions in the week being 8809 and the highest amount being 38825.

Total transaction fees of Bitcoin increased. Total transaction fees of Ethereum increased. As of December 1st, 2019, average transaction fees of Bitcoin this week was $0.753, increased by 47.65% from last week. Average transaction fees of Ethereum this week was $0.105, incresead by 2.94%.

The average number of distinct miners per day in Ethereum decreased by 0.5% from last week. From November 24th, 2019-December 1st, 2019, the average number of distinct miners per day in Ethereum this week was 59.6, increased 0.5% from last week.

The number of nodes in Bitcoin decreased and the number of Ethereum increased this week. As of December 1st, 2019, there were 9433 Bitcoin nodes, decreased by 0.84% compared to last week, of which 2407 nodes were in the U.S, 1907 nodes were in Germany, and 284 nodes were in China(№8), each accounting for 25.52%, 20.22% and 3.01% of the total number of Bitcoin nodes, respectively.

As of December 1st, 2019, there were 7864 Ethereum nodes, increased by 0.09% from the previous week. Specifically, there were 2041 nodes in the U.S, 1245 nodes in China, and 736 nodes in Germany, each accounting for 25.95%, 15.83%,9.36% of total number of nodes, respectively.

This week, the growth rate for new addresses of Bitcoin and Ethereum both increased. According to the data on blockchain.info, as of December 1st, 2019, the total number of Blockchain accounts reached 43778230, increased by 235844 (0.54%) this week.

According to the data on etherchain, as of December 1st, 2019, the total number of Ethereum addresses was 78277501 increased by 520399 (0.66%) this week.

ZSC was the most active project on GitHub this week. From November 24th, 2019-December 1st, 2019, ZSC was the active project repository on GitHub with a total of 81 commits.

2.3 Community Activity Statistics

The top three most popular cryptocurrencies on Facebook were Tron, Bitcoin and Ethereum in descending order, with 973k, 509k and 156k fans respectively. The top three most popular cryptocurrencies on Twitter were Bitcoin, Ripple(XRP) and TRON, with 993k, 942k, and 489k followers, respectively.

3. Weekly Blockchain News Review

3.1 Industrial Application

1. Thailand Introduces Blockchain-Based Tax Refunds for Oil Exporters

The Excise Department in Thailand is poised to introduce a new way of refunding overpaid taxes to oil exporters by using blockchain technology.On Nov. 25, director-general Patchara Anuntasilpa told the Bangkok Post that the Thailand Excise Department will change its current tax refund practice by introducing a blockchain-based tax payback system, which it hopes to implement by the middle of 2020. Patchara explained that the future tax payback system will require oil exporters to pay excise tax and claim overpaid taxes after they have shipped the fuel. Blockchain technology will make it more efficient for the department to inspect the tax payments, he added.Currently, oil exporters are required to submit documents for a tax waiver, and the inspection is not as thorough as it could be, according to Patchara.The Excise Department will reportedly collaborate with the Krungthai Bank to develop the blockchain-based tax refund system, which is one of three pilot projects. The other two projects involve e-bank guarantees, annual fee payment for liquor and tobacco, and playing card distribution licenses.

2. Afghan Government to Apply Blockchain in Country’s Healthcare Sector

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with blockchain firm FantomOperations to integrate blockchain technology into the country’s healthcare sector.As Afghan Voice Agency reported on Nov. 27, the terms of the MoU would apply blockchain to identify counterfeit medicines, create medical registries in hospitals and digitize patients’ files. Commenting on the initiative, Afghan Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said:”The Ministry of Public Health is committed for the institutionalization of electronic government in the health sector and the blockchain technology would help the ministry bring transparency, acceleration and effectiveness in the related affairs.” “The Medicine Importers Union stated that at least 40% of medicine and medical equipment enter the Afghan market illegally and many of the pharmaceutical products are low quality,” the report read. the United Nations revealed that it began working on blockchain solutions for sustainable urban development in Afghanistan. The organization is developing blockchain solutions for land records and services transparency as part of the UN’s “City for All” initiative.

3. Red Cross Deploys Blockchain to Boost Communities’ Economic Resilience

According to a report from the Thomas Reuters Foundation on Nov. 26, the Red Cross societies of Norway, Denmark and Kenya have launched a two-year plan to replace cash and voucher provision in aid and development efforts with blockchain-backed “local currencies.” As the report outlines, the Red Cross currently distributes $1 billion annually as cash and vouchers, either specifically targeted at disaster relief or intended to boost local economies. The new blockchain scheme, which has already been tested in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, has been found to improve trade in poor communities by allowing local users to earn credits created from work, sales or aid infusions and spend them via a mobile phone app, with an underlying blockchain ledger recording transactions. Grassroots Economics founder Will Ruddick has pointed to the transparency and data privacy benefits offered by blockchain and its potential to provide aid donors with near real-time distribution, allowing them to adjust their provision to better serve communities.

3.2 International Policies

1. Saudi-UAE Leaders Confirm Forthcoming Jointly-Issued Digital Currency

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for an official visit yesterday to discuss joint policy measures, including a digital currency plan. On Nov. 27, private English-language daily UAE newspaper The National reported that Prince Mohammed was welcomed by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The two leaders are reported to have officially agreed on four new policy partnerships and to have reviewed seven strategic initiatives. On the agenda was a policy to launch a digital currency to facilitate interbank trading between the two countries.Details of the jointly-issued digital currency were revealed by the United Arab Emirates Central Bank (UAECB) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) in January of this year. the UACEB-SAMA digital currency is named “Aber” and will be limited to financial settlements using distributed ledger technologies “on a probational basis and exclusive use by a limited number of banks in the two countries.”

2. Indian Government to Issue National Blockchain Strategy

The Indian government is working on a national blockchain strategy in order to expand the technology’s adoption in the country. As the India Times reported on Nov. 27, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that it recognizes the potential of blockchain technology and the need for the development of a shared infrastructure to carry out related use cases. The Ministry added that it is working on the “National Level Blockchain Framework.”The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Communications and Electronics and IT, Sanjay Dhotre, noted blockchain’s capability and potential in sectors such as governance, banking, finance and cybersecurity, among others. While India may be pro-blockchain, its stance toward cryptocurrencies is decidedly hostile. In July, the Indian government proposed a draft bill entitled “Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currencies,” that intended to not only impose a complete ban on the use of crypto in India but also to introduce a “Digital Rupee” issued by the country’s central bank

3.3 Technological Breakthrough

1. Security Token Offerings: The Next Big Thing in Fintech

For businesses about to embark on periods of rapid growth, access to capital is essential. That said, traditional methods of fundraising sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Initial public offerings can help boost the profile of fledgling brands, but they are often costly — with middlemen taking a sizeable cut out of the money generated. Security token offerings — otherwise known as STOs for short — are beginning to provide some stiff competition to IPOs. Here, investors are given tokens in exchange for their contribution to a fundraising drive. These tokens are backed by real-world assets such as stocks, bonds or real estate — and they are regulated. Investors have legally binding rights, which can entitle them to ownership, voting entitlements or dividends. STOs began to gain prominence as another model for fundraising crypto projects, initial coin offerings, began to fall away. ICOs had sustained criticism because of how they circumvented particular legal frameworks, and often failed to comply with regulations that are designed to protect consumers and businesses alike.

4.Weekly Investment Activities

2 investments activities took place in the blockchain industry this week, BEOSIN got Strategic round investment from SURFILTER, The Blockchainer got strategic investment from Golden Phoenix.

Huobi Research

About Us：

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.

Huobi Research Weekly aims to provide participators of the cryptocurrency market with the most up-to-date and comprehensive database to help them facilitate decision-making process.

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Huobi Research Weekly（Vol.90）（11.25–12.1）

1. Thailand Introduces Blockchain-Based Tax Refunds for Oil Exporters

Written by HTX Research