2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of the White Paper signed by Satoshi Nakamoto that described how to create a digital financial instrument and operate it safely with a blockchain. As the cryptocurrency industry began to grow based on this technology, the academic world also showed a growing interest in cryptoactives, which today can be seen in more than 300 publications in refereed journals on that subject.
However, these works tend to be highly specialized, which is why the Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study, carried out by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), becomes relevant for the interested public.
This is the first study that systematically investigates the different aspects of cryptocurrencies with data collected from some 150 companies and individuals from different sectors of this industry that include exchange houses, purses, commercial and mining platforms.
MAIN FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
The study, completed in May, found that there were between 2.9 million and 5.8 million unique users of cryptocurrency wallets and more than 2,000 people working full time in the cryptocurrency industry, with the explanation that there were organizations, especially the largest mining companies that did not reveal details about their payrolls.
The rapid rise of bitcoin this year is evident with the total market value of cryptocurrencies reflected in the study at the beginning of April, of 27 billion dollars, and that this Saturday exceeds $ 571 billion.
Although bitcoin has been the dominant cryptoactive since its inception, the study points out that its percentage of ownership has declined in the last two years while the Ethereum has strengthened by percentage
From March 2016 to March 2017, bitcoin goes from 86% to 80% of the total market value, while the Ethereum grew from 10% to 16% in the same period. Neither the authors of the study could foresee that in 8 months the total value of cryptocurrencies would grow 18 times, and it is interesting to observe how the extraordinary boom of bitcoin also results in a deterioration of its percentage weight that is today of 38.5%; Ethereum itself also falls in percentage to 12.08%, which means that the rest of the cryptocurrencies reach a record 50% compared to the two dominant ones, according to CoinMarketCap.
HOUSES OF EXCHANGE
At the date of publication of the study, the CoinMarketCap website registered 138 exchange bureaus, a number that now stands at 174.
Exchange houses dominate the sample selected for the study, both by the number of participating organizations and by the staff employed. The differences in scale in this sector influence the behavior of organizations in this sector. 52% of small exchange houses have a government license to operate, while in large exchange houses that percentage is reduced to 35%, says the study.
In terms of security measures, the use of external security providers is present in 80% of large exchange houses and in 69% of small ones. The frequency of security audits also varies among exchange houses; the larger ones perform more audits systematically than the smaller ones.
73% of exchange houses control users' funds as they control private keys, while users control those keys in 13% of those organizations.
In terms of the volume of transactions in the different currencies, the US dollar is the most used currency, followed by the euro and the pound sterling. The Chinese Yuan, which dominated significantly the commercial exchange of bitcoin from 2014 to 2016, decreased markedly earlier this year after the strict regulations imposed by the People's Bank in China.