BIS paper finds major gap in Bitcoin onchain transfer estimates
A BIS study found widely used crypto metrics can obscure economic activity, with measurement challenges spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins.
A BIS study found widely used crypto metrics can obscure economic activity, with measurement challenges spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins.
Researchers at the Bank for International Settlements found that estimates of Bitcoin onchain transfer values can vary by as much as sixfold depending on how transactions are measured.
The finding concerns onchain Bitcoin transfer values, rather than trading volume on crypto exchanges. The sixfold gap reflects differences between measurement methods, including how change outputs and other transfers back to the sender are treated.
Ethereum presented a separate measurement challenge because of the proliferation of smart contracts. Of roughly 67.5 million active contracts examined, about 54 million could not be categorized using the classifications in the study.