Huobi Research Weekly（Vol.89）（11.18–11.24）

Abstract

This week, the overall market capitalization for the top 100 cryptocurrencies decreased of 18.51%, with 11 projects increased in value to varying degrees. According to coinmarketcap, as of November 24th, 2019, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies was 191.6 billion U.S. dollars, decreased by 18.51%, and the total market cap of the top 100 cryptocurrencies was 189.0 billion U.S. dollars, decreased by 18.37% from last week. 3 cryptocurrency projects entered the top 100 this week, namely FST、MB、MOF. As of November 24, 2019, Bitcoin was traded at 7047.92USD, 17.78% lower than its price last week. Ethereum was traded at 142.83 USD, decreased by 22.78%. The market segment distribution of the top 100 cryptocurrencies remained stable.

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

the average bitcoin Hashrate for the entire network reached 90.81EH/s, decreased by 4.98% from the previous week.Average Hashrate for the entire Ethereum network was 103.96TH/s this week, decreased by 41.33%. average difficulty for mining Bitcoin this week was 12.767T, increased by 0.39% from last week. The average difficulty of mining Ethereum this week was 2440.567TH, decreased by 0.56% from that of previous week.

In network activity, the average size of each block was 1.13MB, increased 9.71% form last week; there were on average 2145 transactions recorded in each block, increased by 1.32% from the previous week. the average number of transactions per block in Ethereum this week was 117.90, increased by5.46%. The average size of each block was 25421.0 bytes, increased by 16.19% compared to last week. As of November24th, 2019, average transaction fees of Bitcoin this week was $0.510, decreased by 26.09% from last week. Average transaction fees of Ethereum this week was $0.102, decresead by 12.07%.Total number of addresses on the Blockchain and Ethereum network reached 43.54 million and 78.27 million, increased 0.22(0.51%) million and 0.45(0.58%) million respectively. HOT was the most active project on GitHub this week, with 140 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.

3 investments activities took place in the blockchain industry this week, Canaan got IPO, Midu got strategic investment, Cyclebit got Strategic investment.

1. Weekly Market Review

1.1 Market overview

This week, the overall market capitalization for the top 100 cryptocurrencies decreased of 18.51%, with 11 projects increased in value to varying degrees. According to coinmarketcap, as of November 24th, 2019, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies was 191.6 billion U.S. dollars, decreased by 18.51%, and the total market cap of the top 100 cryptocurrencies was 189.0 billion U.S. dollars, decreased by18.37% from last week, among which, 1irstcoin had the largest increased of 71.46%, bringing its market cap ranking from №166 to №93, Komodo Shares had the largest decreased of -36.14%, bringing its market cap ranking from №57 to №65. In addition, there were 3 projects that entered TOP100, namely, MineBee (MB, decreased 3.98%, Now №95), 1irstcoin (FST, increased 71.46%, Now №93), Molecular Future (MOF, increased 36.4%, Now №96). As of November 24th, 2019, Bitcoin was traded at 7047.92 USD, 17.78% lower than its price last week. Ethereum was traded at 142.83 USD, 22.78% lower than its price last week.

The overall 24h trading volume decreased this week. Overall, the 24h trading volume increased by 36.12% compared with the same period of last week. In this week, 48 of the top 100 projects increased in 24h trading volume, led by MONA with a weekly increase of 521.11%; there were 50 projects decreased in their 24h trading volume, there were 31 projects that saw over 20% decrease in their 24h trading volume, while 7 projects fell by more than 50%, led by CRO, with a decreased of 83.99%.

The top 10 cryptocurrencies’ market value decreased, the market share distribution remained stable. On November 24th, 2019, the overall market cap of the top 10 cryptocurrencies was 170.9 billion USD, decreased by 18.35% from last week, accounting for 89.17% of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies, increased by 0.17% from last week. The market value proportion of TOP10 project basically stable. BTC’s dominance was 66.44%, decreased by 0.59% from last week.

Figure 1.2: TOP10 Cryptocurrencies’ Market Share of Total Cryptocurrencies Market

Source: coinmarketcap

Figure 1.3: TOP10 Cryptocurrencies’ Market Share of Total Cryptocurrencies Market Changes

Source: coinmarketcap

1.2 Segment Analysis

Among TOP 100 cryptocurrency project segments, the total market cap of Platform project and the average market cap of application projects got the largest decrease. As of November 24th, 2019,the total market cap of coin projects reached 142.42 billion USD, decreased by18.00%. The average market cap of coin projects reached 3.75 billion USD, decreased by 18.00%. The total market cap of platform projects reached 23.12 billion USD, decreased by 23.44%. The average market cap of platform projects reached 0.82 billion USD, decreased by 20.7%. The total market cap of application class projects reached 18.93 billion USD, decreased by 18.12%. The average market cap of application class projects reached 0.65 billion USD, decreased by 20.94%. The total market cap of asset-backed token projects reached 4.61 billion USD, decreased by 0.42%. The average market cap of asset-backed token projects reached 0.92 billion USD, decreased by 0.42%.

Figure 1.4: TOP100 Cryptocurrencies Market Segment Capitalization

Source: coinmarketcap

Figure 1.5: TOP100 Cryptocurrencies Segment Average Market Cap

Source: coinmarketcap

The market segment distribution of the top 100 cryptocurrencies remained stable. As of November 24h, 2019, among the top 100 projects, the number of coin class projects remained the same, application class projects increased 1, platform class projects decreased 1 and asset-backed token class remained the same. The largest overall market cap by segment was still coin projects, accounting for 75.32% 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 decreased by this week. From November 18th, 2019 — November 24th, 2019, the average bitcoin Hashrate for the entire network reached 90.81EH/s, decreased by 4.98% from the previous week.

Average Hashrate for the entire Ethereum network was 103.96TH/s this week, decreased by41.33%.

Figure 2.1: Bitcoin Hashrate Changes

Source: blockchain.info

Figure 2.2: Ethereum Hashrate Changes

Source: etherchain

This week, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin increased and the difficulty of mining Ethereum decreased. As of November 24th 2019, average difficulty for mining Bitcoin this week was 12.767T, increased by 0.39% from last week. The average difficulty of mining Ethereum this week was 2440.567TH, decreased by 0.56% from that of previous week.

The number of blocks in Bitcoin decreased by 2.47%. Top 5 rankings changed. The overall distribution of the Ethereum mining pools rankings remain the same, the number of blocks dereased 1.99%. In the past week, Bitcoin mined 1054 blocks, decreased 2.47% from the previous week. Among the top five pools were Poolin,F2Pool, BTC.com, AntPool, Viabitcoin these 5 pools mined 172、156、151、105 and 62 blocks respectively, accounting for 16.73 % 、15.18 %、14.69%、10.21 % and 6.03 % of all Bitcoins mined this week. The Hashrate was 15.67EH/s、14.21EH/s、13.76EH/s、9.57EH/s and 5.65EH/s respectively.

In the past week, Ethereu’s entire network mined 43764 blocks, decreased 1.99% from the previous week. The top five pools were SparkPool, Ethermine, F2pool_2, Nanopool and Zhizhu.top, each mined 13192、9734、4925、3525 and 2062 blocks respectively, accounting for30.1435%、22.2420%、11.2535%、8.0546% and 4.7116% of all Ethereum mined this week, respectively.

Figure 2.5: Distribution of Bitcoin Mine Pool

Source：BTC.com

Figure 2.6: Distribution of Ethereum Mine Pool

Source：etherscan.io

2.2 Activity Statistics

The average number of transactions per block increased and the average block size of Bitcoin both increased. The average number of transactions per block increased and the average block size of Ethereum increased this week. According to blockchain.info, from November 18th, 2019-November 24th, 2019, the average size of each block was 1.13MB, increased9.71% form last week; there were on average 2145 transactions recorded in each block, increased by1.32% from the previous week.

According to etherscan, the average number of transactions per block in Ethereum this week was 117.90, increased by5.46%. The average size of each block was 25421.0 bytes, increased by 16.19% compared to last week.

Number of unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin decreased by 1.65%. Number of unconfirmed transactions in Ethereum decreased by 4.44% from the previous week. As of November 24th, 2019, the number of 7-day average unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin network was 6657, decreased by 1.65% from last week. There were 35288.20 unconfirmed transactions in the Ethereum network, decreased by 4.44% from last week, with the lowest amount of unconfirmed transactions in the week being 9661 and the highest amount being 48928.

Figure 2.11: Unconfirmed Transaction in Bitcoin

Source: blockchain.info

Figure 2.12: Unconfirmed Transaction in Ethereum

Source：etherscan.io

Total transaction fees of Bitcoin decreased. Total transaction fees of Ethereum decreased. As of November 24th, 2019, average transaction fees of Bitcoin this week was $0.510, decreased by 26.09% from last week. Average transaction fees of Ethereum this week was $0.102, decresead by 12.07%.

Figure 2.13: Bitcoin, Ethereum Average Transaction Fees

Source：bitinfocharts

The average number of distinct miners per day in Ethereum increased by 4.72% from last week. From November 18th, 2019-November24th, 2019, the average number of distinct miners per day in Ethereum this week was 59.9, increased 4.72% from last week.

Figure 2.14: Number of Distinct Miners Per Day

Source：etherchain

The number of nodes in Bitcoin increased and the number of Ethereum increased this week. As of November 24th, 2019, there were 9513 Bitcoin nodes, increased by 0.63% compared to last week, of which 2488 nodes were in the U.S, 1919 nodes were in Germany, and 302 nodes were in China(№8), each accounting for 26.15%, 20.17% and 3.17% of the total number of Bitcoin nodes, respectively.

As of November 24th, 2019, there were 7857 Ethereum nodes, increased by 3.65% from the previous week. Specifically, there were2084 nodes in the U.S, 1304 nodes in China, and 686 nodes in Germany, each accounting for 26.52%, 16.60%, 8.73% of total number of nodes, respectively.

Figure 2.15: Bitcoin nodes ranking

Source：bitnodes

Figure 2.16: Ethereum nodes ranking

Source：Ethernodes

This week, the growth rate for new addresses of Bitcoin and Ethereum both increased. According to the data on blockchain.info, as of November 24th, 2019, the total number of Blockchain accounts reached 43542386, increased by 222501 (0.51%) this week.

According to the data on etherchain, as of November 24th, 2019, the total number of Ethereum addresses was 78277501 increased by450560 (0.58%) this week.

HOT was the most active project on GitHub this week. From November 18th, 2019-November 24th, 2019, HOT was the active project repository on GitHub with a total of 140 commits.

Figure 2.19: GitHub Code Activity

Source：cryptomiso

2.3 Community Activity Statistics

The top three most popular cryptocurrencies on Facebook were Tron, Bitcoin and Ethereum in descending order, with 975k, 507k and 156k fans respectively. The top three most popular cryptocurrencies on Twitter were Bitcoin, Ripple(XRP) and TRON, with 992k, 942k, and 487k followers, respectively.

3. Weekly Blockchain News Review

3.1 Industrial Application

1. Two European Salmon Producers Use IBM’s Blockchain Platform to Track Supply Chain.

Salmon farming company Cermaq and smoked salmon producer Labeyrie began using IBM’s cloud blockchain technology to trace their product supply chains.Cermaq announced the development in a Nov. 20 press release, revealing that it cooperated with Labeyrie and IBM’s blockchain platform IBM Food Trust to enable customers to get information about the salmon value chain. All Cermaq salmon products now come with a CV and QR-code, so consumers can check details such as: [fish] origin, when it was hatched, which fresh water facility it came from, how big it was when it was transferred to seawater, at which sea water facility it has been farmed, as well as health and welfare information such as which vaccinations it has received, what it has been fed, and when it was harvested. Labeyrie rolled out a traceability system for two of its Norwegian smoked salmon products, thus allowing consumers to see information about the whole production chain of the fish — from egg to store.

2. Dutch Soccer Assn. Trials Blockchain App at EU Championship Qualifying Match

The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) trialed a new blockchain-based ticketing app during Nov.20’s Netherlands-Estonia European Championship qualifying match.The news was reported by Ajax Life, a fanzine associated with the top tier Dutch football club AFC Ajax, on Nov. 19. Nov.20’s match was hosted at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, which the Netherlands won 5–0, as the BBC has reported.According to Ajax Life, the KNVB used the event as an opportunity to trial its new blockchain-based app, designed to combat ticket counterfeiting and black market sales.The solution dispenses with ticket PDFs, granting visitors access to the stadium via an app. A barcode used to activate visitors’ access to the stadium is only operational at a set time and within a specific radius of the stadium on match day. This ostensibly makes it impossible to resell tickets for a competition multiple times.Ajax Life reporters note that if the blockchain pilot’s results are deemed successful, the solution will be developed and scaled further with the support of the European Regional Development Fund.

3.Online Gaming Platform Lets Gamers Collect BTC In First-Person Shooter Game

Donnerlab, an online gaming platform that builds lightning games and applications, lets gamers hunt for Bitcoin (BTC) and pick-up “Satoshi cubes.” In a tweet on Nov. 19, Donnerlab announced the launch of its latest project, titled Bitcoin Bounty Hunt, a fully lightning-native multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) game. The Lightning network is a payment protocol that allows for fast, micropayments between two so-called nodes — in this case, gamers.Donnerlabs was founded by twenty-five-year-old Konstantin Nick after the 2018 Lightning Hackday in Munich, Germany, as a means to introduce the world’s largest cryptocurrency to more people. The FPS game features an integrated neutrino wallet, where gamers can store coins in a noncustodial fashion, an ad space for Hodl-auctions, and of course the ability to kill off other players in order to collect bounties.

4. China’s Army Considering a Blockchain Rewards System

China’s military could implement a blockchain rewards system to manage personnel data and incentivize its workforce, the Global Times reported on Nov. 18.Citing a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily report, the Global Times underscores that the blockchain system would likely not involve financial incentives, but would be used as an innovation strategy for the military’s management. The PLA is reportedly interested in using an immutable and secure blockchain-based system to manage personnel data; spanning records such as military training, career path, missions undertaken and performance reports. The system could be tokenized to offer soldiers non-financial incentives, which could be recuperated for rewards within the scheme. These tokens would serve as “objective evaluations,” the PLA Daily has reportedly noted.An anonymous source familiar with the PLA’s administration is cited by the Global Times as saying that the main distinction between the proposed blockchain system and existing reward systems would likely be not only the security the innovative technology confers, but also greater immediacy:”It sounds similar to a KPI system that will give feedback to the troops very frequently,” he noted. The source added that it remains to be seen what kinds of rewards the tokens would be redeemable for.

3.2 International Policies

1.Spanish Financial Watchdog Warns Against Unregulated ICO

Scheme

A Spanish financial watchdog has issued a warning against Ethereum (ETH)-based token dubbed AlyCoin.As Financial Magnates reported on Nov. 18, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores warned the public against AlyCoin as it the coin is registered neither in Spain nor in the corresponding registry and thus promotes unregulated initial coin offerings (ICOs).Specifically, AlyCoin purportedly provides its customers with financial services in violation of the second paragraph of Article 17 of the Securities Markets Law.AlyCoin also stipulates about its intention to operate in full compliance with corresponding laws and regulations, as well as procure all necessary licences and approvals. The company ensures that “it is not possible to guarantee that any such license or approval will be obtained within a particular period of time or in all. This means that the initiatives described in this document may not be available in certain markets, or in all,” which purportedly goes contrary to its business in the Spanish market.

2.Chinese Tech Capital Shenzhen Issues Warning Against Crypto Activities

The Chinese technology capital of Shenzhen issued a warning against illegal activities concerning cryptocurrencies.Local finance news outlet Eastmoney reported on Nov. 21 also that Shenzhen’s Leading Group for Remediation of Internet Finance Risks will investigate and collect evidence on illegal activities involving cryptocurrencies. The Leading Group warning states that, since China banned local exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs) from operating in 2017, the illegal activities associated with cryptocurrencies and financial risks were greatly reduced. The warning cites the issuance of crypto assets, ICOs, fictional uses of technology, fundraising in fiat or crypto and cryptocurrency exchanges as examples of illicit activity in the industry.

3.3 Technological Breakthrough

1.With 7,600 Blockchain Patent Applications, Chinese Firms Far Outpace US

On Nov. 20, Japan-based financial newspaper Nikkei reported that Chinese companies submitted around 7,600 applications between 2009 and 2018 — about three times as many as U.S.-based companies. According to Tokyo-based research firm Astamuse, the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Germany together submitted around 12,000 blockchain-related patent applications through 2018, with China accounting for over 60% of the five-country total.South Korea submitted close to 1,150 applications within the same time frame, while Japan submitted fewer than 380 applications.With 512 applications, Chinese retail giant Alibaba Group Holding took the lead amongst the ranking of corporate applicants compiled by Japan’s NGB based on data from Innography. United Kingdom-based nChain followed Alibaba closely, with 468, while technology giant IBM filed 248 applications.

4.Weekly Investment Activities

3 investments activities took place in the blockchain industry this week, Canaan got IPO, Midu got strategic investment from Qifu capital, Lisheng network and Aoyin capital, Cyclebit got Strategic round investment from NEM Ventures.

Huobi Research

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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.

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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