Network Analysis of ERC20 Tokens Trading on Ethereum Blockchain

Abstract

Issuance of cryptocurrencies on top of the Blockchain system by startups and private sector companies is becoming a ubiquitous phenomenon, inducing the trading of these crypto-coins among their holders using dedicated exchanges. Apart from being a trading ledger for tokens, Blockchain can also be observed as a social network. Analyzing and modeling the dynamics of the “social signals” of this network can contribute to our understanding of this ecosystem and the forces acting within. This work is the first analysis of the network properties of the ERC20 protocol compliant crypto-coins’ trading data. Considering all trading wallets as a network’s nodes, and constructing its edges using buy–sell trades, we can analyze the network properties of the ERC20 network. We demonstrate that the network displays strong power-law properties, coinciding with current network theory expectations, however nonetheless, are the first scientific validation of it, for the ERC20 trading data. The examined data is composed of over 30 million ERC20 tokens trades, performed by over 6.8 million unique wallets, lapsing over a two years period between February 2016 and February 2018.