BIS Study Exposes Flaws in Widely Cited Crypto Metrics
A new working paper from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) highlights significant discrepancies in widely cited cryptocurrency metrics. The study, titled 'Hidden by complexity?', analyzes roughly 100 billion blockchain records spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron.
Researchers found that estimates of Bitcoin's on-chain transfer value can swing by as much as six times depending on how analysts count transaction outputs. This is largely due to differences in measurement methodologies handling Bitcoin's transaction structure. Some counting methods treat change outputs as additional transferred value, even though they do not represent actual value moving between parties.
The study also notes that conventional market capitalization figures for Bitcoin have at times been up to four times higher than realized capitalization. Realized capitalization values each coin at the price when it last moved. This highlights how different interpretations of blockchain movement can generate significantly different economic readouts.