With the support of: Dr Garrick Hileman & Michel Rauchs 2017 GLOBAL CRYPTOCURRENCY BENCHMARKING STUDY3 Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study CONTENTS FOREWORDS 4 RESEARCH TEAM 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10 METHODOLOGY AND STUDY STRUCTURE 11 GLOSSARY 12 SETTING THE SCENE 14 EXCHANGES 28 WALLETS 48 PAYMENTS 68 MINING 86 APPENDICES106 REFERENCES AND ENDNOTES 110Forewords FOREWORDS The world of money and fnance is transforming before our eyes. Digitsed assets and innovatve fnancial channels, instruments and systems are creatng new paradigms for fnancial transacton and forging alternatve conduits of capital. The Cambridge Centre for Alternatve Finance, since its founding in 2015, has been at the forefront of documentng, analysing and indeed critcally challenging that digital fnancial transformaton. This Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study is our inaugural research focused on alternatve payment systems and digital assets. Led by Dr Garrick Hileman, it is the frst study of its kind to holistcally examine the burgeoning global cryptocurrency industry and its key consttuents, which include exchanges, wallets, payments and mining. The fndings are both striking and thought-provoking. First, the user adopton of various cryptocurrencies has really taken of, with billions in market cap and millions of wallets estmated to have been ‘actve’ in 2016. Second, the cryptocurrency industry is both globalised and localised, with borderless exchange operatons, as well as geographically clustered mining actvites. Third, the industry is becoming more fuid, as the lines between exchanges and wallets are increasingly ‘blurred’ and a multtude of cryptocurrencies, not just bitcoin, are now supported by a growing ecosystem, fulflling an array of functons. Fourth, issues of security and regulatory compliance are likely to remain prevalent for years to come. I hope this study will provide value to academics, practtoners, policymakers and regulators alike. We thank Visa very much for its generous support of independent academic research in this important area. Bryan Zhang Co-founder and Executve Director (Interim) Blockchain has received a signifcant amount of analyst and press atenton over the last few years as this emerging technology holds signifcant potental. Use cases are many and varied: ranging from programmable cryptocurrencies to property deeds management to provenance tracking to votng records. Cryptocurrencies were the frst applicaton of this technology, and in doing so introduced an entrely new set of businesses, jobs and vocabulary to the world of payments. Visa has been exploring the impact of these technologies to determine how this new ecosystem will contnue to grow and evolve. Amongst all the excitement and enthusiasm in the press there has also been some hyperbole, and any eforts to provide a realistc snapshot of the industry should be welcomed. Visa welcomes opportunity to sponsor research from a respected organisaton, the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, which we trust, the reader will fnd objectve, informatve and insightul. Jonathan Vaux VP, Innovaton & Strategic PartnershipsGlobal Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study It is my great pleasure to present the frst global cryptocurrency benchmarking study. The fndings from our study are based on the collecton of non-public data from nearly 150 companies and individuals, and this report ofers new insights on an innovatve and rapidly evolving sector of the economy. Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have been seen by some as merely a passing fad or insignifcant, but that view is increasingly at odds with the data we are observing. As of April 2017, the combined market value of all cryptocurrencies is $27 billion, which represents a level of value creaton on the order of Silicon Valley success stories like AirBnB. The advent of cryptocurrency has also sparked many new business platorms with sizable valuatons of their own, along with new forms of peer-to-peer economic actvity. Next year will mark the ten-year anniversary of the publicaton of Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper describing how a new digital fnancial instrument could be created and operated securely with a blockchain. The growing usage and range of capabilites we document in this study indicate that cryptocurrencies are taking on an ever more important role in the lives of a growing number of people (and machines) around the world. As we show in this study, the number of people using cryptocurrency today has seen signifcant growth and rivals the populaton of small countries. By our count, over 300 academic artcles have been published on various aspects of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the past several years. However, these works tend to take a narrow focus. To our knowledge this is the frst global cryptocurrency study based on non- public ‘of-chain’ data. We designed the study to present an empirical picture of the current state of this stll maturing industry, and to explore how cryptocurrencies are being used today. The fndings from this study will be useful to industry, academics, policymakers, media, and anyone seeking to beter understand the cryptocurrency landscape. This study would not have been possible without the support and partcipaton from nearly 150 cryptocurrency companies and individuals that contributed data, many of which have elected to have their logos displayed in this report. This study also greatly benefted from suggestons and support we received from many individuals and frms we recognise in the Acknowledgements. We are grateful for the trust placed by study partcipants in the University of Cambridge research team. We are looking forward to contnuing and expanding our cryptocurrency and blockchain research program. In a few weeks, we will also be publishing the results of a separate study focused on the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT), which examines the use of DLT by more established industry players as well as at public sector insttutons such as central banks. Thank you for your interest in this study. We will be conductng these benchmarking studies on an annual basis, and I welcome your comments and feedback. Garrick Hileman g.hileman@jbs.cam.ac.uk
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