How changeable are ERC-20 tokens in time? Behavioral analysis studies

Behavioral analysis studiescyber•DropBlockedUnblockFollowFollowingMay 21by Serge Nedashkovsky and Maxim OdegovOne of the key events of 2017 was the explosive growth in the popularity of ERC-20 tokens (hereinafter referred to as tokens).

The growth in the volume of transactions with tokens led to the growing popularity of the Ethereum network and the cost of ETH.

In 2017 and 2018, the daily number of token transfers grew from 1K to 400K and peaked at over 1M.

At the moment, the daily number of token transfers has stabilized and is more than 250K.

Figure 1.

Token TransfersToken transfers make a significant contribution to the use of gas of the network.

Figure 2.

Gas UsedClassification of token transfersIt is interesting to understand what types of transfers exist and what is the distribution between them.

We have identified three main classes of transfers:Ordinary users transfers.

Individual transfers carried out by common users.

e number of transfers in this class is more than 100.

Other transfers of non-tradable tokens also belong to the class.

Bounty & Promo Airdrops, Crowdsales.

These transfers are made within the distribution, both monetized (Crowdsales) and free for the recipient (Bounty & Promo Airdrops).

These token distribution methods are characterized by a large number of transfers over a limited period of time.

Traders & Exchanges transfers.

Transactions aimed at the implementation of medium and high-frequency token trading.

A significant number of transactions and a small number of unique recipients are characteristic features.

Next, we consider the metrics on the basis of which we will divide the classes.

Metrics are calculated for the address pairs of the sender of the transfer — token.

Count of Token TransfersA key indicator for the division of classes is the number of token transfers per unit of time calculated for each sender.

For clarity, we have divided the transfers into 4 classes:Single transfers (equals 1);Not a significant number of transfers (from 2 to 10);Significant number of transfers (from 11 to 100);A large number of transfers (more than 100).

Figure 3.

Token Transfers by daily countAs can be seen, transfers with the number of sent transactions more than 100 for one sender per day dominate.

Classes with significant and not a significant number of transfers we have combined due to their small size.

The Uniqueness of Recipients of TransfersThe second most important metric characterizing the token transfer is the ratio of the number of sent transfers to the number of unique recipients for the selected sender per day.

This metric shows the frequency of interaction with token recipients.

We have divided transfers into the following classes:Single transfers (For these transfers, this ratio is 1);Transfers to unique recipients (Less than 1.

1);Transfers with a significant number of unique recipients (From 1.

1 to 2);Transfers to a limited number of unique recipients (Greater than 2).

Figure 4.

Token Transfers by uniqueness of recipientsTransfers to unique recipients dominate (45%) and then there are single transfers (19%) and transfers to a limited number of unique recipients (17%).

Transfers with a significant number of unique recipients we have added to the class of transfers to unique recipients.

Token LiquidityIn order to assess the activity of ERC-20 tokens, we have calculated the number of transfers made with these tokens on decentralized exchanges.

We have divided transfers into the following classes:Non-tradable tokens (No DEX trades).

Low liquid tokens (The number of DEX trades is less than 5,000).

High liquid tokens (The number of DEX trades is more than 5,000).

Among all the ERC-20 tokens with which at least one transfer was made, 12% (5433) of the tokens are traded on decentralized exchanges.

At the same time, most of the transfers (in total, 65.

5%) occurred with traded tokens.

A similar ratio is observed for the number of addresses that sent tokens:Figure 5.

Token and sending address count by token liquidityHowever, as can be seen from the following chart, the share of token transfers not traded on decentralized exchanges increases over time:Figure 6.

Token Transfers by liquidityMerging Metrics.

Count and Uniqueness of Recipients of TransfersUsing the first two metrics: the number of transfers and the uniqueness of the recipients, we divided the token transfers into classes as follows:Ordinary users transfers.

The number of transfers for the sender-token pair is 1.

Bounty & Promo Airdrops, Crowdsales.

Transfers with a unique recipient and a significant number of unique recipients (the ratio of the number of transfers to the number of unique recipients is less than 2).

The number of transfers in this class is more than 100.

Traders & Exchanges transfers.

Other transfersFigure 7.

Token Transfers by ClassesMerging Metrics.

Add LiquidityWe have defined how transfers of the above classes are distributed by token liquidity into groups: non-tradable tokens, low and high liquid tokens.

Figure 8.

Token Transfers by liquidity.

Bounty & Promo Airdrops, CrowdsalesFigure 9.

Token Transfers by liquidity.

Traders & ExchangesFigure 10.

Token Transfers by liquidity.

Ordinary usersWe see that there is a significant amount of non-tradable tokens in Traders & Exchanges transfers.

We assume that these transfers should be classified as Bounty & Promo Airdrops, Crowdsales.

Therefore, the rules for assigning to classes will look like this:Ordinary users transfersThe number of transfers for the sender-token pair is 1.

Bounty & Promo Airdrops, CrowdsalesTransfers with a unique recipient and a significant number of unique recipients (the ratio of the number of transfers to the number of unique recipients is less than 2).

The number of transfers in this class is more than 100.

Other transfers of non-tradable tokens also belong to the class.

Traders & Exchanges transfersOther transfers of tradable tokens.

Figure 11.

Token Transfers by ClassesAs can be seen in fig.

11 the last 6 months the number of token transfers by classes is stable and amounted to:Ordinary users are 55K transfers per day;Bounty & Promo Airdrops, Crowdsales are 190K transfers per day;Traders & Exchanges are 60K transfers per day.

The use of ERC-20 by the major types of token senders is stable, despite the depreciation of the ether since August of 2018.

This once again underlines the viability and convenience of the ERC-20 token.

Source: The calculations were made using Ethereum Analytical DB.

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