The Bitcoin business ecosystem: visualisation from 2010-2015 (514 entities)

[pan1ns6r]

Hey everyone,

I'm a twenty-four year old business student from Luxembourg with a background in economics, and I've recently submitted my Master's thesis which studies the emergence and evolution of the Bitcoin business ecosystem. I thought I'd share it here so anyone who's interested can have a look at it. The thesis can be found here: https://www.g o o . g l/XFsdzZ (Bitcointalk.org flags g o o. g l as suspicious website).

In a nutshell, I collected data on 514 Bitcoin companies and projects and their activities over a time window from 2010-2015, resulting in what I believe to be the first comprehensive longitudinal dataset of entities active in the Bitcoin space. I then developed a theoretical framework defining a total of 22 different market segments (or sub-industries) of the business ecosystem, and applied it to the dataset. The purpose of the project is to visually explore the evolution of the ecosystem structure in terms of the entities and their affiliations to specific market segments over time. The network graphs for each year in high resolution can be found here: https://www.g o o. g l/amHhox.
For those who don't have time reading the entire thesis, have a look at the pinned tweet from my Twitter profile that highlights all the relevant graphs and tables (https://twitter.com/mrauchs).

I now plan to build a website that displays an interactive visualisation of the business ecosystem, and open-source the dataset so that everyone can use it for their own purposes. The goal of the website is to create a place for interested people to get a visual overview of the dynamics of the business ecosystem, and be able to participate by either updating existing data or adding new data. The website should constitute an easy entry point to the ecosystem for newcomers as well as an attempt to collectively building and maintaining a comprehensive dataset of the companies and projects active in the Bitcoin domain.

If someone here in this sub is familiar with building websites with interactive visualisations and collaborative database mechanisms, I'd be more than happy to hear your suggestions and opinions. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Alternatively, the thesis can also be downloaded here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308697855_Edited_Version_Thesis_corrected_headers

[xiaokele]

I just quickly skimmed through it, but it looks really interesting, especially the market segmentation and I'm pretty sure that I'll dive deeper into it when I find the time. In the paper you mention that you've collected the btc-related businesses/projects via this forum, reddit, bitcoin wiki etc. and merged it all together. Do you mind sharing this list as well?

As for your question regarding the data visualisation, I'd suggest to head over to reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful for some inspiration

[batesresearch]

WOW! Amazing work.

It would be amazing to see this as an interactive web application. To be able to explore the evolution of the Bitcoin ecosystem as an interactive web application will definitely be an awesome project.

If you need webhosting let me know, I'll sort some hosting out for free for you.

[eternalgloom]

If you're planning on doing it yourself, I'd suggest reading 'Interactive Data Visualization for the Web' by Scott Murray.
The book is available for free (to read online) here: http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000345

It will require some programming knowledge, but if you don't mind that, it's really worth reading.
The book focusses on D3.js which is a javascript library used for data visualization.

https://d3js.org/

Examples: https://github.com/d3/d3/wiki/Gallery

[Snorek]

After fist quick look I can say - well done Op. Your thesis looks really professional. I downloaded and I plan to read whole in my free time.

I am especially interested in that chapters about evolution of bitcoin ecosystem year by year from 2010 to 2015 and public perception of it.

I wonder if you will continue your research in the future and possibly turn this thesis into a book. Do you have any plans for that?

[pan1ns6r]

WOW! Amazing work.

It would be amazing to see this as an interactive web application. To be able to explore the evolution of the Bitcoin ecosystem as an interactive web application will definitely be an awesome project.

If you need webhosting let me know, I'll sort some hosting out for free for you.

Thanks, that's actually what I was planning. However, I'm really busy at the moment and haven't had much time to figure out the specifics, so I'll get back to that when I'll have more time. But thank you!

[pan1ns6r]

After fist quick look I can say - well done Op. Your thesis looks really professional. I downloaded and I plan to read whole in my free time.

I am especially interested in that chapters about evolution of bitcoin ecosystem year by year from 2010 to 2015 and public perception of it.

I wonder if you will continue your research in the future and possibly turn this thesis into a book. Do you have any plans for that?

Thank you. Actually, I hope you won't be too disappointed by reading the year-to-year descriptions because I was very limited by the academic restrictions on the overall thesis length and more specifically on the length of the specific sections (in this case basic descriptions of findings). I'd have preferred to write it out more in the form of a report, but that (understandably) wouldn't have been accepted by the university.

Right now, I've started working at academic research centre, where I'm currently working on a global cryptocurrency and blockchain/DLT benchmarking study. Parts of that study will be slightly based on my research about the Bitcoin business ecosystem, but the idea is more about collecting non-public data from major companies and platforms to analyse the current trends and developments in the space.

But once I have more time at my disposal, I might get back to your idea and write a book, who knows But I'd prioritise building an interactive visualisation website, because I think that'd be more useful for newcomers and "oldies" alike. So if anyone has a suggestion on who could best implement this, please get in touch.

[pan1ns6r]

If you're planning on doing it yourself, I'd suggest reading 'Interactive Data Visualization for the Web' by Scott Murray.
The book is available for free (to read online) here: http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000345

It will require some programming knowledge, but if you don't mind that, it's really worth reading.
The book focusses on D3.js which is a javascript library used for data visualization.

https://d3js.org/

Examples: https://github.com/d3/d3/wiki/Gallery

Sounds great, thanks! Unfortunately I don't have much time right now, so I'd rather prefer collaborating with someone that is more familiar with this kind of stuff.

[pan1ns6r]

I just quickly skimmed through it, but it looks really interesting, especially the market segmentation and I'm pretty sure that I'll dive deeper into it when I find the time. In the paper you mention that you've collected the btc-related businesses/projects via this forum, reddit, bitcoin wiki etc. and merged it all together. Do you mind sharing this list as well?

As for your question regarding the data visualisation, I'd suggest to head over to reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful for some inspiration

Thanks. I was actually planning to release the full dataset once the website was launched, but I unfortunately will have to postpone that except if find someone who would be willing to collaborate and help with coding and website set-up/design.

[OROBTC]

...

pan1ns6r

Perhaps you would consider making your data set larger in time.  Adding more merchants who accept BTC for example.  You could contact them, maybe they would give you some aggregated statistics on their sales by BTC vs. total (for example).

The only business I have bought from (paying with BTC) is providentmetals.com, a precious metals vendor.  Respected, and they take BTC (and, of course, other payment methods).

Keep us informed of your progress!

[eternalgloom]

If you're planning on doing it yourself, I'd suggest reading 'Interactive Data Visualization for the Web' by Scott Murray.
The book is available for free (to read online) here: http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1230000000345

It will require some programming knowledge, but if you don't mind that, it's really worth reading.
The book focusses on D3.js which is a javascript library used for data visualization.

https://d3js.org/

Examples: https://github.com/d3/d3/wiki/Gallery

Sounds great, thanks! Unfortunately I don't have much time right now, so I'd rather prefer collaborating with someone that is more familiar with this kind of stuff.

Yeah, I glanced over the book and was also thinking that it would require lots of work and research to pull it off by yourself.
Hope you find someone though, and maybe you'll have some use for those resources for future projects