Volume of Bitcoins transferred

[bitcoiner180]

The value of a cryptocurrency, in theory, should also be related to its practical utility. In my opinion, a cryptocurrency that is worth "a lot" should also be used "a lot".

I therefore find it interesting to be able to analyze how many cryptocurrencies are moved every day within the various blockchains and understand if the data is increasing or decreasing.

Unfortunately, on the various crypto analysis sites, when talking about volumes, those declared by the exchanges are always used. I find this thing truly absurd, I think that the correct analysis should instead concern the volumes actually present within the various public blockchains. It is those volumes that determine how much the blockchain has an actual reason to exist. The billions of cryptocurrencies moved on Binance do not give value to the relative blockchains but remain within Binance and at most give value to the exchange and its token.

As for Bitcoin, I only found these two sites that analyze how many Bitcoins are actually moved within the blockchain:

https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/charts/estimated-transaction-volume
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/charts/estimated-transaction-volume-usd (in dollars)
https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-sentinusd.html (only in dollars)

How come if the blockchain is the same, the graphs on blockchain.com and bitinfocharts are so different? Why is this type of analysis not taken into consideration by the various analysis sites or is it relegated to the background compared to, for example, the useless graph of the number of transactions per block?

Are there other sites that analyze the amount of cryptocurrencies moved over time within the various blockchains?

[Smartvirus]

Your analysis as it is on the OP looks at used case from a side view. A view that is dependent only on the parent blockchain like we have it in Bitcoin and the Bitcoin blockchain.
However, swaps on exchangers is also a used case as, a coin could be swapped for another and that in itself is a used case. Using one coin to purchase another as a commodity of equal value.

It is in itself that expressive even within an exchanger. Should we have the blockchains used that much, you wouldn’t find the fees really easy to coupe with due to the priority given to fees per transaction.
That’s why, hodling as an activity is one that not only helps investors to accumulate but also, is a plus to blockchain utility.

[bitcoiner180]

However, swaps on exchangers is also a used case as, a coin could be swapped for another and that in itself is a used case.

I don't think so. If I swap a coin on Binance without Binance being forced to really buy or sell it, that is, to make a transaction on the blockchain, the price of the coin doesn't change at all. Binance continue to hold the same ammount of coins and the world doesn't notice my swap.

I also don't trust exchanges, I don't trust Binance to hold the amount of Bitcoin it claims to hold for me.

I want to know the real "public" (why is it not so public?) volume not the one declared by the exchanges.

[Smartvirus]

However, swaps on exchangers is also a used case as, a coin could be swapped for another and that in itself is a used case.

I don't think so. If I swap a coin on Binance without Binance being forced to really buy or sell it, that is, to make a transaction on the blockchain, the price of the coin doesn't change at all. Binance continue to hold the same ammount of coins and the world doesn't notice my swap.

I also don't trust exchanges, I don't trust Binance to hold the amount of Bitcoin it claims to hold for me.

I want to know the real "public" (why is it not so public?) volume not the one declared by the exchanges.

Exactly and as it should be.
Reason being that, it’s an internally done transaction. The coins been swapped for another is done using the coins held by Binance and as such, there isn’t a need to utilize the blockchain to authenticate this transaction.

Mind you, there is always a transaction ID for this transaction and it exists within Binance without the rest of the world being a part of it except, you need it for some third party verification with Binance which is possible. _{Don’t mind my extensive use of Binance here, it’s just using one to exemplify for the lots of exchanges out there.}

It’s why, you pay a relatively low fee for this transactions and it could be done without using an address, just choosing the desired coins and some exchanges  could be done between parties by just usernames.

Why you should trust them?
The singular fact that you deemed them worthy of having a deposit from you regardless of the amount and should you be able to withdraw that back when need be.

[Catenaccio]

The value of a cryptocurrency, in theory, should also be related to its practical utility. In my opinion, a cryptocurrency that is worth "a lot" should also be used "a lot".

I therefore find it interesting to be able to analyze how many cryptocurrencies are moved every day within the various blockchains and understand if the data is increasing or decreasing.

It shows temporary demand on a blockchain but if you as a user, wants to look for a blockchain to use safely and securely for your fund transfer, you will need more than that.

Bitcoin is a safest blockchain to use because it has a decentralized network, Proof of Work algorithm, highest network hash rate.
https://howmanyconfs.com/

With other blockchains, they are less safe and secure and if you want to move a big fund, I recommend you to choose Bitcoin blockchain only.

[ranochigo]

Then you're going to have a hard time doing so.

The transaction volume that you're looking at depends on how each blockchain counts their transaction volume. Naively, you would assume the following:
Most transactions have two outputs, the transaction volume can be defined by the total amount of Bitcoins that are being sent to the two addresses in the output. However, this number is naturally bigger on cryptos that are more valuable because most people would move a large proportion of their holdings for each transactions; one to the actual payment address, and the other is to their change address. There is no good way to discern either.

Next, certain blockchains runs on Layer 2, where the settlement happens on Layer 1. Your methodology will only work if all of the transactions are happening on Layer 1 as it would mean that each of the transactions are settled on the blockchain.

I agree with your point that exchange volumes are not representative of the actual utility, because of the way that cryptos that are more attractive to traders will always have a higher volume and that is not a good indication of its true utility. The only somewhat good methodology would probably involve blockchain analysis to string together individual identities to identify the number of active users. With how Bitcoin works, any estimate that you're getting would probably be wrong.

If you were to continue with measuring the volume of cryptos being transferred, I suggest using a single point of data. A good example would be: https://blockchair.com/compare. Reason being that each website has different methodology of measuring it; some only measures a subset of transactions, different timeperiods or different value of crypto.

[franky1]

there is no way to truly know realistically how much real spend/value moves daily because:
a. the destination addresses of a 2 output tx might be A spend B change return.. or A change return B spend. so without knowing which is which you cant determine whats actually moving as real value spent vs whats just coming back to the person

b. some users do address hopping or also known as tumbling where they send funds to a new address every block down a succession of addresses in one day to try to mystify whom is involved in a transaction

c. these tumbles may be users trying to do tumbles or may be exchanges moving funds from hot to cold to hot in quick succession to then send to someone else.

so point b and c might appear as X btc moved in block A, X btc moved in block B X btc moved in block C. but instead of it being x*3 as a total value moved it might actually be just X returning to the sender in A and no funds/value actually changes hands even if show as moved in B and C

the same goes for CEX trades on the market
someone might have 0.1btc and sell it. but they can the use the USD to buy an altcoin, sell the altcoin for btc and redo the cycle again all while only using one allotment of 0.1btc repeatedly to cause the trade volume to show as alot more then 0.1btc has been traded.. alot of CEX's got in trouble years ago by using their own insider balance databases to fake trades to make it seem like their market was busier than it really was

we see it today on the blockchain where idiot memetoken freaks try to move the same allotment of coin in every block to try to promote their stupid fake meme data junk is being traded often when reality is its the same person that is both "buyer" and "seller"

..
there is already stats like
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/charts/output-volume
which shows how much btc is moved each day on the blockchain, but as explained, it is meaningless of context

if you truly want to work out a underlying value of a blockchain at any time the easiest way is to work out the cost of securing the blockchain at any time by looking at the mechanism of securing it (PoW/PoS) by calculating how many devices are actually involved and their cost of hardware/electric to secure the blockchain

the market rate is speculatively above this value, and you can then figure out how much bubble inflated the market rate is in comparison to the value

[un_rank]

I want to know the real "public" (why is it not so public?) volume not the one declared by the exchanges.

Impossible to estimate and a lot of the volume may still be trade related. There are many micro exchanges and P2P services and they account for some amount of bitcoin movement. There are also lots of sweep transactions and transfers from wallet A to B both owned by the same user.

You cannot draw a line between when a digital currency is used for trade or as a utility currency.

- Jay -

[kryptqnick]

It's pretty interesting that while all Bitcoin on-chain transactions are public, estimating real transaction volume is a challenge. In any case, that doesn't amount to usage. For example, someone might send BTC to a certain address just to sell it (because of getting fiat in exchange). At the same time, someone else might have some BTC on a centralized sports betting website/Bitcoin casino and use BTC actively for betting/gambling, but those transactions happen inside the system and aren't on Blockchain.
So even knowing the exact on-chain daily volume wouldn't be a fair indicator of usage of Bitcoin, in my opinion.

[Agbe]

there is no way to truly know realistically how much real spend/value moves daily...

I agree with you. Because the total number of transactions goes out and coming in a day is much and it is not decreasing instead it increases daily and transactions are vary in every day. Some might be increasing while others might be decreasing. You can only know the transactions that are taking place at the Blockchain at the time of your transaction. Knowing the total blocks before yours. Even though Bitcoin transactions are public it is not easy to track all the transactions in the day and I don't think anyone can has that patient to do that analysis.

[bitcoiner180]

there is no way to truly know realistically how much real spend/value moves daily because:
a. the destination addresses of a 2 output tx might be A spend B change return.. or A change return B spend. so without knowing which is which you cant determine whats actually moving as real value spent vs whats just coming back to the person

b. some users do address hopping or also known as tumbling where they send funds to a new address every block down a succession of addresses in one day to try to mystify whom is involved in a transaction

c. these tumbles may be users trying to do tumbles or may be exchanges moving funds from hot to cold to hot in quick succession to then send to someone else.

They are use cases anyway. If someone have 100 btc and use the blockchain to mantain them I'm happy because there is a milionaire that need Bitcoin blockchain to mantain his money (so interested that he pay a fee for it).

I agree that the volume of Bitcoin moved in the blockchain does not exactly represent the number of coins really traded, but I think that the data is still more representative than the volume of bitcoin traded in an exchange that can be falsified or the result of operations made by people who have no real interest in the blockchain.

I am surprised that the volume of bitcoins moved, which is a public and objective figure, is much more difficult to find on the internet (just blockchain.com and bitinfochart, but they rappresents two different data) than that declared by the various exchanges, which is instead a self-declared and approximate figure (you need to ask to all exchanges on earth... and moon and trust them).

[ranochigo]

They are use cases anyway. If someone have 100 btc and use the blockchain to mantain them I'm happy because there is a milionaire that need Bitcoin blockchain to mantain his money (so interested that he pay a fee for it).

That depends on the kind of entity that is moving them. If they're moving that amount of BTC, then it is likely an organization or an exchange facilitating on-chain deposit or withdrawals. I don't think it would be representative of the actual utility if that is what you're looking for.

I agree that the volume of Bitcoin moved in the blockchain does not exactly represent the number of coins really traded, but I think that the data is still more representative than the volume of bitcoin traded in an exchange that can be falsified or the result of operations made by people who have no real interest in the blockchain.

It is not a good metric by any means because you cannot ascertain the distinct entities on the blockchain. There can be 5 people controlling thousands of addresses and Bitcoins and just moving them around on a daily basis and it would skew your data quite a bit. I don't think this a good direction for you to go to.

I am surprised that the volume of bitcoins moved, which is a public and objective figure, is much more difficult to find on the internet (just blockchain.com and bitinfochart, but they rappresents two different data) than that declared by the various exchanges, which is instead a self-declared and approximate figure (you need to ask to all exchanges on earth... and moon and trust them).

As I've mentioned, their methodology could be different. They could be counting the volume of Bitcoins transferred by excluding funds that could possibly be sent to change addresses, calculating in different timezones, different valuation, etc. If you want an objective comparison, then you should rely on a single website and/or code it out yourself. If you're willing to, then it actually shouldn't be difficult.