Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Timothy Aerts
Author-X-Name-First: Timothy
Author-X-Name-Last: Aerts
Author-Name: Ronald Heijmans
Author-X-Name-First: Ronald
Author-X-Name-Last: Heijmans
Author-Name: Jan Paulick
Author-X-Name-First: Jan
Author-X-Name-Last: Paulick
Author-Name: Violeta Vuletic
Author-X-Name-First: Violeta
Author-X-Name-Last: Vuletic
Title: Hidden by complexity? Measuring stablecoin, crypto and decentralised finance ecosystems
Abstract: Decentralised finance data presents a distinctive paradox: while every data point is publicly recorded and accessible, deriving meaningful insights is obscured by the scale, fragmentation and complexity of the ecosystem. Key metrics illustrate that the rapidly evolving DeFi ecosystem introduces unique challenges for economic and financial research in accurately capturing financial activity in DeFi. These challenges stem from protocol architecture and the technical execution of transactions that complicate deriving economic meaning. Leveraging blockchain data for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron, the paper illustrates three structural sources of measurement divergences: (1) the economically meaningful aggregation of Bitcoin transaction values, (2) the challenge of programmability and proliferation of spurious smart contracts and (3) comparability of use cases across different chains, exemplified by stablecoins. While the examples relate to specific chains and layers of technical execution, the measurement challenges generalise to all blockchains and DeFi ecosystems relying on a similar technical underpinning. We propose measurement approaches based on granular, data bounded estimates that incorporate explicit assumptions, technical classification and disaggregation to align technical execution with economic meaning. The paper demonstrates that, despite the transparency of public blockchains, widely used indicators of cryptoasset and DeFi activity are highly dependent on methodological choices and underlying assumptions that warrant careful interpretation. The findings imply that on-chain indicators should be treated as noisy approximations rather than direct measures of economic activity.
Creation-Date: 2026-09
File-URL: https://www.bis.org/publications/working-paper-1377-hidden-complexity-measuring-stablecoin-crypto-and-decentralised-finance-ecosystems.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: Full PDF document
File-URL: https://www.bis.org/publications/working-paper-1377-hidden-complexity-measuring-stablecoin-crypto-and-decentralised-finance-ecosystems
File-Format: text/html
Number: 1377
Keywords: cryptoassets, stablecoins, blockchain, decentralised finance, smart contracts, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron
Classification-JEL: C81, E42, G15, G23
Handle: RePEc:bis:biswps:1377