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Main Authors: Zhang, Yufan, Chen, Zichao, Sun, Yutong, Liu, Yulin, Zhang, Luyao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05632
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author Zhang, Yufan
Chen, Zichao
Sun, Yutong
Liu, Yulin
Zhang, Luyao
author_facet Zhang, Yufan
Chen, Zichao
Sun, Yutong
Liu, Yulin
Zhang, Luyao
contents Decentralized finance (DeFi) is known for its unique mechanism design, which applies smart contracts to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. The decentralized bank is a typical DeFi application. Ideally, a decentralized bank should be decentralized in the transaction. However, many recent studies have found that decentralized banks have not achieved a significant degree of decentralization. This research conducts a comparative study among mainstream decentralized banks. We apply core-periphery network features analysis using the transaction data from four decentralized banks, Liquity, Aave, MakerDao, and Compound. We extract six features and compare the banks' levels of decentralization cross-sectionally. According to the analysis results, we find that: 1) MakerDao and Compound are more decentralized in the transactions than Aave and Liquity. 2) Although decentralized banking transactions are supposed to be decentralized, the data show that four banks have primary external transaction core addresses such as Huobi, Coinbase, and Binance, etc. We also discuss four design features that might affect network decentralization. Our research contributes to the literature at the interface of decentralized finance, financial technology (Fintech), and social network analysis and inspires future protocol designs to live up to the promise of decentralized finance for a truly peer-to-peer transaction network.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2212_05632
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Blockchain Network Analysis: A Comparative Study of Decentralized Banks
Zhang, Yufan
Chen, Zichao
Sun, Yutong
Liu, Yulin
Zhang, Luyao
General Economics
Economics
Cryptography and Security
Social and Information Networks
Trading and Market Microstructure
Computation
91D30, 91-11,
J.4; C.2; K.4
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is known for its unique mechanism design, which applies smart contracts to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions. The decentralized bank is a typical DeFi application. Ideally, a decentralized bank should be decentralized in the transaction. However, many recent studies have found that decentralized banks have not achieved a significant degree of decentralization. This research conducts a comparative study among mainstream decentralized banks. We apply core-periphery network features analysis using the transaction data from four decentralized banks, Liquity, Aave, MakerDao, and Compound. We extract six features and compare the banks' levels of decentralization cross-sectionally. According to the analysis results, we find that: 1) MakerDao and Compound are more decentralized in the transactions than Aave and Liquity. 2) Although decentralized banking transactions are supposed to be decentralized, the data show that four banks have primary external transaction core addresses such as Huobi, Coinbase, and Binance, etc. We also discuss four design features that might affect network decentralization. Our research contributes to the literature at the interface of decentralized finance, financial technology (Fintech), and social network analysis and inspires future protocol designs to live up to the promise of decentralized finance for a truly peer-to-peer transaction network.
title Blockchain Network Analysis: A Comparative Study of Decentralized Banks
topic General Economics
Economics
Cryptography and Security
Social and Information Networks
Trading and Market Microstructure
Computation
91D30, 91-11,
J.4; C.2; K.4
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05632