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Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

While there are 460 million Bitcoin addresses, only 27 million people or companies currently own Bitcoin, Chainalysis found. And only 20% of Bitcoin that moves is exchanged between two parties, said a report.

According to Chainalysis report, between August and October 2018, some $41bn of transactions were executed - and only $9bn had real economic value.

Economically relevant addresses are controlled by individuals or services who currently own Bitcoin, and constitute only 37% - or 172 million addresses, - while only 27 million of these actually hold the cryptocurrency.

Chainalysis identified that out of the mentioned above 37% of addresses, 86% - or 147 million - are owned by a named service like an exchange or darknet market.

And just 20% of Bitcoin transaction value is an economic transfer. The remaining 80% is "returned as change."

What about the non-economically relevant addresses? They are typically single use and hold bitcoin for only a short time. For instance, three-quarters have held bitcoin for less than a day. The majority of these addresses are either change addresses or 'connective tissue', meaning they hold bitcoin for a short time to facilitate payments between people and services.

To understand change, consider a person who has ten bitcoins and wants to sell one. Because of the way the technology works, the seller has to empty his or her address of all ten bitcoins but will receive nine back in change. Even th......................

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