Networks of Bitcoin Investor Wallets

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency which has been on the surface lately. Bitcoin bases on a peer-to-peer decentralized network maintained by the bitcoin users. In this thesis we use statistically validated networks method to validate links between bitcoin investor wallets, a bitcoin system equivalent to bank accounts, to identify clusters and understand the investing behavior by characterizing the bitcoin investor wallets. We characterize the investor wallets based on their hourly activity status to study the degree of synchronization in the decision of when to trade and their links. The analysis is based on the bitcoin transaction data from July 2017 to May 2018. The time period was chosen, because in the middle of the analyzed period the bitcoin price reached its highest point so far and then decreased to a quarter of the highest price. The study finds that the networks consist of multiple investor wallet clusters, where the wallets have statistically validated links to each other. There is continuity in the behavior of investors between months in terms of the links they have to the other wallets and how they react to the price changes. We also notice, that the investor wallets are likely to transact in the same quantities in different months