Objectives & Methodology

The purpose of this dashboard is to take a look at the on-chain activity (i.e., activity from blockchain transactions) taking place in the Avalanche blockchain in relation to the USDC token. We will first compare Swap and Transfer data, and later show information on USDC mints and burns.

• Swap: Trade of an asset in exchange for another asset, usually through a decentralized exchange (DEX) between two or more tokens paired on a Liquidity Pool (LP). The price of the token is determined by an aoutomaket market maker (AMM), that takes into account the amounts of the tokens in the LP.
• Transfer: Refers to a wallet sending a certain amount of tokens to another wallet. While Swaps involve token transfers, we have not considered the transfers from swaps in the Transfer data we show in our analysis.
• Mint: Refers to the creation of an asset in the blockchain. This can be identified by the token transfers from the Null wallet address 0x00..00 to any other address.
• Burn: Burns are the opposite of Mints, and refer to the destruction of an asset in the blockchain. These are identified by the transfers to the Null wallet address 0x00..00 .

Using the fact_event_logs table, we identify all of the USDC transfers. They are then labeled accordingly based on (Swaps) if they appear in a transaction that has triggered a Swap event (which will be different from the Transfer event), (Mints) if the sender is the Null wallet, (Burns) if the receiver is the Null wallet, and (Transfers) the remaining transfers.

We show data on these metrics in two sections, partitioned into 3 different contexts. The First contains aggregate data on the transfer types being compared. Secondly, we show metrics on these transfers over time, on a daily basis. Finally, we show the distribution of a series of metrics on an hourly basis. Our analysis includes data strarting on July 1st 2022.

What is Avalanche?

Avalanche is an open, programmable smart contracts platform for decentralized applications. It allows developers to build fast, low-cost, Solidity-compatible dApps, launch customized public and private blockchains, and high scalability with minimal hardware.

What is USDC?

USDC is a stablecoin, which is a type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to the value of a real-world asset, in this case, the US dollar. It was created by Circle and is issued by regulated financial institutions that maintain full reserves of the equivalent fiat currency. This means that every USDC in circulation is backed by a corresponding US dollar held in reserve. The goal of USDC is to provide a stable and transparent alternative to traditional fiat currencies for use in digital transactions.

Thanks for reading!

Author: CarlOwOs

Twitter: @CarlOwOs1

Discord: CarlOwOs#4288

Main Takeaways

1. Swaps vs. Transfers

• There are as many users swaping USDC tokens as there are transfering them. While more volume is transfered than swaped, there appear to be more swap events than there are transfers.

• There is more Transfer volume consistently, but there are more transactions of swaps and users swaping.

• The median swap amount is larger on most days than the median transfer amount, suggesting that for most users swaps are larger than transfers. Since the average transfer is much bigger than the average swap, there appear to be rare but very large transfers.

• Hourly volume is higher for Swaps than Transfers in all amounts but the largest. There are significantly more hourly Swaps compared to Transfers, given that there are more hours with fewer Transfers. Again, we observe that there are more users swaping than transfering USDC.

• The hourly volume appears to be larger for Transfers compared to Swaps, but this is the opposite for the number of transactions and users.

2. Mints vs. Burns

• Since July there have been more USDC tokens burned than minted, and in more transactions.
• Interestingly, we have found only two wallets to be burning and minting USDC tokens. These most likely belong to Circle, the issuer of USDC.
• While the daily volume appears to be similar for Mints and Burns, there are days in which many USDC tokens have been burnt. Also, there are more transactions in which tokens are burnt than minted.
• The hourly distribution of the volume is very similar for mints and burns. Again, we see more hours with a higher number of burn transactions compared to mints.

Findings

• There are as many users swaping USDC tokens as there are transfering them. While more volume is transfered than swaped, there appear to be more swap events than there are transfers.
• We show that indeed the transfer sizes are larger than swap sizes, as depicted by the statistics on the amounts sent in both cases.

Chart Details

• The metrics are shown in a daily granularity. This has been chosen over an hourly granularity due to the level of detail in proportion to the timeframe shown.
• We show the daily average and median amounts of USDC transfered. While the first statistic show the 50th percentile transfer, which will be closer to the most popular amount, comparing that to the average gives information on the distribution.

Findings

• There is more Transfer volume consistently, but there are more transactions of swaps and users swaping.

• The median swap amount is larger on most days than the median transfer amount, suggesting that for most users swaps are larger than transfers. Since the average transfer is much bigger than the average swap, there appear to be rare but very large transfers.

Chart Details

• By Hourly Metric Distribution we refer to the percentage of hours that had the given amount of the metric studied. Unfortunately, we are not able to sort the x-axis labels so that they increase in size from left to right.

Findings

• Hourly volume is higher for Swaps than Transfers in all amounts but the largest. There are significantly more hourly Swaps compared to Transfers, given that there are more hours with fewer Transfers. Again, we observe that there are more users swaping than transfering USDC.
• The hourly volume appears to be larger for Transfers compared to Swaps, but this is the opposite for the number of transactions and users.

1. SWAPS VS. TRANSFERS

1.1 Aggregate Data

1.2 Temporal Data

1.3 Distribution Data

2.3 Distribution Data

2. MINTS VS. BURNS

2.2 Temporal Data

2.1 Aggregate Data

Findings

• Since July there have been more USDC tokens burned than minted, and in more transactions.
• Interestingly, we have found only two wallets to be burning and minting USDC tokens. These most likely belong to Circle, the issuer of USDC.
• On average and median, Mints are larger than Burns. The transaction with the most tokens burnt had 193M USDC, while at most 75M have been minted in a single tx.

Findings

• While the daily volume appears to be similar for Mints and Burns, there are days in which many USDC tokens have been burnt. Also, there are more transactions in which tokens are burnt than minted.
• In most days, a single wallet mints and or burns tokens, but on some days two wallets have minted and or burned.
• Besides an outlier at the end of July, the average and median daily amounts of USDC tokens minted and burned appear to be very similar.

Findings

• The hourly distribution of the volume is very similar for mints and burns. Again, we see more hours with a higher number of burn transactions compared to mints.
• These observations are also visible on the first order statistics.