Analyst: cryptocurrencies are still used mainly for speculative purposes

The Block's director of research, Larry Chermak, came to the conclusion that the leading crypto assets are Bitcoin,Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin are used mainly for speculative purposes.

According to him, to measure activityUsing permissionless assets, you can use the total value of on-chain transactions. In 2019, this forecasted indicator is highest for Bitcoin ($ 690 billion), followed by Ethereum ($ 134 billion), Bitcoin Cash ($ 51 billion) and Litecoin ($ 19 billion).

The cost of on-chain transactions in USD with BTC, BCH, XRP, ETH and LTC

The chart above shows that this yearThe aggregate onchain value of the above assets is much lower compared to the past two years. In particular, compared with 2018, the forecasted decrease in 2019 will be about 30%.

Comparing the value of on-chain transactions with the annual trading volume of exchanges included in Bitwise 10, the analyst came to the conclusion that the numbers are very similar to each other.

Total trading volume by years on exchanges included in the Bitwise rating

In other words, there is a very close relationship between trading volumes on leading exchanges and on-chain activity for the largest cryptocurrencies:

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This, Chermak is sure, indicates that Bitcoinand other popular crypto assets are primarily tools for speculation. His conclusion is consistent with the Chainalysis study, according to which 89.7% of transactions in the first cryptocurrency network are related to exchanges.

Recall that in the summer, the head of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said that bitcoin is more of a speculative tool than a means of payment.