Hodge Decomposition of the Remittance Network on the XRP ledger in the Price Hike of January 2018

TL;DR

This paper applies Hodge decomposition to analyze the remittance network on the XRP ledger during the 2018 crypto bubble, revealing characteristic differences and increased loop flows in ETH and USD transactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of Hodge decomposition to study remittance flows on the XRP ledger during a financial bubble, highlighting differences between fiat and crypto assets.

Findings

Significant increase in ETH loop flow during the price peak.

Slight increase in USD loop flow during the bubble.

Differences in remittance patterns between fiat and crypto assets.

Abstract

This study analyzes the remittance transaction recorded on the XRP ledger for ETH and USD from July 2017 to Jun 2018, including the bubble period in early 2018. Using the Hodge decomposition, we estimate the ``loop flow'' in the international remittance of cryptoassets during the bubble period. We found characteristic differences between those fiat currencies and cryptoassets during the bubble period. For ETH, there was a significant increase in the loop flow during the cryptoasset price peak. This might be related to money laundering or arbitrage transaction. There was a slight increase in the loop flow for USD during the cryptoasset price peak.