book
Checkout our new book! Hands on AI Trading with Python, QuantConnect, and AWS Learn More arrow

Blockchain

Bitcoin Metadata

Introduction

The Bitcoin Metadata dataset by Blockchain provides 23 fundamental metadata of Bitcoin directly fetched from the Bitcoin blockchain. The data starts in January 2009 and delivered on a daily frequency. This dataset contains mining statistics like hash rate and miner revenue; transaction metadata like transaction per block, transaction fee, and number of addresses; and blockchain metadata like blockchain size and block size.

For more information about the Bitcoin Metadata dataset, including CLI commands and pricing, see the dataset listing.

About the Provider

Blockchain is a website that publishes data related to Bitcoin. It has been online since 2011 and publishes the Bitcoin Metadata history back to 2009.

Getting Started

The following snippet demonstrates how to request data from the Bitcoin Metadata dataset:

Select Language: 
from QuantConnect.DataSource import *

self.btcusd = self.add_crypto("BTCUSD", Resolution.DAILY, Market.BITFINEX).symbol
self.dataset_symbol = self.add_data(BitcoinMetadata, self.btcusd).symbol

Data Summary

The following table describes the dataset properties:

PropertyValue
Start DateJanuary 2009
CoverageBitcoin blockchain
Data DensityRegular
ResolutionDaily
TimezoneUTC

Example Applications

The Bitcoin Metadata dataset enables you to incorporate metadata from the Bitcoin blockchain into your strategies. Examples include the following strategies:

  • Comparing mining and transaction statistics to provide insight on the supply-demand relationship of the Bitcoin blockchain service.
  • Measuring the activity and popularity of the Bitcoin blockchain to predict the price movements of the Cryptocurrency.

For more example algorithms, see Examples.

Data Point Attributes

The Bitcoin Metadata dataset provides BitcoinMetadata objects, which have the following attributes:

BitcoinMetadata Select Language:
    A relative measure of how difficult it is to find a new block. The difficulty is adjusted periodically as a function of how much hashing power has been deployed by the network of miners.
  • difficulty: decimal
    • Number of wallets hosts using our My Wallet Service.
  • my_wallet_numberof_users: decimal
    • The average block size in MB.
  • average_block_size: decimal
    • The total size of all block headers and transactions. Not including database indexes.
  • blockchain_size: decimal
    • The median time for a transaction to be accepted into a mined block and added to the public ledger (note: only includes transactions with miner fees).
  • median_transaction_confirmation_time: decimal
    • Total value of coinbase block rewards and transaction fees paid to miners.
  • miners_revenue: decimal
    • The estimated number of tera hashes per second (trillions of hashes per second) the Bitcoin network is performing
  • hash_rate: decimal
    • The miners revenue divided by the number of transactions.
  • cost_per_transaction: decimal
    • The miners revenue as percentage of the transaction volume.
  • cost_percentof_transaction_volume: decimal
    • The Estimated Transaction Value in USD value.
  • estimated_transaction_volume_usd: decimal
    • The total estimated value of transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain (does not include coins returned to sender as change).
  • estimated_transaction_volume: decimal
    • The total value of all transaction outputs per day (includes coins returned to the sender as change).
  • total_output_volume: decimal
    • The average number of transactions per block.
  • numberof_transactionper_block: decimal
    • The total number of unique addresses used on the Bitcoin blockchain.
  • numberof_unique_bitcoin_addresses_used: decimal
    • The total number of Bitcoin transactions, excluding those involving any of the network's 100 most popular addresses.
  • numberof_transactions_excluding_popular_addresses: decimal
    • The Total Number of transactions.
  • total_numberof_transactions: decimal
    • The number of daily confirmed Bitcoin transactions.
  • numberof_transactions: decimal
    • The total value of all transaction fees in USD paid to miners (not including the coinbase value of block rewards).
  • total_transaction_fees_usd: decimal
    • The total value of all transaction fees in Bitcoin paid to miners (not including the coinbase value of block rewards).
  • total_transaction_fees: decimal
    • The total USD value of bitcoin supply in circulation, as calculated by the daily average market price across major exchanges.
  • market_capitalization: decimal
    • The total number of bitcoins that have already been mined; in other words, the current supply of bitcoins on the network.
  • total_bitcoins: decimal
    • Number of transactions made by My Wallet Users per day.
  • my_wallet_numberof_transaction_per_day: decimal
    • 24hr Transaction Volume of our web wallet service.
  • my_wallet_transaction_volume: decimal
    • Market Data Type of this data - does it come in individual price packets or is it grouped into OHLC.
  • data_type: MarketDataType
    • True if this is a fill forward piece of data
  • is_fill_forward: bool
    • Current time marker of this data packet.
  • time: DateTime
    • The end time of this data. Some data covers spans (trade bars) and as such we want to know the entire time span covered
  • end_time: DateTime
    • Symbol representation for underlying Security
  • symbol: Symbol
    • Value representation of this data packet. All data requires a representative value for this moment in time. For streams of data this is the price now, for OHLC packets this is the closing price.
  • value: decimal
    • As this is a backtesting platform we'll provide an alias of value as price.
  • price: decimal

Requesting Data

To add Bitcoin Metadata data to your algorithm, call the add_data method with the BTCUSD Symbol. Save a reference to the dataset Symbol so you can access the data later in your algorithm.

Select Language: 
class BlockchainBitcoinMetadataAlgorithm(QCAlgorithm):

    def initialize(self) -> None:
        self.set_start_date(2019, 1, 1)
        self.set_end_date(2020, 6, 1)
        self.set_cash(100000)

        self.btcusd = self.add_crypto("BTCUSD", Resolution.DAILY, Market.BITFINEX).symbol
        self.dataset_symbol = self.add_data(BitcoinMetadata, self.btcusd).symbol

Accessing Data

To get the current Bitcoin Metadata data, index the current Slice with the dataset Symbol. Slice objects deliver unique events to your algorithm as they happen, but the Slice may not contain data for your dataset at every time step. To avoid issues, check if the Slice contains the data you want before you index it.

Select Language: 
def on_data(self, slice: Slice) -> None:
    if slice.contains_key(self.dataset_symbol):
        data_point = slice[self.dataset_symbol]
        self.log(f"{self.dataset_symbol} miner revenue at {slice.time}: {data_point.miners_revenue}")

To iterate through all of the dataset objects in the current Slice, call the get method.

Select Language: 
def on_data(self, slice: Slice) -> None:
    for dataset_symbol, data_point in slice.get(BlockchainBitcoinData).items():
        self.log(f"{dataset_symbol} miner revenue at {slice.time}: {data_point.miners_revenue}")

Historical Data

To get historical Bitcoin Metadata data, call the history method with the dataset Symbol. If there is no data in the period you request, the history result is empty.

Select Language: 
# DataFrame
history_df = self.history(self.dataset_symbol, 100, Resolution.DAILY)

# Dataset objects
history_bars = self.history[BlockchainBitcoinData](self.dataset_symbol, 100, Resolution.DAILY)

For more information about historical data, see History Requests.

Remove Subscriptions

To remove a subscription, call the remove_security method.

Select Language: 
self.remove_security(self.dataset_symbol)

Example Applications

The Bitcoin Metadata dataset enables you to incorporate metadata from the Bitcoin blockchain into your strategies. Examples include the following strategies:

  • Comparing mining and transaction statistics to provide insight on the supply-demand relationship of the Bitcoin blockchain service.
  • Measuring the activity and popularity of the Bitcoin blockchain to predict the price movements of the Cryptocurrency.

For more example algorithms, see Examples.

You can also see our Videos. You can also get in touch with us via Discord.

Did you find this page helpful?

Contribute to the documentation: