with Gabriel Rodriguez-Garnica

Does higher token usage in its ecosystem increase the market value of the token? Whereas extant research has focused on token adoption and investors’ attention from the network effect point of view, no research has empirically measured real token usage intensity and its impact on token prices. We develop two new proxy variables to measure token-usage intensity and investors’ sentiment using public on-chain transaction data. Results show that token-usage intensity does not affect token market valuation, while token sentiment does Specifically, we find that incoming and outgoing transactions, as well as inflows and outflows of tokens from cryptoexchanges are correlated with future token returns. Our results contribute to a better understanding of investors’ behavior and market sentiment in crypto markets.