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Liveliness

Cumulative CDD / CDC ratio — higher values indicate more old coins moving, lower values indicate HODLing dominance

PropertyValue
CategoryCoin Days
UnitDimensionless
Resolution1d
AssetsBTC
TierBasic
API EndpointGET /v1/coindays
Fieldliveliness

Overview​

Liveliness is a macro on-chain indicator introduced by Tamas Blummer in 2018 that measures the ratio of cumulative Coin Days Destroyed (CDD) to cumulative Coin Days Created (CDC) over Bitcoin's entire history. It captures a fundamental property of the UTXO set: what fraction of all coin-days ever generated has been "spent" (destroyed) versus "saved" (preserved in unspent UTXOs).

Liveliness ranges from 0 to 1. A value approaching 1 means nearly all coin-days ever created have been destroyed at some point (extreme spending/turnover). A value approaching 0 means nearly all coin-days are preserved (extreme HODLing). In practice, Bitcoin's Liveliness has stayed in a moderate range, reflecting a mix of active trading and long-term holding.

For further reading, see Tamas Blummer's original research: Liveliness and Vaultedness

Formula​

LivelinessT=∑t=0TCDDt∑t=0TCDCt=cumCDDTCDAT+cumCDDT\text{Liveliness}_T = \frac{\sum_{t=0}^{T} \text{CDD}_t}{\sum_{t=0}^{T} \text{CDC}_t} = \frac{\text{cumCDD}_T}{\text{CDA}_T + \text{cumCDD}_T}

Where:

  • cumCDDT\text{cumCDD}_T is the cumulative sum of all Coin Days Destroyed from genesis to day TT
  • CDAT\text{CDA}_T is Coin Days Accumulated (cumulative Net Coin Days)
  • CDC\text{CDC} (Coin Days Created) equals circulating supply per day
  • Since CDA=cumCDC−cumCDD\text{CDA} = \text{cumCDC} - \text{cumCDD}, we can express cumCDC=CDA+cumCDD\text{cumCDC} = \text{CDA} + \text{cumCDD}

Interpretation​

  • Rising Liveliness: More coin-days are being destroyed relative to those created \u2014 old coins are moving. Typically seen during bull market distribution phases when long-term holders sell
  • Falling Liveliness: Coin-days are being preserved faster than destroyed \u2014 HODLing behavior dominates. Characteristic of accumulation phases in bear markets
  • Liveliness trend reversals often precede or coincide with major market cycle transitions
  • Gradual long-term decline in Liveliness would indicate Bitcoin is increasingly being used as a store of value rather than a medium of exchange

Use Cases​

  • Market cycle regime identification: Rising Liveliness = distribution, falling = accumulation. Trend reversals mark cycle transitions
  • Store-of-value thesis tracking: A secular decline in Liveliness over multiple cycles would confirm growing long-term holder conviction
  • Comparison with Vaultedness: Liveliness + Vaultedness = 1 by definition. Plotting both provides symmetric insight into spending vs saving behavior
  • Cross-cycle normalization: Since Liveliness is a ratio, it enables direct comparison across different market cycles regardless of supply growth or price levels

API Usage​

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.blocklens.co/v1/coindays?start_date=2024-01-01&end_date=2024-12-31&limit=365"
  • Vaultedness — CDA / cumCDC ratio — higher values indicate stronger HODLing behavior, lower values indicate more spending of old coins
  • Coin Days Destroyed — Sum of coin age × amount for all spent UTXOs per day — a fundamental measure of on-chain economic activity
  • Coin Days Accumulated — Running total of all coin-days ever created minus all coin-days ever destroyed — the total stored economic energy in the network
  • Net Coin Days — Coin Days Created minus Coin Days Destroyed — positive means the network is aging (accumulating), negative means old coins are moving