Methodology

The Edinburgh Decentralization Index (EDI) is a methodology framework for defining, analyzing, and evaluating the decentralization level of blockchain systems across multiple layers. These layers are: Hardware, Software, Network, Consensus, Tokenomics, Client API, Governance, and Geography.

This dashboard offers visualizations of the results for the Consensus and Tokenomics layers. The ledgers that are currently supported are: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tezos. On the Consensus layer, decentralization is evaluated by applying metrics on the distribution of blocks across the entities that produced them. On the Tokenomics layer, it is the distribution of tokens across token holders that guides the results. The blockchain data that is needed to determine these distributions are collected from BigQuery and self-hosted full nodes. For more information on how data is processed you can refer to the documentation of the open-source GitHub repositories for the Consensus and Tokenomics layers. The dashboard offers various options to the users for customizing the results.

A user can choose which off-chain sources to use to attribute blockchain data to real world entities. This enables the clustering of seemingly independent objects under the same identity. On the consensus layer, clustering helps to attribute multiple blocks to the same producer, like a mining pool.

For Consensus, the clustering options are: “Explorers”, “On-chain metadata”, and “None”. “Explorers” refers to attribution and deanonymization data collected from blockchain explorers, namely BitInfoCharts, Etherscan, Wallet Explorer, Dogecoin Whale Alert, TzKT, Blockchain.com, BTC.com, and the GitHub projects bitcoin-data/mining-pools, btccom/Blockchain-Known-Pools-LTC , blockchain/Blockchain-Known-Pools.

“On-chain metadata” refers to self-identifying information, such as name and website, that consensus participants publish on-chain.

Explorer data is used for all ledgers except Cardano, whereas on-chain metadata are used only for Cardano.

A user can choose either “None” or any combination of the other options.

By default, all clustering options are applied.