Empirical confirmation of bosonic wealth statistics in Bitcoin UTXOs

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Authors: Jeong-Hyuck Park, Chanhee Park, Claudio Juan Tessone, Yu Zhang
Cited by: 1

Abstract

Abstract Digitalisation transforms money from distinguishable physical objects into fungible informational units. A recent theoretical framework predicts that such indistinguishable wealth obeys bosonic occupancy statistics, leading to geometric ownership distributions and enhanced inequality. Using Bitcoin blockchain data, we test this prediction on 63 UTXO denominations across 72 monthly snapshots (2018–2023). A one-parameter geometric model describes the ownership distributions, reproducing both mean holdings and their temporal evolution; Jensen–Shannon divergence values lie below 0.08 in 99.74% of cases. The inferred inverse-temperature parameter satisfies the analytic mean–temperature relation to better than 0.1% in every sample—a self-consistency test that twoparameter alternatives cannot pass—and remains within a narrow band across eight orders of magnitude in denomination and over six years. Bitcoin UTXO ownership statistics are therefore consistent with bosonic occupancy laws, suggesting that the informational nature of electronic money may act as a structural driver of inequality in digital economies.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Blockchain Technology Applications and Security Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis Digital Platforms and Economics

Publication details

Journal / source
Research Square
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication date
15 June 2026
Document type
Preprint