Profile Analysis for Cryptocurrency in Social Media

Abstract

Blockchain ushers in a new era for the global financial system with the advent of digital currency (cryptocurrency), and its impact can be felt in many related industries. Because of its possible applications, cryptocurrency draws significant attention from researchers. Although there are a number of risks (e.g., speculation, 51% attack) related to cryptocurrency, billions of dollars are invested in them, because of transparency, traceability, low transaction cost, and highly profitable potential. In December 2017, the most famous cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has reached almost $20,000.00 per coin. Such short-term, high gain potential attracts many new small investors. However, speculative movements raise many questions related to safety and privacy, just to name a few. In order to understand public opinion about cryptocurrency and to protect small investors financial interests, sentiment analysis can be done by using social media activities of individuals who are interested or investing in cryptocurrencies. One of the most important steps in the analysis is to understand the profiles of the users. Therefore, in this paper, we determine education levels of investors or users who are interested in eight cryptocurrencies by using seven readability techniques on Reddit comments as a part of profiling. Results show that the education levels of users are approximately 60% in middle school, 30% in high school, and 10% in other levels according to the average of the seven readability technique results. The results and analysis, which are provided in this paper, help new investors and developers to obtain profile information about the users who are interested or investing in cryptocurrency.