Gini Coefficient
The Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of economic inequality used to quantify the distribution of tokens among holders in a blockchain network. Originally designed to measure income distribution in national economies, it is applied here to represent the gap between the wealthiest wallets and the rest of the user base.
A score of zero represents perfect equality, where every wallet holds an equal amount of tokens, while a score of one represents perfect inequality, where a single wallet holds the entire supply. In the context of cryptocurrency, a higher Gini coefficient often serves as a warning sign for potential centralization risks and governance capture.
It allows market participants to evaluate the fairness of initial token distributions and ongoing holding patterns. By monitoring changes in this coefficient over time, analysts can track the flow of assets between retail users and institutional entities.
It is a vital tool for assessing the health and democratic potential of decentralized finance protocols.