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In March 2024 Bitcoin BTC reached a new all-time high with prices exceeding 73000 USD marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency market This surge was due to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds ETFs in the United States allowing investors to access Bitcoin without directly holding it This development increased Bitcoin’s credibility and brought fresh demand from institutional investors echoing previous price surges in 2021 when Tesla announced its 15 billion investment in Bitcoin and Coinbase was listed on the Nasdaq By the end of 2022 Bitcoin prices dropped sharply to 15000 USD following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its bankruptcy which caused a loss of confidence in the market By August 2024 Bitcoin rebounded to approximately 64178 USD but remained volatile due to inflation and interest rate hikes Unlike fiat currency like the US dollar Bitcoin’s supply is finite with 21 million coins as its maximum supply By September 2024 over 92 percent of Bitcoin had been mined Bitcoin’s value is tied to its scarcity and its mining process is regulated through halving events which cut the reward for mining every four years making it harder and more energy-intensive to mine The next halving event in 2024 will reduce the reward to 3125 BTC from its current 625 BTC The final Bitcoin is expected to be mined around 2140 The energy required to mine Bitcoin has led to criticisms about its environmental impact with estimates in 2021 suggesting that one Bitcoin transaction used as much energy as Argentina Bitcoin’s future price is difficult to predict due to the influence of large holders known as whales who own about 92 percent of all Bitcoin These whales can cause dramatic market swings by making large trades and many retail investors still dominate the market While institutional interest has grown it remains a small fraction compared to retail Bitcoin is vulnerable to external factors like regulatory changes and economic crises leading some to believe it is in a speculative bubble However others argue that Bitcoin is still in its early stages of adoption and will grow further as more institutions and governments recognize its potential as a hedge against inflation and a store of value 2024 has also seen the rise of Bitcoin Layer 2 technologies like the Lightning Network which improve scalability by enabling faster and cheaper transactions These innovations are crucial for Bitcoin’s wider adoption especially for day-to-day use and cross-border remittances At the same time central bank digital currencies CBDCs are gaining traction as several governments including China and the European Union have accelerated the development of their own state-controlled digital currencies while Bitcoin remains decentralized offering financial sovereignty for those who prefer independence from government control The rise of CBDCs is expected to increase interest in Bitcoin as a hedge against these centralized currencies Bitcoin’s journey in 2024 highlights its growing institutional acceptance alongside its inherent market volatility While the approval of Bitcoin ETFs has significantly boosted interest the market remains sensitive to events like exchange collapses and regulatory decisions With the limited supply of Bitcoin and improvements in its transaction efficiency it is expected to remain a key player in the financial world for years to come Whether Bitcoin is currently in a speculative bubble or on a sustainable path to greater adoption will ultimately be revealed over time.
The Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2025, as values exceeded over 117,853.31 USD on July 30, 2025. Price hikes in early 2025 were connected to the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, while previous hikes in 2021 were due to events involving Tesla and Coinbase, respectively. Tesla's announcement in March 2021 that it had acquired 1.5 billion U.S. dollars' worth of the digital coin, for example, as well as the IPO of the U.S.'s biggest crypto exchange, fueled mass interest. The market was noticeably different by the end of 2022, however, after another crypto exchange, FTX, filed for bankruptcy.Is the world running out of Bitcoin?Unlike fiat currency like the U.S. dollar - as the Federal Reserve can simply decide to print more banknotes - Bitcoin's supply is finite: BTC has a maximum supply embedded in its design, of which roughly 89 percent had been reached in April 2021. It is believed that Bitcoin will run out by 2040, despite more powerful mining equipment. This is because mining becomes exponentially more difficult and power-hungry every four years, a part of Bitcoin's original design. Because of this, a Bitcoin mining transaction could equal the energy consumption of a small country in 2021.Bitcoin's price outlook: a potential bubble?Cryptocurrencies have few metrics available that allow for forecasting, if only because it is rumored that only a few cryptocurrency holders own a large portion of the available supply. These large holders - referred to as 'whales'-are' said to make up two percent of anonymous ownership accounts, while owning roughly 92 percent of BTC. On top of this, most people who use cryptocurrency-related services worldwide are retail clients rather than institutional investors. This means outlooks on whether Bitcoin prices will fall or grow are difficult to measure, as movements from one large whale are already having a significant impact on this market.
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Blockchain technology, first implemented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 as a core component of Bitcoin, is a distributed, public ledger recording transactions. Its usage allows secure peer-to-peer communication by linking blocks containing hash pointers to a previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency (cryptocurrency) which leverages the Blockchain to store transactions in a distributed manner in order to mitigate against flaws in the financial industry.
Nearly ten years after its inception, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies experienced an explosion in popular awareness. The value of Bitcoin, on the other hand, has experienced more volatility. Meanwhile, as use cases of Bitcoin and Blockchain grow, mature, and expand, hype and controversy have swirled.
In this dataset, you will have access to information about blockchain blocks and transactions. All historical data are in the bigquery-public-data:crypto_bitcoin
dataset. It’s updated it every 10 minutes. The data can be joined with historical prices in kernels. See available similar datasets here: https://www.kaggle.com/datasets?search=bitcoin.
You can use the BigQuery Python client library to query tables in this dataset in Kernels. Note that methods available in Kernels are limited to querying data. Tables are at bigquery-public-data.crypto_bitcoin.[TABLENAME]
. Fork this kernel to get started.
Allen Day (Twitter | Medium), Google Cloud Developer Advocate & Colin Bookman, Google Cloud Customer Engineer retrieve data from the Bitcoin network using a custom client available on GitHub that they built with the bitcoinj
Java library. Historical data from the origin block to 2018-01-31 were loaded in bulk to two BigQuery tables, blocks_raw and transactions. These tables contain fresh data, as they are now appended when new blocks are broadcast to the Bitcoin network. For additional information visit the Google Cloud Big Data and Machine Learning Blog post "Bitcoin in BigQuery: Blockchain analytics on public data".
Photo by Andre Francois on Unsplash.
It is estimated that the cumulative market cap of cryptocurrencies increased in early 2023 after the downfall in November 2022 due to FTX. That value declined in the summer of 2023, however, as international uncertainty grew over a potential recession. Bitcoin's market cap comprised the majority of the overall market capitalization. What is market cap? Market capitalization is a financial measure typically used for publicly traded firms, computed by multiplying the share price by the number of outstanding shares. However, cryptocurrency analysts calculate it as the price of the virtual currencies times the number of coins in the market. This gives cryptocurrency investors an idea of the overall market size, and watching the evolution of the measure tells how much money is flowing in or out of each cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency as an investment The price of Bitcoin has been erratic, and most other cryptocurrencies follow its larger price swings. This volatility attracts investors who hope to buy when the price is low and sell at its peak, turning a profit. However, this does little for price stability. As such, few firms accept payment in cryptocurrencies. As of June 25, 2025, the cumulative market cap of cryptocurrencies reached a value of ******.
The market cap of the top 10 stablecoin initially multiplied over time, reaching a combined value of over ****** billion USD in July 2025. Note this value does not include TerraUSD (UST), the algorithmic stablecoin tied to the LUNA crypto which declined severely in May 2022. Up to then, estimates reveal that the market cap had more than tripled within five months - likely following growing interest worldwide in cryptocurrencies, after sudden price spikes in a coin like Dogecoin (DOGE). Stability above all, or what does a stablecoin do? Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies - like the commonly known Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) - but their value is determined differently. Whilst the price of Bitcoin mainly follows supply - how many coins are being mined or are available to purchase - and demand - how many investors want to buy the coin - stablecoins are synthetically connected to the price of an altogether different asset. Tether's USDT, for instance, is connected to the price development of the U.S. dollar (USD): if the U.S. dollar falls in the FX market, so does the USDT. Compare this to the "regular" price history of a cryptocurrency like Ripple (XRP) and stablecoins reveal themselves to be a relatively less volatile digital currency to either use or invest in than their counterparts in the free market. A test ground for digital payments This stability of these particular cryptocurrencies is important for two areas in digital payments that do not prefer volatility. For instance, these coins are a popular choice within the world of Decentralized Finance or DeFi - an online financial market without the supervision of central bank that relies on cryptocurrencies for payments and loans. Because of that reliance, it is a market that can rapidly change in size due to price fluctuations or changing transaction fees of certain cryptocurrencies - something that is less likely to occur when using stablecoins. Additionally, stablecoins are considered the inspiration for so-called CBDC or Central Bank Digital Currencies - such as China's e-CNY currency or the "digital euro" that is being researched in the EU-27. In terms of how advanced countries worldwide are into researching their own cryptocurrency, China ranked third in 2020, behind Cambodia, and The Bahamas.
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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have captured the imagination of technologists, financiers, and economists. Digital currencies are only one application of the underlying blockchain technology. Like its predecessor, Bitcoin, the Ethereum blockchain can be described as an immutable distributed ledger. However, creator Vitalik Buterin also extended the set of capabilities by including a virtual machine that can execute arbitrary code stored on the blockchain as smart contracts.
Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are essentially OLTP databases, and provide little in the way of OLAP (analytics) functionality. However the Ethereum dataset is notably distinct from the Bitcoin dataset:
The Ethereum blockchain has as its primary unit of value Ether, while the Bitcoin blockchain has Bitcoin. However, the majority of value transfer on the Ethereum blockchain is composed of so-called tokens. Tokens are created and managed by smart contracts.
Ether value transfers are precise and direct, resembling accounting ledger debits and credits. This is in contrast to the Bitcoin value transfer mechanism, for which it can be difficult to determine the balance of a given wallet address.
Addresses can be not only wallets that hold balances, but can also contain smart contract bytecode that allows the programmatic creation of agreements and automatic triggering of their execution. An aggregate of coordinated smart contracts could be used to build a decentralized autonomous organization.
The Ethereum blockchain data are now available for exploration with BigQuery. All historical data are in the ethereum_blockchain dataset
, which updates daily.
Our hope is that by making the data on public blockchain systems more readily available it promotes technological innovation and increases societal benefits.
You can use the BigQuery Python client library to query tables in this dataset in Kernels. Note that methods available in Kernels are limited to querying data. Tables are at bigquery-public-data.crypto_ethereum.[TABLENAME]
. Fork this kernel to get started.
Cover photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
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Graph and download economic data for Coinbase Bitcoin (CBBTCUSD) from 2014-12-01 to 2025-07-30 about cryptocurrency and USA.
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According to Cognitive Market Research, the global Digital Coin Market size will be USD XX million in 2024 and will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.20% from 2024 to 2031.
North America held the major market of more than 40% of the global revenue with a market size of USD XX million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.4% from 2024 to 2031.
Europe accounted for a share of over 30% of the global market size of USD XX million.
Asia Pacific held the market of around 23% of the global revenue with a market size of USD XX million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.2% from 2024 to 2031.
The Latin America market will account for more than 5% of global revenue and have a market size of USD XX million in 2024. It will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6% from 2024 to 2031.
The Middle East and Africa held the major markets, accounting for around 2% of the global revenue. The market was USD XX million in 2024 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9% from 2024 to 2031.
The Trading and Investment held the highest Digital Coin Market revenue share in 2024.
Key Factor of the Digital Coin Market
Financial Inclusion to Increase the Demand Globally
Financial inclusion is poised to drive increased demand for cryptocurrencies on a global scale, fundamentally transforming the traditional financial landscape. Cryptocurrencies offer a unique opportunity to extend financial services to underserved and unbanked populations, providing them with access to secure and low-cost digital payment solutions, savings accounts, and investment opportunities. In regions where traditional banking infrastructure is limited or inaccessible, cryptocurrencies serve as a viable alternative, offering individuals greater control over their finances and the ability to participate in the global economy. Furthermore, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies removes barriers to entry, enabling anyone with an internet connection to transact and store value without relying on intermediaries or facing discrimination based on socioeconomic status.
As awareness of the potential benefits of cryptocurrency for financial inclusion grows, governments, international organizations, and fintech companies are increasingly investing in initiatives aimed at expanding access to digital financial services.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) to Propel Market Growth
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is poised to be a key driver propelling the growth of the cryptocurrency market. DeFi represents a revolutionary paradigm shift in traditional finance, offering a wide range of financial services and products built on blockchain technology and smart contracts. By eliminating intermediaries and facilitating peer-to-peer transactions, DeFi platforms enable users to access lending, borrowing, trading, and yield-generating opportunities in a permissionless and transparent manner. This democratization of financial services not only expands access to previously underserved populations but also creates new avenues for innovation and value creation.
As the DeFi ecosystem continues to mature and evolve, with an ever-expanding array of protocols and applications, it attracts increasing attention and investment from both retail and institutional participants. The growth of DeFi not only drives demand for cryptocurrencies as the primary means of exchange and collateral within these platforms but also contributes to the broader adoption and acceptance of digital assets.
Market Restraint of the Digital Coin Market
Regulatory Uncertainty to Limit the Sales
Regulatory uncertainty represents a significant constraint that can limit sales and overall market growth within the cryptocurrency industry. The lack of clear and consistent regulatory frameworks across different jurisdictions creates uncertainty for businesses, investors, and consumers, leading to hesitancy in adopting and transacting with cryptocurrencies. Regulatory ambiguity may result in legal and compliance risks for businesses operating in the cryptocurrency space, deterring potential sales and investment. Moreover, uncertainty regarding the taxation, licensing, and legal status of cryptocurrencies can hinder mainstream adoption and acceptance, as individuals and businesses may be reluctant to engage in transactions involving digital assets.
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How many cryptocurrencies are there? In short, there were over ***** as of June 2025, although there were many more digital coins in the early months of 2022. Note, however, that a large portion of cryptocurrencies might not be that significant. There are other estimates of roughly ****** cryptocurrencies existing, but most of these are either inactive or discontinued. Due to how open the creation process of a cryptocurrency is, it is relatively easy to make one. Indeed, the top 20 cryptocurrencies make up nearly ** percent of the total market. Why are there thousands of cryptocurrencies? Any private individual or company that knows how to write a program on a blockchain can technically create a cryptocurrency. That blockchain can be an existing one. Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain are popular blockchain platforms for such ends, including smart contracts within Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The ease of crypto creation allows some individuals to find solutions to real-world payment problems while others hope to make a quick profit. This explains why some crypto lack utility. Meme coins such as Dogecoin - named after a Japanese dog species - are an infamous example, with Dogecoin's creator coming out and stating the coin started as a joke. The many types of cryptocurrency Meme coins are but one group of cryptocurrencies. Other types include altcoins, utility tokens, governance tokens, and stablecoins. Altcoins are often measured against Bitcoin, as this refers to all crypto that followed Bitcoin - the first digital currency ever created. Utility tokens and governance tokens are somewhat connected to NFTs and the metaverse. A specific example is the MANA cryptocurrency, which allows real estate purchases in the Decentraland metaverse. Stablecoins refer to the likes of Tether, which are pegged to a real-world asset like the U.S. dollar. Such coins are meant to be less volatile than regular cryptocurrency.
The market size of decentralized finance market size declined to less than 50 billion U.S. dollars come April 2023. This is a significant change from 2021, when the size of the decentralized finance market reached heights it had not reached before. The DeFi market was especially impacted by the crash for Terra (LUNA) and its stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in May 2022 - with uncertainty still being present in June 2022 when coins such USDD lost their peg to the U.S. dollar. Moreover, a declining crypto market also impact DeFi. As Ethereum is the main blockchain powering transactions for decentralized finance, price developments of this particular cryptocurrency can have a big impact.
The global user base of cryptocurrencies increased by nearly *** percent between 2018 and 2020, only to accelerate further in 2022. This is according to calculations from various sources, based on information from trading platforms and on-chain wallets. Increasing demographics might initially be attributed to a rise in the number of accounts and improvements in identification. In 2021, however, crypto adoption continued as companies like Tesla and Mastercard announced their interest in cryptocurrency. Consumers in Africa, Asia, and South America were most likely to be owners of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, in 2022. How many of these users have Bitcoin? User figures for individual cryptocurrencies are unavailable. Bitcoin, for instance, was created not to be tracked by banks and governments. What comes closest is the trading volume of Bitcoin against domestic fiat currencies. The source assumed, however, that UK residents were the most likely to make Bitcoin transactions with British pounds. This assumption might not be accurate for popular fiat currencies worldwide. Moreover, coins such as Tether or Binance Coin - referred to as "stablecoins"—are" often used to buy and sell Bitcoin. Those coins were not included in that particular statistic. Wallet usage declined Total crypto wallet downloads were significantly lower in 2022 than in 2021. The number of downloads of Coinbase, Blockchain.com, and MetaMask, among others, declined as the market hit a "crypto winter" over the year. The crypto market also suffered bad press when FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges based on market share, collapsed in November 2022. Binance, on the other hand, regained some of the market share it had lost between September and October 2022, growing by *** percentage points in November. As of 2025, the highest forecast for the global user base of cryptocurrencies is projected to reach *** million.
Bitcoin's blockchain size was close to reaching 5450 gigabytes in 2024, as the database saw exponential growth by nearly one gigabyte every few days. The Bitcoin blockchain contains a continuously growing and tamper-evident list of all Bitcoin transactions and records since its initial release in January 2009. Bitcoin has a set limit of 21 million coins, the last of which will be mined around 2140, according to a forecast made in 2017. Bitcoin mining: A somewhat uncharted world Despite interest in the topic, there are few accurate figures on how big Bitcoin mining is on a country-by-country basis. Bitcoin's design philosophy is at the heart of this. Created out of protest against governments and central banks, Bitcoin's blockchain effectively hides both the country of origin and the destination country within a (mining) transaction. Research involving IP addresses placed the United States as the world's most Bitcoin mining country in 2022 - but the source admits IP addresses can easily be manipulated using VPN. Note that mining figures are different from figures on Bitcoin trading: Africa and Latin America were more interested in buying and selling BTC than some of the world's developed economies. Bitcoin developments Bitcoin's trade volume slowed in the second quarter of 2023, after hitting a noticeable growth at the beginning of the year. The coin outperformed most of the market. Some attribute this to the announcement in June 203 that BlackRock filed for a Bitcoin ETF. This iShares Bitcoin Trust was to use Coinbase Custody as its custodian. Regulators in the United States had not yet approved any applications for spot ETFs on Bitcoin.
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The cryptocurrency mining market, valued at $14,440 million in 2025, is projected to experience steady growth, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.8% from 2025 to 2033. This growth is driven by several key factors. Increasing institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies fuels demand, necessitating more mining operations to secure the networks. Technological advancements in mining hardware, such as more energy-efficient ASICs and GPUs, are also contributing to market expansion. The evolution of mining pools, offering economies of scale and risk mitigation for smaller miners, further supports this trend. While regulatory uncertainty and fluctuating cryptocurrency prices pose challenges, the overall market outlook remains positive, particularly in regions with favorable energy policies and robust infrastructure. The segmentation of the market into Application (Remote Hosting Services, Cloud Mining, Self-mining) and Types (ASICs, GPUs, FPGAs) reflects the diverse strategies employed by miners to optimize profitability and manage risk. North America currently holds a significant market share, owing to its established technological infrastructure and the presence of major players like Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings. However, growth is expected across all regions, particularly in Asia-Pacific as cryptocurrency adoption continues to rise. The competitive landscape is characterized by a mix of large publicly traded companies and smaller, independent mining operations. Companies like HIVE Blockchain Technologies, Bitfarms, and Hut 8 Mining are major players, shaping industry trends and influencing technological advancements. The increasing sophistication of mining operations, including the use of AI and machine learning for optimization, signals further market maturity and potential for increased efficiency. While energy consumption remains a significant concern, innovative approaches to sustainable mining, such as the utilization of renewable energy sources, are gaining traction, addressing environmental concerns and promoting long-term market sustainability. The long-term growth trajectory of the cryptocurrency mining market is intrinsically linked to the broader acceptance and utility of cryptocurrencies. Continued innovation and adoption will be key drivers for market expansion in the forecast period.
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The global blockchain technology market size was estimated at USD 31.28 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1,431.54 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 90.1% from 2025 to 2030
In a survey conducted at the end of 2024, four out of ten online merchants surveyed worldwide were using some form of tokenization in payment management.
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In March 2024 Bitcoin BTC reached a new all-time high with prices exceeding 73000 USD marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency market This surge was due to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds ETFs in the United States allowing investors to access Bitcoin without directly holding it This development increased Bitcoin’s credibility and brought fresh demand from institutional investors echoing previous price surges in 2021 when Tesla announced its 15 billion investment in Bitcoin and Coinbase was listed on the Nasdaq By the end of 2022 Bitcoin prices dropped sharply to 15000 USD following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its bankruptcy which caused a loss of confidence in the market By August 2024 Bitcoin rebounded to approximately 64178 USD but remained volatile due to inflation and interest rate hikes Unlike fiat currency like the US dollar Bitcoin’s supply is finite with 21 million coins as its maximum supply By September 2024 over 92 percent of Bitcoin had been mined Bitcoin’s value is tied to its scarcity and its mining process is regulated through halving events which cut the reward for mining every four years making it harder and more energy-intensive to mine The next halving event in 2024 will reduce the reward to 3125 BTC from its current 625 BTC The final Bitcoin is expected to be mined around 2140 The energy required to mine Bitcoin has led to criticisms about its environmental impact with estimates in 2021 suggesting that one Bitcoin transaction used as much energy as Argentina Bitcoin’s future price is difficult to predict due to the influence of large holders known as whales who own about 92 percent of all Bitcoin These whales can cause dramatic market swings by making large trades and many retail investors still dominate the market While institutional interest has grown it remains a small fraction compared to retail Bitcoin is vulnerable to external factors like regulatory changes and economic crises leading some to believe it is in a speculative bubble However others argue that Bitcoin is still in its early stages of adoption and will grow further as more institutions and governments recognize its potential as a hedge against inflation and a store of value 2024 has also seen the rise of Bitcoin Layer 2 technologies like the Lightning Network which improve scalability by enabling faster and cheaper transactions These innovations are crucial for Bitcoin’s wider adoption especially for day-to-day use and cross-border remittances At the same time central bank digital currencies CBDCs are gaining traction as several governments including China and the European Union have accelerated the development of their own state-controlled digital currencies while Bitcoin remains decentralized offering financial sovereignty for those who prefer independence from government control The rise of CBDCs is expected to increase interest in Bitcoin as a hedge against these centralized currencies Bitcoin’s journey in 2024 highlights its growing institutional acceptance alongside its inherent market volatility While the approval of Bitcoin ETFs has significantly boosted interest the market remains sensitive to events like exchange collapses and regulatory decisions With the limited supply of Bitcoin and improvements in its transaction efficiency it is expected to remain a key player in the financial world for years to come Whether Bitcoin is currently in a speculative bubble or on a sustainable path to greater adoption will ultimately be revealed over time.