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BitSniffer

A tool for linkability analysis

Ryan Anderson, Luke Gessler, Sam Prestwood

https://storybird.s3.amazonaws.com/artwork/rory/full/dog-sniffing.jpeg , http://firstforbitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bitcoin-wallet.png

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Project Goal

We wanted a tool to determine how linkable two addresses are

?

1MDjCqjwnKmMWPxawpgN1UuDfbMUUgqnWw

1Luke788hdrUcMqdb2sUdtuzcYqozXgh4L

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Mixer Verification

Determine if chain of transactions exists between 2 addresses
Calculate size of anonymity set

http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEyLzEyLzA0Lzk4L2xhd21ha2Vyc2NhLmJPdy5qcGcKcAl0aHVtYgk5NTB4NTM0IwplCWpwZw/8ee5f297/269/lawmakers-call-for-an-end-to-internet-anonymity-28d9f678d4.jpg, http://rlv.zcache.com/i_love_anonymity_artistic_design_couples_coffee_mug_set-r22de8afcb60141eb8e788bc641539069_za2dq_324.jpg?rlvnet=1

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Live Demo

http://bitsniffer.lgessler.com

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Address Linkability

Total Amount Sent/Received

Ave. Amount Sent/Received

Transaction Frequency

Ave. Amount Inputs/Outputs

f

Lifespan Overlap

µ

2nd part of the tool was to be more general: determine how linkable (or associated) are two arbitrary addresses?
in this case, it didn’t make sense to calculate an anonymity set because we’re given the 2 addresses
instead, we created 5 metrics, which together, quantify the association between the 2 addresses

Total Amount Sent/Received

compare total amount sent by one address with the total amount received by the second

Average Amount Sent/Received

for an average transaction, compare the amount sent and received

Transaction Frequency

on average, how much time between transactions for the two addresses

Average Amount of Inputs/Outputs

for an average transaction, how many inputs is the sending address using and how many outputs is the receiving address part of?

Lifespan Overlap

how much do the lifespans of the two addresses overlap

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Live Demo

http://bitsniffer.lgessler.com

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Future Work

More metrics
Machine learning
Full node to do full linkability analysis

http://www.texample.net/media/tikz/examples/PNG/neural-network.png, https://bitstickers.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/btc-mono-ring-orange.jpg