Understanding Ethereum via Graph Analysis

Ting Chen; Zihao Li; Yuxiao Zhu; Jiachi Chen; Xiapu Luo; John Chi Shing Lui; Xiaodong Lin; Xiaosong Zhang

doi:10.1145/3381036

Understanding Ethereum via Graph Analysis

Ting Chen, Zihao Li, Yuxiao Zhu, Jiachi Chen, Xiapu Luo, John Chi Shing Lui, Xiaodong Lin, Xiaosong Zhang

Research output: Journal article publication › Journal article › Academic research › peer-review

115 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ethereum, a blockchain, supports its own cryptocurrency named Ether and smart contracts. Although more than 8M smart contracts have been deployed on Ethereum, little is known about the characteristics of its users, smart contracts, and the relationships among them. We conduct the first systematic study on Ethereum by leveraging graph analysis to characterize three major activities on Ethereum, namely money transfer, smart contract creation, and smart contract invocation. We collect all transaction data, construct three graphs from the data to characterize major activities via graph analysis, and discover new insights. Moreover, we address three security issues based on graphs.

Original language	English
Article number	3381036
Pages (from-to)	1-32
Journal	ACM Transactions on Internet Technology
Volume	20
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3381036
Publication status	Published - May 2020

Keywords

Blockchain
contract creation graph
contract invocation graph
Ethereum
graph analysis
money flow graph

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Networks and Communications

More information

10.1145/3381036

Cite this

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title = "Understanding Ethereum via Graph Analysis",

abstract = "Ethereum, a blockchain, supports its own cryptocurrency named Ether and smart contracts. Although more than 8M smart contracts have been deployed on Ethereum, little is known about the characteristics of its users, smart contracts, and the relationships among them. We conduct the first systematic study on Ethereum by leveraging graph analysis to characterize three major activities on Ethereum, namely money transfer, smart contract creation, and smart contract invocation. We collect all transaction data, construct three graphs from the data to characterize major activities via graph analysis, and discover new insights. Moreover, we address three security issues based on graphs.",

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AU - Chen, Ting

AU - Li, Zihao

AU - Zhu, Yuxiao

AU - Chen, Jiachi

AU - Luo, Xiapu

AU - Lui, John Chi Shing

AU - Lin, Xiaodong

AU - Zhang, Xiaosong

PY - 2020/5

Y1 - 2020/5

N2 - Ethereum, a blockchain, supports its own cryptocurrency named Ether and smart contracts. Although more than 8M smart contracts have been deployed on Ethereum, little is known about the characteristics of its users, smart contracts, and the relationships among them. We conduct the first systematic study on Ethereum by leveraging graph analysis to characterize three major activities on Ethereum, namely money transfer, smart contract creation, and smart contract invocation. We collect all transaction data, construct three graphs from the data to characterize major activities via graph analysis, and discover new insights. Moreover, we address three security issues based on graphs.

AB - Ethereum, a blockchain, supports its own cryptocurrency named Ether and smart contracts. Although more than 8M smart contracts have been deployed on Ethereum, little is known about the characteristics of its users, smart contracts, and the relationships among them. We conduct the first systematic study on Ethereum by leveraging graph analysis to characterize three major activities on Ethereum, namely money transfer, smart contract creation, and smart contract invocation. We collect all transaction data, construct three graphs from the data to characterize major activities via graph analysis, and discover new insights. Moreover, we address three security issues based on graphs.

KW - Blockchain

KW - contract creation graph

KW - contract invocation graph

KW - Ethereum

KW - graph analysis

KW - money flow graph

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JO - ACM Transactions on Internet Technology

JF - ACM Transactions on Internet Technology

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ER -

Understanding Ethereum via Graph Analysis

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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