Introducing OXT, a tool for Exploratory Blockchain Analysis

[oxt_btc]

I've been working on a platform dedicated to the analysis of the bitcoin blockchain. The first application built on top of this plateform is OXT (the Other eXploration Tool).

OXT provides a set of statistics & interactive visual tools easing the exploration of the blockchain (interactive charts for drill down/filtering, transactions graph visualizer, ...).



In addition, OXT computes a set of privacy-oriented metrics (address reuse, entropy of transactions, link probability between uxtos, temporal patterns of activity...) and uses a few heuristics allowing to cluster addresses controlled by a same entity.

The project is at an early stage but I hope its first features will be useful to the community. Feel free to send your feedback & suggestions !

Last but not least, OXT supports the Open Bitcoin Privacy Project in its mission to improve financial privacy within the Bitcoin ecosystem.


Resources:
- A video explaining how to explore the blockchain with OXT
- A video explaining how to explore the graph of transactions with OXT Graphalizer
- About OXT
- FAQ (technical requirements, "how to", ...)

Contacts:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/oxt_btc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oxtcommunity
- Email: oxt.btc@gmail.com

[btc]

bummed you don't have a mobile phone version

but this is friggin' gorgeous

[oxt_btc]

A new version of the platform has been deployed !

Improvements

- Height of last block processed by the platform is displayed in the footer.

- OXT Graphalizer: Unspent outputs are displayed in the graph.

- New icon used for the Graphalizer.

New Features

- Detection of OP_RETURNs associated to BIP47 payment codes (example)

- New tool: OXT Requester
The Requester allows users to build dynamic queries.
For this release, the tool provides a request allowing to retrieve transactions by time range and/or by transaction volume.
Additional requests will be added in next releases.
The requester can be accessed through a link displayed in the header.


Tip: Clear the cache of your browser in case of a problem.

[kingscrown]

Amazing tool!

[oxt_btc]

A new version of the platform has been deployed.

Improvements
- Upgraded bitcoin node
- Added support for BIP68 (back end only)
- Added support for BIP112 CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY (back end and front end)
- Improved the charts displayed for the current day/month/year

Tip: Clear the cache of your browser to get the latest version of the tool.

Edit: Added modification related to improvement of chart displayed for current day

[iFixBTCmemoryIssues]

A new version of the platform has been deployed.

Improvements
- Upgraded bitcoin node
- Added support for BIP68 (back end only)
- Added support for BIP112 CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY (back end and front end)
- Improved the charts displayed for the current month and year

Tip: Clear the cache of your browser to get the latest version of the tool.

Looks fantastic, well done!!!!!

[oxt_btc]

I've been wanting to create something special to celebrate the next halving and the 7 years of bitcoin for a while. Something fun and intended for the broadest audience.

So here comes OXT Landscapes, an interactive 3D visualization displaying the blockchain as a point cloud (every block is displayed as a particle). The principle is straightforward: define a "scene" by selecting a metrics for each axis (size of block, #transactions in block, etc.), click on "Build" et voila ! You're ready for a 3-dimensional exploration of the scene.

Here's a short video capture of a scene built with the tool (x-axis = block height, y-axis = #txs in block (log scale), z-axis = size of block)

Extra bonus for the most adventurous among you: I've added basic support of VR for the Oculus Rift (DK2 or CV1 recommended). I wouldn't recommend it for data analysis but it seems quite promising in terms of psychedelic experimentations

For the basic version, please visit this page.
For the extended version (providing additional metrics), please visit this page.


Requirements & Tips

Desktop version

• You'll need a recent web browser supporting WebGL. It works fine with recent versions of Chrome (recommended for best performances) and Firefox and it should work with IE11.
• It requires the download of a large dataset (stats for blocks 1 to 400,000). Do not try to use it on a mobile device.
• Notes about the input controllers:
  • Default input controller is a "trackball". It's really easy to use (mouse or trackpad) but it provides limited features (rotation of the scene and zoom)
  • Recommanded controller is the "fly controller". It allows a 3-dimensional exploration of the scene.
    A tip if you want to use it with your mouse: the position of the mouse on the screen controls camera rotations. The center of the screen is the "rest position".
• Control Panel at the bottom of the screen can be hidden/displayed thanks to the arrow on the right side.
• The 4 icons on the left side will teleport you at 4 predefined locations (useful if you get lost)
• If the scene generated seems desperately flat, try to regenerate the scene with a logarithmic scale for the "flat axis".
• If you find a combination of parameters producing a nice scene, be kind and share it with the rest of us.

VR version

• You'll need to install a web browser supporting WebVR (Firefox nightly build with Oculus Rift enabler installed or experimental build of Chrome).
  • Go to this website for links & instructions.
  • Install the web browser.
  • Test your setup with this sample.
• When your setup for webvr is ok, launch Landscapes.
• Random tips:
  • I wouldn't recommend the DK1 (low resolution) but if you want to give it a try, you'll need to use the Oculus runtime 0.5.0.1 + Chromium experimental build (04/21/2015)
  • You can reset the orientation of your headset with key "I".
  • All movements are controlled thanks to the keyboard (get comfortable with the commands in desktop mode before using them in VR...)
  • If you use an AZERTY keyboard, hit key "P". Hit key "O" to select the QWERTY mode (default).
  • Use the numeric keypad (1 to 7) to load a prebuilt scene. For now, it's not possible to build your own scene in VR mode.
  • Key "T" allows to switch speed mode. I recommend to use the slow speed when you're moving inside the cloud.
  • For fun: explore a scene, then rotate the camera 90° or 180° (the grid which was the ground becomes a wall or the roof) and start a new exploration...

[oxt_btc]

A new version of the platform has been deployed.

Improvements

• Upgraded bitcoin node
• Support of Segwit
  • Detection of segwit transactions
  • Detection of script types (P2WPKH, P2WSH, P2WPKH nested in P2SH, P2WSH nested in P2SH)
  • Detection of segwit commitment output in coinbase transactions
  • Interpretation & categorization of witness scripts
  • New indicators added to statistics
    • Fee rates per virtual size (blocks, transactions)
    • Striped size (blocks)
  • New charts (to be activated later)
    • Number of segwit transactions
    • Average virtual size / transaction
    • Fee/byte (virtual size)
    • Script types for "P2WSH inputs"
• New feature in OXT Requester allowing to search bitcoin addresses by balance
• Fee rates displayed in satoshis/byte
• Decreased delay for block processing (around 2.5 hours)
• Updated list of mining pools
• Updated list of metaprotocols (analysis of op_return outputs)
  Protocols currently supported are: ASCRIBE, BITPROOF, BLOCKSIGN, BLOCKSTORE, COINSPARK, COLU, COUNTERPARTY, CRYPTO COPYRIGHT, ETERNITY WALL, FACTOM, IDENTITY, LAPREUVE, MONEGRAPH, OPEN ASSETS, OPENCHAIN, ORIGINALMY, STAMPERY, OMNI LAYER, PROOF OF EXISTENCE, PROVEBIT, REMEMBR, STAMPD, TRADLE, UNIVERSITY OF NICOSIA
• Updated data for OXT Landscapes (now up to block 447000 -01/07/2017-)
• A few bug fixes (front end) and improvement of performances (back end)

More to come soon...

Tip: Clear the cache of your browser to get the latest version of the tool.

[oxt_btc]

To celebrate the first anniversary of OXT, I'm pleased to share an archive of block statistics (from block 1 to 447,000).

This archive contains a dozen of indicators for each block (#txs, volume, fee, fee rate, block size, etc) splited in 2 csv files.

Feel free to share here your data visualizations built with these data !

Resources :

• archive
• readme file

[oxt_btc]

A new version of the platform has been deployed. And this one is an "important" milestone for OXT

Since its inception, I've envisioned OXT as an interactive map of the bitcoin economy and for more than one year the platform has tried to provide a first (but imperfect) version of this map. But an important ingredient was still missing.

This missing part was a set of features offering a more personal experience, like the possibility to annotate objects (block, transaction, etc).

A lot remains to be done but I hope this new version will improve your experience with the platform and that it will foster collaboration between OXT users.

Improvements

• Support of registered accounts
  • Authentication by login/password
  • Password reset managed thanks to the signature of a challenge with a "bitcoin address"
• Support of annotations
  • Registered users can add notes to Blocks, Transactions, Addresses & Entities
  • Annotations are public and visible by all users (registered or anon.)
• Support of "rich" bookmarks
  • Registered users can create bookmarks pointing to specific pages of OXT
  • A bookmark can be enriched with a title and a description displayed to readers before the target page is displayed
  • Bookmarks store the current view of the page (active tab, selected chart, transactions filter, etc)
  • Bookmarks are public and visible by all users (registered or anon.)
• MY OXT
  • A personal workspace allowing registered users to manage their annotations and bookmarks
• Contextual Toolbox
  • A contextual toolbox is now displayed on the left hand side of the screen
  • Some existing action buttons/icons (display tx in graphalizer, prev/next block, etc) have been moved to this toolbox
• Bitcoin History
  • A page listing a few famous bitcoin events illustrated with objects or charts provided by OXT
• The Bitcoin "RichList"
  • Ordered list of addresses with a balance greater than 1,000 btc

Tip: Clear the cache of your browser to get the latest version of the tool.

[oxt_btc]

A new (minor) version of the platform has been deployed.

Improvements/Modifications

• Support of "rich" bookmarks for transactions graph
  • Registered users can create bookmarks pointing to a transaction graph
  • A bookmark stores the current state of the graph (nodes & edges displayed, highlighted, etc)
  • A bookmark can be enriched with a title and a description displayed to readers before the graph is displayed
• Contextual Toolbox for the graphalizer
  • The toolbox previously displayed at the top side of the screen is now located on the left side for consistency with others screens
• Donation page
  • Donation page added with a public address and a payment code (BIP47)

Tip: Clear the cache of your browser to get the latest version of the tool.

[oxt_btc]

A new version of the platform has been deployed.

Improvements

Chart of UTXOs controlled by the entities
Entity pages now display a tab with statistics about the utxos supposedly controlled by the entity:
- #utxos consumed by the entity during a given period
- #utxos created by the entity during a given period
- average #utxos per tx consumed by the entity during a given period
- average #utxos per tx created by the entity during a given period

OXT Directory
- The directory lists the entities which have been tagged in OXT
- Entities are categorized by sector of activity
- The directory can be accessed from the "Charts & Resources" menu

Support of most recent transactions by the search engine
The search engine now supports transactions included in the most recent blocks and transactions from the mempool

New advanced features
This version includes a set of new features which will be accessible to a small group of beta users for testing. If everything goes fine, these features will be released in the coming months.


Tip: Clear the cache of your browser to get the latest version of the tool.