Navigation auf uzh.ch

Suche

Department of Informatics Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies

Dark Web Marketplaces Bitcoin flows prediction

Level: MA; MAP
Responsible Person: Dr. Nicolò Vallarano
Keywords: Machine-learning, Crypto-forensics, Bitcoin

The goal of this project is to predict the existence of a transaction between nodes who exchanged Bitcoin tokens on Dark Web Marketplaces [1], intended as websites where the users could exchange virtually anything comprising illegal goods, using Bitcoin as the main currency. At each block, it is possible to associate each Bitcoin User (intended as a clustered aggregate of Bitcoin Addresses) with a measure of Darkness, meaning a proxy measure of the amount of Bitcoin under their possession that has passed through Dark Web Marketplaces.

References:

[1] E. F. dos Reis, A. Teytelboym, A. ElBahrawy, I. De Loizaga, and A. Baronchelli, “Identifying key players in dark web marketplaces through Bitcoin transaction networks,” Sci Rep, vol. 14, no. 1, Art. no. 1, Jan. 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50409-5.
[2] A. Bracci, J. Boehnke, A. ElBahrawy, N. Perra, A. Teytelboym, and A. Baronchelli, “Macroscopic properties of buyer–seller networks in online marketplaces,” PNAS Nexus, vol. 1, no. 4, p. pgac201, Sep. 2022, doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac201.