Visualizing Transaction Activity on the Bitcoin Blockchain

--Event Title: Visualizing Transaction Activity on the Bitcoin Blockchain--

Steve has recently developed a data visualization tool that illustrates fascinating patterns of activity on the bitcoin blockchain. The talk will first discuss how the visualizer works, and then offer explanations for patterns in the blockchain data. Because the bitcoin blockchain is a public open source project, everyone who runs a bitcoin node has access to this data. Every node processes every bitcoin transaction and can account for all bitcoins in existence at every moment. However this data is difficult to visualize because ~17.3 million bitcoins are stored in ~54 Million transactions buried in a ~187 GB database. Fortunately the open source data visualization tool "DataShader" is capable of plotting the entire blockchain in a single image along the dimensions of transaction age and bitcoin amount. In the image we see a snapshot glimpse of bitcoin history including Satoshi's coins and early bitcoin transactions that are likely lost forever. We also see patterns of common transactions values such as 0.01 BTC or $1.00 worth of bitcoin. Common value US dollar transactions track the inverse of the bitcoin market price, so certain regions of the data look like an upside down price chart. Another obvious feature of the image is the minimum "dust limit" bitcoin transactions at 546 satoshis and the common wallet minimum transaction of 0.0005 btc. While these features of the image are understood, others are mysterious and need explanations. Perhaps the mysterious patterns are explained by early algorithm development on the blockchain, sporadic Satoshi Dice casino payout activity, or strange behaviors after the Mt. Gox collapse. But many patterns lack explanation, so feedback during the talk will be much appreciated.

--Event Details--

The presentation will begin promptly at 7:00pm. Q/A will wrap up by 8:15PM. If you've never been to the Frontier before; take an immediate right after walking in the front entrance. We are in the big open room. A video recording of the event will be posted to our youtube channel a couple of days afterwards for those of you who could not attend in person. (https://www.youtube.com/blockchainbusiness)

--Venue Sponsor--

We're being hosted by Oak City Tech (https://oakcitytechnology.com) at The Frontier building in RTP. Oak City Tech helps small businesses & non profits look amazing with web design & logo design, increase brand awareness & generate leads with seo & social media, and nurture & convert leads with content creation and email marketing.