Introducing OXT, a tool for Exploratory Blockchain Analysis

[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 charts displayed for current day

[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 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...

 

[btc_enigma]

This is really amazing ! awesome work . tweeting this out

[btctalk]

Nice job! I really like the interface.

Although one really useful tool that can be added is the ability to add more addresses in the same playground.
I mean if I'm looking at transactions of Address A, I could add transactions of Address B in the same graph to see if there are mutual transactions between those two addresses.

[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.

[dooglus]

A new version of the platform has been deployed.

It's at https://oxt.me/ - you omitted that from your post.

I played around for a few minutes, but ended up getting a "too many requests" error that wouldn't go away:



Edit: after a while I was able to carry on exploring, but the "too many requests" message didn't go away.

[laurentmt]

The number of api calls is capped (caps are defined as #requests per mn, per hour and per day). I may raise current limits in the future if I can secure a more powerful infrastructure.

I'll check why the message doesn't disappear. This is clearly a bug.

Thanks for the feedback !

[johhnyUA]

Nice work, really good and usefull platform. But I have one question: why only 1280X520 and above? I mean resolution of the monitor. Could you try to remake it, or just a little bit resolution (for my other devices   ). I would be very glad for that.

[oxt_btc]

@johhnyUA : Yes. A mobile version has been a recurrent request for a while. It's in my todo list

[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

[johhnyUA]

It's very good to see that project is developing. 

[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 specific objects or chart 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.

[freemanjackal]

if you can tell, i would like to know what technologies you have used in front end and back end. at least languages, just to know

[fruit]

BITCOINTALK THREAD IN RUSSIAN:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2894977.msg29762913#msg29762913

[oxt_btc]

A new version of the platform has been deployed.

Improvements

Support of Bech32 addresses (display and search)

Temporal Charts
    - Added new "/Blocks" section displaying 4 charts previously displayed in "/Transactions" sections
    - Added new "Payments" chart in "Transactions" section
        This chart displays the result of a heuristic trying to compute an estimate of the number of payments more accurate than the number of transactions by taking into account batch transactions.
        The formula used by this heuristic is:
            #payments = #utxos_created - #txs - #op_return
        More information about this heuristic: https://gist.github.com/cryptagoras/9062b97b8de0c92cd37cdb5b08cc5815
    - Added new "Segwit Usage" chart in "Transactions" section
        This charts displays the ratio #segwit_txs / #txs
    - Removed "Transactions (segwit)" chart from "Transactions" section

Blocks pages
    - Added a new "Entities" section listing the entities which have sent a transaction included in the block.
      Entities are ordered by decreasing block space consumed in the block.
    - Added the estimated number of payments processed in the block in "Summary" tab

Entity pages
    - "UTXOS" chart
        - Added a new indicator ("UTXOS Controlled") tracking the number of utxos controlled by the entity
        - Modified the indicators displayed by default
        - Modified the colors used for the indicators

OXT Directory
    - Added a new column displaying the number of utxos controlled by the entities

Misc
    - Fixed the unit displayed for virtual sizes (a.k.a. virtual bytes)


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