A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services

Younggee Hong; Hyunsoo Kwon; Jihwan Lee; Junbeom Hur

doi:10.1145/3205230.3205234

A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services

Younggee Hong
, Hyunsoo Kwon
, Jihwan Lee
, Junbeom Hur

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Bitcoin mixing services improve anonymity by breaking the connection between Bitcoin addresses. In the darkweb environment, many illegal trades, such as in drugs or child pornography, avoid their transactions being traced by exploiting mixing services. Therefore, de-mixing algorithms are needed to identify illegal financial flows and to reduce criminal activity. Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, few studies on analyzing mixing services and de-anonymizing transactions have been proposed. In this paper, we conduct an in-depth analysis of real-world mixing services, and propose a de-mixing algorithm for Helix, one of the most widely used Bitcoin mixing services. The proposed algorithm de-anonymizes the relationship between the input and output addresses of mixing services by exploiting the static and dynamic parameters of mixing services. Our experiment showed that, we could identify the relationships between the input and output addresses of the Helix mixing service with a 99.14% accuracy rate.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages	15-20
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450357586
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3205230.3205234
Publication status	Published - 2018 May 22
Event	2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, BCC 2018 - Incheon, Korea, Republic of Duration: 2018 Jun 4 → …

Publication series

Name	BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018

Conference

Conference	2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, BCC 2018
Country/Territory	Korea, Republic of
City	Incheon
Period	18/6/4 → …

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Association for Computing Machinery.

Keywords

Bitcoin
Blockchain analysis
Helix
Mixing service

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Computer Science Applications
Information Systems
Computer Networks and Communications

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3205230.3205234

Cite this

Hong, Y., Kwon, H., Lee, J., & Hur, J. (2018). A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services. In BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018 (pp. 15-20). (BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1145/3205230.3205234

A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services. / Hong, Younggee; Kwon, Hyunsoo; Lee, Jihwan et al.
BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2018. p. 15-20 (BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Hong, Y, Kwon, H, Lee, J & Hur, J 2018, A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services. in BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018. BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, pp. 15-20, 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, BCC 2018, Incheon, Korea, Republic of, 18/6/4. https://doi.org/10.1145/3205230.3205234

Hong Y, Kwon H, Lee J, Hur J. A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services. In BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 2018. p. 15-20. (BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018). doi: 10.1145/3205230.3205234

Hong, Younggee ; Kwon, Hyunsoo ; Lee, Jihwan et al. / A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services. BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2018. pp. 15-20 (BCC 2018 - Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Contracts, Co-located with ASIA CCS 2018).

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AB - Bitcoin mixing services improve anonymity by breaking the connection between Bitcoin addresses. In the darkweb environment, many illegal trades, such as in drugs or child pornography, avoid their transactions being traced by exploiting mixing services. Therefore, de-mixing algorithms are needed to identify illegal financial flows and to reduce criminal activity. Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, few studies on analyzing mixing services and de-anonymizing transactions have been proposed. In this paper, we conduct an in-depth analysis of real-world mixing services, and propose a de-mixing algorithm for Helix, one of the most widely used Bitcoin mixing services. The proposed algorithm de-anonymizes the relationship between the input and output addresses of mixing services by exploiting the static and dynamic parameters of mixing services. Our experiment showed that, we could identify the relationships between the input and output addresses of the Helix mixing service with a 99.14% accuracy rate.

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A practical de-mixing algorithm for bitcoin mixing services

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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