闪光的不只是比特币--揭开BTC（IP）网络的中心化本质
All that Glitters is not Bitcoin -- Unveiling the Centralized Nature of the BTC (IP) Network
摘要：
区块链通常由点对点（P2P）网络管理，为所谓的分布式账本（DLT）提供支持和基础，分布式账本是一种复制、共享和同步的数据结构，在地理上分布在多个节点上。比特币（BTC）区块链是迄今为止最知名的DLT，用于记录基于BTC数字货币的同行之间的交易。在本文中，我们专注于BTC P2P网络的网络侧，从纯粹的基于网络测量的方法分析其节点。我们提出了一个BTC爬虫能够发现和跟踪的BTC P2P网络通过主动测量，并使用它来分析其主要属性。通过对BTC网络的多个快照的综合分析，以及利用BTC网络和DLT上其他公开可用的数据源，我们揭示了BTC P2P网络，定位了其活跃节点，研究了它们的性能，并跟踪了过去两年来网络的演变。在其他相关调查结果中，我们发现：（i）自2018年初BTC价格大幅下跌以来，BTC网络的规模在过去12个月内几乎保持不变;（ii）大多数BTC P2P网络位于美国和欧盟国家;（iii）尽管网络位于西部，但大部分采矿活动和相应收入都由位于中国的主要矿池控制。通过额外分析BTC硬币在独立BTC实体之间的分布（即，单个BTC地址或由同一参与者控制的BTC地址组），我们还得出结论：（iv）BTC远不是它所宣传的分散和不受控制的系统，所有BTC实体中只有4.5%持有约85%的流通BTC硬币。
英文摘要：
Blockchains are typically managed by peer-to-peer (P2P) networks providing the support and substrate to the so-called distributed ledger (DLT), a replicated, shared, and synchronized data structure, geographically spread across multiple nodes. The Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain is by far the most well known DLT, used to record transactions among peers, based on the BTC digital currency. In this paper, we focus on the network side of the BTC P2P network, analyzing its nodes from a purely network measurements-based approach. We present a BTC crawler able to discover and track the BTC P2P network through active measurements, and use it to analyze its main properties. Through the combined analysis of multiple snapshots of the BTC network as well as by using other publicly available data sources on the BTC network and DLT, we unveil the BTC P2P network, locate its active nodes, study their performance, and track the evolution of the network over the past two years. Among other relevant findings, we show that (i) the size of the BTC network has remained almost constant during the last 12 months - since the major BTC price drop in early 2018, (ii) most of the BTC P2P network resides in US and EU countries, and (iii) despite this western network locality, most of the mining activity and corresponding revenue is controlled by major mining pools located in China. By additionally analyzing the distribution of BTC coins among independent BTC entities (i.e., single BTC addresses or groups of BTC addresses controlled by the same actor), we also conclude that (iv) BTC is very far from being the decentralized and uncontrolled system it is so much advertised to be, with only 4.5% of all the BTC entities holding about 85% of all circulating BTC coins.
机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来，可能存在错误，请以论文正文为准。
