After Tracking 133,000 Ethereum Domains, What Secrets Can Be Revealed?
Editor's Note: This article comes fromBlue Fox Notes (ID: lanhubiji)Editor's Note: This article comes from
Blue Fox Notes (ID: lanhubiji)
, the author of this article is Tim Copeland of Decrypt, translated by "JT" of the "Blue Fox Notes" community, and reproduced by Odaily with authorization.
Foreword: The Ethereum domain name service brings the convenience of receiving and paying with eth, allowing people to get rid of the cumbersome strings of letters and numbers, but at the same time, it poses higher challenges to privacy. Through these Ethereum domain names and the data flow on the chain, people can spy and deduce more secrets behind them. Of course, the Ethereum domain name service will continue to develop because of its convenience, but at the same time, it also urgently needs the development of Ethereum’s privacy functions, so that people can enjoy convenience and also achieve privacy when necessary.
Ethereum Naming Service makes it easy for users to send and receive tokens. However, it also makes monitoring them easier.
Summary
This article analyzes 133,000 Ethereum domains and their balances
This paper finds that it is possible to identify some of these famous individuals even without using their real names
Ethereum Name Service aims to make sending and receiving cryptocurrencies simple. You can replace your Ethereum (ETH) address (that is, a string of letters and numbers that show how much ETH you have in your account) with a simple name. Just like email addresses replaced clunky codes, it makes cryptocurrencies simple. (Blue Fox Notes: For example, vitalik.eth is the Ethereum domain name of Vitalik, the founder of Ethereum. Sending tokens and receiving tokens can no longer use bulky strings)
It's an improvement in user design, though, but a step backwards in privacy. Since the Ethereum blockchain is transparent, anyone using an Ethereum domain name can spy on your finances. There's a difference between emailing someone and them having access to your entire inbox.
From the survey point of view, by observing the public blockchain data, we can discover people's future movements, gain insights into their business transactions, and understand how much money they have.
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What is Ethereum's Domain Name Service?
Johnson told Decrypt that ethereum enthusiasts have spent 6,235ETH on ethereum domains so far. (Blue Fox Notes: 6235ETH, which is worth about $1.7 million at current prices) However, even if they assign domain names to some of their accounts with only a small amount of cryptocurrency, the addresses they use to register these domain names can be stolen. Check it out. That way, snoopers can see how much money is actually in those accounts.
Among them, 15,000 independent addresses purchased 133,000 Ethereum domain names. These domain names have a total of 364,000 ETH, which is worth about 100 million US dollars. Additionally, there are tens of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in Ethereum-based tokens in these address domains. So we decided to see how much information could be gleaned from these pieces of information. And it turns out that there is a lot of information to be found.
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Identifying High Net Worth Individuals
Even with a mask on, it may not be as anonymous as they think. Image: Shutterstock
Let's start with the challenge. The Ethereum domain "neutral.eth" is linked to an empty address with no ETH balance, and only contains about $0.08 in OmiseGo tokens. There are no other domains associated with this address, and it has only seen four transactions. There is nothing left to dig.
However, the address where the domain name is registered tells a completely different story. It has a total of 58,000 ETH worth $15 million, plus an additional $2.5 million worth of other tokens. What’s interesting about this address is that it regularly receives a large amount of payments from the crypto exchange Poloniex’s main wallet (while most payments are generally made to secondary wallets). Those payments stopped on the same day that Circle (which also owns the exchange) cut transaction fees, suggesting it was a corporate wallet. This would also explain why the name is so underrated.
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Poloniex’s main wallet regularly pays nearly 500 ETH to this address. Image: Etherscan
The third largest address owns "consensys.eth", "weifund.eth", and "metamask.eth". It holds a total of 31,600 ETH worth $8 million. Could This Be Ethereum Billionaire Joe Rubin's Address? Probably yes.
Sometimes, identifying an Ethereum domain name is easy. For example, "silberjunge.eth", although the address associated with this domain name has only 17 dollars in ETH, the address registered to this domain name contains 1,163 ETH, worth 255,000 dollars, in addition, there are 121,000 dollars worth of other tokens issued based on Ethereum .
The problem here is that Ethereum's domain name makes it easy to create a list of ETH wealthy people who may have crypto wallets at home, such as crypto wallets such as Ledger Nano. Not because the Ethereum domain name itself is a bad idea, but because Ethereum is simply too open.
"Public ledgers like bitcoin and ethereum are notoriously lacking in privacy, and as a result, it's easy to track these transactions on the public chain," Johnson said. He also added: “ENS makes it easier to transact addresses in Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, which makes them more useful for everyone. It doesn’t try to solve the privacy issues inherent in public blockchains.”
“Continued research into privacy in distributed ledgers has led to breakthroughs such as ZCash and Tornado Cash. We strongly recommend that people be aware of their exposed activities on public chains and take advantage of these privacy solutions when appropriate.”
Observe business transactions in real time
This level of observation also allows one to see what people are doing with their money.
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When you start tokenizing Ethereum addresses, the blockchain becomes very transparent. Image: Etherscan
(Update: As it turns out, this analysis was wrong. MetaCartel operator Peter Pan tweeted that, in fact, he owns the domain "jameskim.eth" and that Soleimani transferred the money to him)
“I know the risks of using ENS names, that’s why we’re all excited about privacy technologies like Tornado Cash, etc., so we can create new ethereum accounts without directly linking to previous ones,” Soleimani said. There is no need to go through an exchange.”
Although no further announcements were made, it appears that is the case. Just three days after Frame’s alpha mainnet release on April 1, roughly 25,000 Aragon tokens (worth $17,000) were sent from Aragon’s main wallet to Muir’s account, meaning that the mainnet launch was one of the deliverables the results. While this isn't particularly secret, it does provide more additional insight than publicly available information.
People can also view salaries paid in Ethereum or other tokens. For example, Breaker (formerly SingularityDTV) "Chief Evangelist" Jack Cheng owns "jackcheng.eth" and "ethoulet.eth", which he uses to receive payments in its native token SNGLS.
Cheng received 33,055 tokens worth $4,600 in August 2017, and then 1 million SNGLS tokens worth $15,000 in May 2019. Since the payment comes directly from the main wallet "SingularDTV", it is likely that this is part of his salary. But it's not just about seeing what someone's salary is.
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It is also possible to track someone on the blockchain
Ethereum domain names can be used to track where people go. Bobby Ong, co-founder of data site CoinGecko, owns the Ethereum domain name "bobbyong.eth." Anyone looking at the blockchain address associated with this domain will know that Ong will be attending the DAIsucki meetup (focused on the stablecoin DAI) on October 7, 2019 at 7-2 Matsubara-cho, Sugohara-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka. Activity). Everyone can know 17 days before the event. And, two days after the event, people will see strong evidence that he was indeed at the party.
The event is undoubtedly organized by Kickback, in which you need to deposit an eth deposit into the event, and if you don't show up, the deposited tokens will be shared by those who participate in the event. It's designed to incentivize people to only register for events they plan to attend. While this can be effective, it also allows people to observe which attendees from the comfort of their own home.
