June 2018
Intermediate to advanced
320 pages
8h 14m
English
Content preview from Investigating Cryptocurrencies
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CHAPTER 4Transactions
Crimes committed on the blockchain can be complex. Many investigations will be about purchases made or funds moved via a cryptocurrency, so it is vital that the analyst understands precisely how transactions are prepared, transmitted, processed, and stored. With this knowledge, an investigator can effectively “follow the money” and explain the process to others when asked or challenged. We will discuss what a transaction is and how it is constructed as well as understanding the different types of transactions on the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains.
The Concept behind a Transaction
Transactions on a blockchain like Bitcoin are interesting and require a change in thinking from normal transactions. Traditional money transactions all have one thing in common: the movement of currency from one owner of that currency to another owner. What do I mean by this? Consider the following cash transaction: you go the hairdresser and have your hair cut, and then you reach into your wallet and extract $20. In handing the bills to the hairdresser, you physically move the currency to a new owner.
The same is essentially true with an electronic transaction. Let’s say you choose to pay your hairdresser with a bank card. The transaction is fundamentally the same, except you don’t see the money move. Behind the scenes, the money is “taken” or debited from your account, and “given” or credited to your hairdresser’s account.
In both of these examples, the transaction is controlled ...
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