BIP Mining for Network Graph

Seminar, BSc Thesis, MSc Thesis
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Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) are essential to the evolution of the Bitcoin protocol, characterized by both their individual attributes (e.g., status, categories) and interrelationships (e.g., dependencies, succession). This project aims to mine and structure BIP data, archiving it in a browsable format that captures both these characteristics and connections. Through graph-based visualizations and analysis, we seek to enable a more interactive exploration of the BIP landscape, enhancing both understanding and insight into the proposals and their roles within the ecosystem.

Context

Bitcoin is a decentralized, peer-to-peer electronic currency, continuously evolving through contributions from its open-source community. At the heart of this development are Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs), which define the requirements and features that developers follow when implementing protocol changes. BIPs guide the ongoing evolution of Bitcoin and serve to clearly identify and communicate proposed features within the ecosystem.

Graph databases, on the other hand, provide a powerful method for representing non-relational data, making it possible to explore both the individual characteristics and relationships between BIPs using advanced analytic tools and visualizations. This project aims to combine BIPs and graph databases, offering new insights into the influence, structure, and interconnectedness of these proposals.

Motivation

While BIPs follow a structured format, their current textual representation is limited in terms of interactive capabilities. The static nature of browsing BIPs can obscure insights into their relationships and influence across the Bitcoin landscape. By mining and organizing BIPs into a more dynamic format, we can facilitate a richer, more interactive browsing experience. Additionally, through the use of graph analysis, it becomes possible to detect important features such as highly connected BIPs (key proposals), subgraphs, or clusters of related BIPs, providing a more holistic understanding of their influence and evolution within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Goal

The project is structured into three consecutive work packages, each building on the previous stage to achieve the overall goal of creating an interactive system for exploring BIPs through graph-based analysis:

  1. Design a BIP Archiving Schema: Develop a structured data schema for archiving BIPs, addressing questions such as the categorization of BIPs (standard, information, process), consistent attributing, and perhaps even methods for breaking down BIPs into meaningful sub-components (e.g., summaries, examples, references). The schema should also account for the various relationships between BIPs, such as dependencies and successions, ensuring that these are captured thoroughly.
  2. Develop the Mining Process: Identify the suitable techniques for extracting structured information from the publicly available BIPs and converting it into the data schema. While full automation may not be feasible, the goal is to explore semi-automatic methods that minimize manual effort while maximizing data accuracy and consistency.
  3. Visualize Mined Data Using Graphs: Implement at least one method for interactive graph-based visualization of the mined BIP data. Use standard graph analysis techniques (e.g., average connectivity, anomaly detection, subgraph discovery, etc.) to provide a comprehensive view of the BIP landscape. The visualizations should make it easier to explore and understand the complex relationships and influences among BIPs.

Requirements

Must-haves:

  • Strong attention to detail and a commitment to data accuracy and consistency.
  • Solid data modeling and programming skills (at least in one of them: Python, Java, Go, Rust, C++, C# TypeScript)
  • Basic understanding of graph theory and its applications.
  • Excited about learning new things and ready to overcome obstacles.

Nice to have:

  • Familiarity with Bitcoin and BIP, or at least interest in learning about it.
  • Experience with graph visualization techniques, particularly in browser-based applications.
  • Basic understanding of open-source community dynamics.

Pointers

What resources and other related work could help the student to work on this project? This could be links to papers, lectures, websites, videos, etc.

Contact

Roman Bögli is the contact person for this project and will be supervising it. He is happy to answer questions or discuss contribution ideas.