I came across an article whose author described the process of creating a smart contract and deploying it to the Ethereum mainnet. He also published t

How to deanonymize smart contract author

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2021-08-14 21:30:06

I came across an article whose author described the process of creating a smart contract and deploying it to the Ethereum mainnet. He also published the source code.

I didn’t have experience with smart contract development and blockchain analysis, but after reading the article I began to wonder:

Given the smart contract’s source code it is possible to find it using blockchain analysis. I’ve used Google Big Query to search for specific function signatures. In the end, I give some hints on how to avoid deanonymization.

I don’t want to disclose the personal details of the smart contract’s author. Let’s just call him John. I contacted John and he approved this article before publication.

I can define a challenge as entering unknown territory with a clear goal in mind. In the area of computer security and privacy, this feeling boosts my creativity in problem-solving, forces me to learn new things fast, perform reverse engineering and try to get into the state of mind of a given system creator.

It gives me the satisfaction of a deep understanding of the system and a thrill, both at the same time. With that motivation, I started researching the problem.