Pre-Outline Organizational Chart

Name: _____Ayush Jain______ Class Period: ______6________ IR

Mentor

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to prepare you to write an organized outline, as well as to inform
you of areas where there are gaps in your research.
1.

Create a list of what you want the reader to learn by the conclusion of the paper.
a. How Bitcoin works and the basic mechanics of the blockchain.
b. Problems associated with Bitcoin and anonymity. How can we solve and take
precautions to stop these from happening?
c. The patterns behind illicit transactions on the Bitcoin network.

2. Compose a thesis statement. This is just a rough thesis; you will probably tweak it a few times
before you settle on it as definitive.
___Illicit transactions in the Bitcoin network can be isolated and verified through mathematical models
and graph theory.___
3. Background Section: List the information that you have found that would most appropriately
belong in an introduction. This may include background information, vocabulary, attention grabbing
quote, etc.
Bitcoin: A form of digital currency in which all transactions are secured using a
hash and stored in a blockchain.
Blockchain: A digital and shared open ledger in which transactions are stored. A
new block is mined by Bitcoin miners about every 10 minutes and added to the blockchain.
A value is given to a bitcoin through presvious transactions that have been called
to that specific bitcoin address. A Bitcoin user/wallet can have multiple addresses in use.
Silk Road was an illegal goods online emporium which used Bitcoin to make
transactions. My research is based off these transactions.

4. Complete the Pre-Outline Organizational Chart

1st Main Idea

(Roman numeral I in outline)

Main Idea

2nd Main Idea

(Roman numeral II in outline)

3rd Main Idea

4th Main Idea

(Roman numeral III in outline)

(Roman numeral IV in outline)

What is Bitcoin?

Illicit Activities in
Bitcoin

Patterns in Illicit
activities

Other
cryptocurrencies

If a person attempts
to mar a transaction,
the other nodes will
disagree. and stop
the transaction from
happening. The
blockchain can be
trusted because
there is a shared,
single source of
truth. ("The Bitcoin
and Blockchain
Technology
Explained.")

The Silk Road was

a popular online
emporium that
was used for illicit
deals. It used
bitcoins as a method
of
payment. They
were getting away
with it when the
federal government
caught
them through
other means. (Mihm)

Different factors are

amount of coins,
date, difference
between interval,
and number of
transactions.

The different nodes

in the chain need to
all
agree with the
current state of the
transactions, which
is verified by by a
"miner."

While
user anonymity
has gotten a lot of
attention with
Bitcoin, there hasnt
been much done
for post-transaction.
These are done to
follow up between 2
parties and is
normally not secure.
(McCorry)

if 2 addresss are
going into
a transaction,
those addresses
belong to the same
user (Meiklejohn)

"Zerocoin" a more
secure parallel to
Bitcoin.
This system is
also de-centralized,
meaning that there is
no third party
involved in
transactions. With
bitcoin, transactions
can be linked with
the
different data that
each block contains.
Therefore, if one
person decodes a
block, they
cannot find the other
transactions before
it. (Miers)
ZCash, a company
that will launch
another blockchainbased
cryptocurrency
that is similar to
Bitcoin. The
difference, however
is that ZCash is
completely
anonymous. Bitcoin
saves all the
previous transactions
that have
taken place and
allows every node to
have access to them.
ZCash does saves
transactions, but
leaves sensitive
information such as
amount spent and
parties, private.
The only flaw with
an anonymous

What is the controlling

idea that supports the
thesis?

Detail #1
Briefly write the detail
and include source,
page, paragraph #.
(Letter A in outline)

Detail #2
Briefly write the detail
and include source,
page, paragraph #.
(Letter B in outline)

Detail #3
Briefly write the detail
and include source,
page, paragraph #.
(Letter C in outline)

This is what makes

bitcoin a
decentralized
system. This is good
for anonymity and
security, but a
decentralized
currency system has
economic
repercussions as
well. In order for
mining to work
economically,
miners
have to have
consensus on state of
the ledge, rules, and
value of a
bitcoin. (Kroll)

Unlike cash, Bitcoin

transactions are
public, and therefore
they arent invisible,
but illicit
deals can still
occur through quasianonymous
activity. (Mihm)

Buyers
experiment with
different sellers and
so illicit transactions
can be analyzed
using bipartite
graphs, and how
sellers
take quality verse
earnings into
account. It creates a
model using various
factors that
influence the buyer's
decision. A model
like this can be
scaled to different
populations.
(Galenianos)

Main idea of the

paper. This
information is
needed to understand
the topic.

A basis for the

extensiveness and
impact of the issue is
necessary to analyze
it.

Identifying specific
research points as
well as data (will be
added in later).

system is that it will

be
extremely
difficult for miners
to confirm
transactions if
they've never
been done before.
(Peck)
Anonymity issues
have been solved
using a new zeroknowledge proof
called zkSNARK, which
drains less resources
but keeps the
anonymity
aspect, thus being
suitable for
anonymity. (Peck)

Facts/Figures
(Optional)

Vocabulary
(Optional)

Charts/Graphs
(Optional)

SO WHAT ?
Why is this
important?

Other applications of
the blockchain
technology that may
benefit with the
application of
pattern
identification.