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Cryptocurrencies fluctuate in markets with high price volatility, posing significant challenges for investors. To aid in informed decision-making, systems predicting cryptocurrency market movements have been developed, typically focusing on…
Cryptocurrencies, as decentralized digital assets, have experienced rapid growth and adoption, with over 23,000 cryptocurrencies and a market capitalization nearing \$1.1 trillion (about \$3,400 per person in the US) as of 2023. This…
This thesis presents techniques to investigate transactions in uncharted cryptocurrencies and services. Cryptocurrencies are used to securely send payments online. Payments via the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, use pseudonymous addresses…
Given a set of financial transactions (who buys from whom, when, and for how much), as well as prior information from buyers and sellers, how can we find fraudulent transactions? If we have labels for some transactions for known types of…
Cryptocurrencies have gained popularity due to their transparency, security, and accessibility compared to traditional financial systems, with Bitcoin, introduced in 2009, leading the market. Bitcoin's security relies on blockchain…
In recent years, Ethereum gained tremendously in popularity, growing from a daily transaction average of 10K in January 2016 to an average of 500K in January 2020. Similarly, smart contracts began to carry more value, making them appealing…
Cryptocurrencies are poised to revolutionize the modern economy by democratizing commerce. These currencies operate on top of blockchain-based distributed ledgers. Existing permissionless blockchain-based protocols offer unparalleled…
USDT, a stablecoin pegged to dollar, has become a preferred choice for money laundering due to its stability, anonymity, and ease of use. Notably, a new form of money laundering on stablecoins -- we refer to as crowdsourcing laundering --…
Power grids worldwide are increasingly victims of cyberattacks, where attackers can cause immense damage to critical infrastructure. The growing digitalization and networking in power grids combined with insufficient protection against…
Detecting fraudulent activities in financial and e-commerce transaction networks is crucial. One effective method for this is Densest Subgraph Discovery (DSD). However, deploying DSD methods in production systems faces substantial…
Money launderers take advantage of limitations in existing detection approaches by hiding their financial footprints in a deceitful manner. They manage this by replicating transaction patterns that the monitoring systems cannot easily…
Mobile crowdsensing leverages mobile devices (e.g., smart phones) and human mobility for pervasive information exploration and collection; it has been deemed as a promising paradigm that will revolutionize various research and application…
In the distributed systems landscape, Blockchain has catalyzed the rise of cryptocurrencies, merging enhanced security and decentralization with significant investment opportunities. Despite their potential, current research on…
Blockchain represents a technology for establishing a shared, immutable version of the truth between a network of participants that do not trust one another, and therefore has the potential to disrupt any financial or other industries that…
AI algorithms, and machine learning (ML) techniques in particular, are increasingly important to individuals' lives, but have caused a range of privacy concerns addressed by, e.g., the European GDPR. Using cryptographic techniques, it is…
The dark web has emerged as the state-of-the-art solution for enhanced anonymity. Just like a double-edged sword, it also inadvertently becomes the safety net and breeding ground for illicit activities. Among them, cryptocurrencies have…
Cryptocurrency off-chain networks such as Lightning (e.g., Bitcoin) or Raiden (e.g., Ethereum) aim to increase the scalability of traditional on-chain transactions. To support nodes in learning about possible paths to route their…
Blockchain based cryptocurrencies are usually unmanaged, distributed, consensus-based systems in which no single entity has control. Managed cryptocurrencies can be implemented using private blockchains but are fundamentally different as…
Utilizing graph analytics and learning has proven to be an effective method for exploring aspects of crypto economics such as network effects, decentralization, tokenomics, and fraud detection. However, the majority of existing research…
Ransomware can produce direct and controllable economic loss, which makes it one of the most prominent threats in cyber security. As per the latest statistics, more than half of malwares reported in Q1 of 2017 are ransomwares and there is a…