The Bitcoin transaction graph has various observable patterns, with wallet clustering of highest importance. Some of these patterns have been studied and used to link coins from the same wallet, both in theory and practice.

Every transaction consists of a list of inputs (where the sats are taken from) and outputs (where the input sats are distributed). Inputs refer to the outputs of previous transactions, such as connecting transactions. Outputs lock some amount of bitcoin with certain spending conditions (i.e., the “address,” public key, or output script). Linking coins means identifying the entity that controls the keys to a collection of transaction outputs, spent or…

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