Iknaio is a company providing services around GraphSense and also produced some tutorial videos demonstrating how to use the dashboard.
Check out their tutorials at: https://ikna.io/docs
GraphSense must process billions of transactions and therefore builds on top of Apache Spark and Cassandra, which are highly scalable computing and analytics infrastructures.s
In our production environment, we use an Apache Spark/Cassandra cluster with the following Hardware components:
All nodes are connected via bonded 40Gbit ethernet interfaces and a corresponding switch.
If you do not want to host GraphSense youself, consider using the hosted service offered by Iknaio Cryptoasset Analytics GmbH.
Q: Can I run GraphSense on my local computer or a Raspberry Pi?
GraphSense processes billions of transactions and requires quite some RAM and disk space. Unfortunately, your computer most likely doesn’t have enough hardware resources for processing and storing vast amounts of transactions and derived statics. You can, however, run each component in development mode, just as we do it. Please check the README files in each repository.s
Q: Can I run the GraphSense Dashboard without setting up an Apache Spark / Cassandra cluster?
The GraphSense Dashboard is a Web-app running on the client-side (in your browser) only. It just needs a GraphSense REST API endpoint for retrieving data. You can operate your endpoint or reuse one provided by others.
Q: Can I run GraphSense in the cloud?
Technically yes, but we have not tested it yet, and most likely, it requires some tweaks in the deployment procedures, which are currently designed for on-premises deployment only.
Q: Why are you running GraphSense on-premise and not in the cloud
Because we use GraphSense for advanced (research) analysis tasks and move a lot of data, which can quickly get, very expensive in the cloud. We also believe that complete data control and autonomy also require a certain degree of independence from third-party hardware and software services in the long term.
Q: How can I get access to the GraphSense demo?
Iknaio Cryptoasset Analytics GmbH is a company run by the core developers of GraphSense. It provides GraphSense-as-a-Service and you can get free access. Just drop an email to contact@ikna.io and briefly explain who you are and why you want access to our demo. You will receive access an API key and will also be signed up for further information.
Q: How often is the data updated?
GraphSense itself is just a piece of software; or actually several pieces. Iknaio provides a hosted version and updates the data near real-time.
Q: Does GraphSense support real-time updates?
Using the ingest and delta-update features of GraphSense Lib a near real-time system can be built.
Q: How are entity and abuse types assigned to addresses?
They are assigned manually via GraphSense TagPacks.
Q: How does GraphSense use the labels and categories provided by the dashboard users
Not at all because labels, tags, and categories assigned by the user are not sent back to the server. They are only stored on the client-side and not used in any way on the server-side.
Q: Who is behind GraphSense, and who is driving development?
GraphSense has a strong research background, and development is mainly driven by the GraphSense core team. Iknaio Cryptoasset Analytics GmbH is run by the creators of GraphSense and, for instance, offers GraphSense as a hosted service.
Q: Who is funding GraphSense?
Currently, GraphSense development relies on contributions from its core developers, who are working for Iknaio Cryptoasset Analytics GmbH, the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, and the AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology.
Q: Why don’t you just use some other existing cryptocurrency/blockchain analytics tool?
GraphSense development is very much driven by the needs of our project partners and our own research needs. We found that no existing commercial tool fulfills the most important need if you want to conduct more advanced cryptocurrency analysis: complete control over collected data and the ability to run customized analytics jobs. Therefore, GraphSense is very much designed for data-driven cryptocurrency analytics.
Q: I need a specific new feature, can you provide it?
First of all, let us know what you need, ideally by filing a feature request issue in the relevant repository, probably the GraphSense Dashboard or the GraphSense API. Alternatively, you can write an email to contact@ikna.io.
Whether we can implement a feature request depends on whether it fits into our plan or not. That, in turn, depends on the research funding model we are currently working on.