Blockchain Analyzer 'Bubblemaps' Adds AI to Help Identify Insider-Controlled Tokens

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A revamped version of Bubblemaps, a blockchain analytics and visualization app, aims to help cryptocurrency's plebs identify the whales, using AI and other new features.

Bubblemaps launched in 2021 to provide a simplified way for blockchain users to understand the supply distributions of various digital assets. The platform’s latest update seeks to boost transparency in the crypto market by exposing token ownership patterns that may indicate centralization or manipulation.

“On-chain data deserves more attention,” said Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman in an interview with CoinDesk. “It is the lifeblood of the system. However, it is widely overlooked by the majority of crypto users because traditional tools are complex and overwhelming.”

Bubblemaps occasionally publishes its research online. In one widely circulated study, the platform revealed how venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) holds disproportionate control over the supply of UNI—the governance token for Uniswap, a popular decentralized exchange—positioning it to significantly influence the project’s development.

When influencers Andrew Tate and Iggy Azalea launched speculative tokens, Bubblemaps published reports revealing how the tokens were more centrally controlled than claimed. In many cases, the platform demonstrated how creators of popular meme coins spread their ownership across multiple wallets to evade allegations of insider control.

Bubblemaps displays the top holders of crypto tokens as nodes in a graph—“bubbles” whose size corresponded to ownership stakes. The platform analyzes transaction histories to find links between wallets, forming “clusters” that approximate individual entities.

The new version of Bubblemaps adda a "time machine" that allows users to view snapshots of how tokens were distributed at various points in time. The upgraded app also employs AI to power its “magic nodes” feature, which discovers links between blockchain addresses that would've gone undetected in older versions of Bubblemaps.

The AI “cleans up the data,” said Vaiman, enabling the platform to “reveal clusters that were hidden” in Bubblemaps V1.

Another significant update in Bubblemaps V2 is the addition of cross-chain support, enabling users to analyze the supply of assets across multiple blockchains. The stablecoins USDC and USDT, for example, exist on multiple chains, and there are "wrapped" versions of bitcoin on the Ethereum and Base networks. Previously, Bubblemaps displayed ownership of a given asset on one chain at a time; the new version allows users to view ownership across several chains simultaneously.

“Version 2 is essentially the vision we’ve had for a long time,” said Vaiman. “I don’t think we’re going to expand on this much further.”

Now that Bubblemaps has achieved its vision, the CEO says his team is turning its focus to expanding to new blockchains. The Bubblemaps V2 tool will launch with support for blockchains based on Ethereum’s Virtual Machine (EVM). Support for Solana is coming soon, with other chains to follow.

Edited by Marc Hochstein.

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Sam is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. He reports on decentralized technology, infrastructure and governance. He owns ETH and BTC.