Unlocking Ethereum's Hidden Network: A New Way to See the Nodes

Ethereum's blockchain operates over a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network, where messages are exchanged to maintain consistency. Understanding this network's layout, called topology, is vital for making the network efficient, secure, and able to handle more transactions. However, figuring out the exact layout isn't easy due to Ethereum's security design. Current methods aren't cheap or accurate enough. To tackle this, researchers created a tool called Distributed Ethereum Network Analyzer (DEthna). DEthna uses a smart method to generate marked transactions. These transactions help figure out the connections between nodes by observing how transactions are replaced and spread. DEthna can also be used on multiple machines, making it cost-effective to study large networks. Tests on the Goerli network, Ethereum's popular test network, showed DEthna is much better than existing tools. DEthna found that over 50% of Ethereum nodes have fewer connections, which makes the network less robust. This information is crucial for improving Ethereum's overall strength and performance.