information Article Applying the ETL Process to Blockchain Data. Prospect and Findings Roberta Galici 1, Laura Ordile 1, Michele Marchesi 1 , Andrea Pinna 2,* and Roberto Tonelli 1 1 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Cagliari, Via Ospedale 72, 09124 Cagliari, Italy;
[email protected] (R.G.);
[email protected] (L.O.);
[email protected] (M.M.);
[email protected] (R.T.) 2 Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DIEE), University of Cagliari, Piazza D’Armi, 09100 Cagliari, Italy * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 7 March 2020; Accepted: 7 April 2020; Published: 10 April 2020 Abstract: We present a novel strategy, based on the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) process, to collect data from a blockchain, elaborate and make it available for further analysis. The study aims to satisfy the need for increasingly efficient data extraction strategies and effective representation methods for blockchain data. For this reason, we conceived a system to make scalable the process of blockchain data extraction and clustering, and to provide a SQL database which preserves the distinction between transaction and addresses. The proposed system satisfies the need to cluster addresses in entities, and the need to store the extracted data in a conventional database, making possible the data analysis by querying the database. In general, ETL processes allow the automation of the operation of data selection, data collection and data conditioning from a data warehouse, and produce output data in the best format for subsequent processing or for business. We focus on the Bitcoin blockchain transactions, which we organized in a relational database to distinguish between the input section and the output section of each transaction.