Bitcoin is undoubtedly the most used distributed ledger technology nowadays. Bitcoin's OP_RETURN operator allows for saving arbitrary data on the blockchain. This comes as an extension of Bitcoin's core usage (i.e. cryptocurrency) and opens up a multitude of use cases. These range from benign applications (e.g. ownership of a digital/physical asset) to illegal/malicious scenarios (e.g. blockchain-based botnets). In this paper, we present a system that provides advanced analytic and visual capabilities with regard to the OP_RETURN operator. Furthermore, we showcase a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the OP_RETURN along with a number of interesting findings. CCS CONCEPTS • Security and privacy → Network security; • Networks → Network experimentation.

In a cyber meta-reality filled with zero-day exploits, autonomous code, Worms modeled from Stuxnet, and the coming onslaught of AI enabled malware, the need for actionable, virtually prescient threat intelligence is paramount. It is almost uniformly recognized that the current reactionary paradigm concerning cyber threats is severely lacking. Cyber threat analysts desperately need a systematic approach to cyber threat characterization and how cyber threats evolve within a greater construct defined here as the cyber microbiome. This paper will first define the concept of the cyber microbiome and its place in what has become the cyber meta-reality. Cyber threats will then be examined in relation to this paradigm and recommendations will be made regarding how threat characterization and genetic mutation can be examined in light of this new, techno-biological understanding.