Blockchain Scalpel

(formerly: Blockchain parser / Russian scalpel)

Русский скальпель

Author: Denis Leonov (ragestack)
Contact: 466611@gmail.com

Blockchain Scalpel is a lightweight script for parsing raw blkXXXXX.dat
files of the Bitcoin blockchain database.

The tool provides direct access to blockchain data stored on disk and allows
exploring the main database as close as possible to its original binary
representation.

The parser is also compatible with many altcoins with minimal adjustments.

Overview

Blockchain Scalpel is a low-level blockchain data parser designed for research,
analysis, and infrastructure-level processing.

The project focuses on:

transparent and deterministic parsing
minimal dependencies
direct work with raw blockchain data
long-term maintainability

No third-party modules or libraries are required.
A standard Python installation is sufficient.

Installation

Install from PyPI

bash
pip install blockchain-scalpel

This will install the blockchain-scalpel command-line tool.

Manual usage

bash
python blockchain-parser.py <blocks_dir> <result_dir>

Usage

After installation from PyPI:

bash
blockchain-scalpel <blocks_dir> <result_dir>

This is equivalent to:

bash
python blockchain-parser.py <blocks_dir> <result_dir>

Where:

<blocks_dir> is the directory containing blkXXXXX.dat files
<result_dir> is the directory for parsed output

Typical Usage

academic and scientific research
grant-funded university projects
blockchain data analysis and forensics
internal analytics and data processing pipelines

The script converts the raw blockchain database stored in blkXXXXX.dat
files into a simple, human-readable format.

Make sure to configure the paths for:

input blkXXXXX.dat files
output directory for parsing results

Source Code

Repository:
https://github.com/ragestack/blockchain-parser

PyPI package:
https://pypi.org/project/blockchain-scalpel/

License

Important: License by version

Versions up to and including v1.0.0-gpl are licensed under GPL-3.0
Versions starting from v2.0.0 are distributed under the
Blockchain Scalpel License (source-available)

License summary (v2.0.0 and later)

Free for non-commercial use with mandatory attribution
Academic and grant-funded research is permitted
Commercial use requires a paid license
SaaS / cloud / hosted use is not permitted without a commercial license

See the full license text in the LICENSE file.

Commercial Licensing

Commercial licenses, including licenses permitting use in commercial
organizations or SaaS / cloud / hosted environments, are available under
negotiated terms.

For commercial licensing inquiries, contact:

Denis Leonov
466611@gmail.com