Anonymous micropayments in blokcheyne improve "Lightning"

Can blokcheyne micropayments to be fast, distributed and private?

This question to answer, researchers from Johns Hopkins University. The document prepared by them describes a method of increasing anonymity micropayments network.

The study authors Matthew Green and Jan Myers, analyzed levels of privacy micro-channels have suggested a new scheme for fast transactions, called "Lightning". The authors are confident that they have developed technology will provide "private, instant, anonymous payments."

While efforts to increase privacy now largely focused on payments Bitcoins, improvements can be achieved thanks to the higher-level architecture. The document notes that the issue of confidentiality in the network, like Lightning Network, is not in the spotlight, although in terms of attracting new users are key just such a network.

Myers, also known as the developer of anonymous cryptocurrency Zcash protocol zerocoin, told us that the question posed by researchers, can be formulated as follows: "Can we build something like the Lightning, while ensuring privacy?"

Three restrictions

Myers believes that cryptocurrency have three major limitations: scalability, limiting the number of new users, low speed transaction confirmation (about 10 minutes for Bitcoins and 2.5 for Zcash), as well as the privacy of transactions.

Such micro-network as Lightning Network or Thunder Network, solve the first two problems by carrying out transactions on a different level. Instead of recording all transactions in blokcheyn, the user uses a special channel, making transactions in blokcheyn only when necessary.

Supporters of this approach argue that it not only solves the scalability problem, but also allows you to perform many other tasks without the help of intermediaries.

Finally, there remains the problem of privacy, which promises to deal with the long-awaited cryptocurrency Zcash, which was released on again did not take place last week.

The study's authors argue that the information on the sender and recipient of the payment can be hidden through a micropayment channel, but not too spread about how to hide data about the channel.

"Lightning" Project A recent blog post gives some clarification on this: "The Internet of things there is a concept of a unique identifier, which allows to track any participant. Protect privacy by default will not allow the viewer (such as the outgoing Tor node) to know exactly who belongs to the identifier. However, repeated payments are always linked to a specific channel. "

Researchers believe that this is quite enough for the disclosure of information about the person's identity or activities in the network.

Anonymous Lightning

This problem and eliminates the "Lightning", making the payment is not related to any of the channels.

"You make a payment without disclosing information about themselves," - explains Jan Myers.
Make the Internet of things when using anonymous micro-channels, you can use two long-known cryptographic techniques. One of them - "obligation" - to hide the amount of the payment, with the help of another, called "blind signature", you can sign the transaction without revealing what is signed.

"Lightning" is working with bidirectional channels micropayments, where the parties are connected directly with each other. But as long as it has one major limitation: it does not work distribution as developers had hoped.

Myers said payment channel can in principle be centralized, but in such networks as the Lightning, the user data must be protected.

And "Lightning" is ready to provide such protection.

"If the Lightning will interest even more players - in the long run, we obtain an analogue of Visa or Mastercard, which will have to be trusted to work with your money and all your transactions will be visible, - he said, adding: -" Lightning "gives us confidence that outsiders do not get any data. "

The future of "Lightning"

Jan Myers sees in the "Lightning" and channels micropayment solution to the key problems hindering Bitcoin and other digital currencies. And as soon as he and his colleagues plan and build a prototype for subsequent incorporation into a variety of cryptocurrency.

The study's authors believe that the project will be able to work with any cryptocurrency supporting the necessary cryptographic algorithms.

In particular, the project blog notes that Bitcoin is already compatible with the "Lightning" because it has "support obligation and MPC technology for the blind signatures using ECDSA".

However, while the "Lightning" and provides neotslezhivaemost payments on the same channel, its a bunch of blokcheynom in Bitcoin remains unprotected, which gives every reason to believe Myers more promising anonymous cryptocurrency like Zcash, the developer of which he is.