Beam - The New Generation Blockchain For Full Privacy, Fast and Secure Transactions

Introduction

The possibilities of blockchain technology are endless and it is already defining the way we store, manage and use our funds. The blockchains does the work of storing our data securely and carrying out transactions securely without the introduction of a third party.

While blockchain offers the needed security, it doesnt have the efficacy to keep us anonymous from the prying eyes of the internet because all transactions on the blockchain are visible to the public. Which means that a careful analysis of this data can expose the identity of the owner. Who knows what other technologies are capable of???

So the question for numerous users of the blockchain is; How are you sure you are not being monitored presently? In otherwords, the big picture is; How do you verify your privacy?

The much neglected privacy issue : The talking point

Privacy is a right that every man deserves whether living on the internet or otherwise.
The inventor of the blockchain will certainly agree with me on this account as his anonymity more than his invention has won him the prestige of god-like statue in the eyes of many. Yet they claim the man has one million bitcoin in his safe, although I dont know how true is this claim but What a power! To be rich and anonymous without any trace!

Even yet, the blockchain which he built cannot rival his level of anonymity. And since his identity is not known, so how can you steal from his 1 million Bitcoin or defraud him or threaten him through any means possible just so you get a tip of his richbag.

The truth is the internet has many channels through which it users can be exposed to cyber criminal attacks of varrying length and degree and the blockchain is not an exception because a lot of new business who will be integrated in the near future into the blockchain mainstream can serve as the weak channel for cyber criminals to filtrate users information and perpetrate attack.

Therefore, this means that privacy pose a big risk to blockchain mass adoption. The solution is to allow users manage their transactional details with different parties. A technology that provides solution to privacy issue is BEAM

What Is BEAM

BEAM is a new decentralized, fast and scalable blockchain based on the MimbleWimble protocol

Beam is built to allow users choose the way the blockchain will publish their transactional history, either public or private.

While the bitcoin generic blockchain publish transactional history publicly, Beam is a fully-private cryptocurrency which act as a private blockchain by default unless the user choose to make it public.

The Chart Below Shows How BEAM Compares with Other Blockchain

How Beam Drives A Full Privacy and Scalable Blockchain

Privacy along with scalability is an inherent feature of the MimbleWimble protocol which makes it ideal for mass adoption. Inorder to fully understand how this user control their privacy using the Beam blockchain, we need to understand the two concepts at the core of MimbleWimble protocol

• Confidential Transactions

The MimbleWimble ensures user privacy by maintaining a confidential transaction because the blockchain doesnt keep a record of the users address, It ONLY keeps a record of the cryptographic commit generated after each transaction.

          The two properties of the cryptographic commitment scheme are
          
         Hiding
           Hiding acts to conceal the transaction history from the receiver 
           unless the sender authorizes it via a commit scheme

         Binding
           Binding allows the receiver to view the transaction history 
           once the sender authorizes activates the commit via his key

While the MimbleWimble uses the Pedersen commitment scheme to solve the problem of privacy using this formular

     C = r * G + v * H

    where 
    r is a binding factor, 
    v a secret hiding value, 
    G and H are generator point on a    
    specific elliptic curve

• Transaction Cut-Through

The blockchain is sufficiently scaled and fast enough to accomodate more users due to its ability to cut-through intermediate block which means that there is no need to verify all the nodes before a transaction is registered on the blockchain.

Therefore, the blockchain only keeps the present state of a transaction or the UTXO
(Unspent Transaction Output) state and not the entire history like the generic blockchain.

Potential Solutions Offered via the Beam Blockchain

Full Privacy

Beam via the hiding and blinding mechanism of the MimbleWimble Protocol is able to drive a full privacy blockchain option for it users who choose how the blockchain processes their transactional details.

Fast And Scalable Blockchain

The MimbleWimble protocol which is designed to keep only the present state of a transaction allows the beam blockchain to process transactions in a very short time because of reduced number of blocks and nodes involve in processing

Secure and decentralized

Just like your generic bitcoin blockchain, there is no single point of control in the Beam blockchain as well. Giving users maximum control and security.

Escrow Service

This is a usecase that is derivable from the use of the platform by users as the commit scheme mechanism can be channelled to pay a party once a service has being met

Atomic Swaps

Converting one cryptocurrency to another is enabled on the wallet while the Beam blockchain makes it fast!

How it Works

The flow diagram below summarise how the privacy option can be activated via their mobile/desktop supported wallets

Full Benefits of the Beam Blockchain

• Privacy
• Fast and secure transaction
• Scalable blockchain
• Open Sourced for contributors
• Escrow and time locked transactions
• Atomic Swaps
• Written in C++ from scratch
• Untraceable transaction history
• User controlled privacy

Use Cases

Disbursement/Loan Office

In an average company setting, In other to avoid unnecessary emnity between staff; it is important to disburse their settlement in a confidential manner away from the prying eyes of the public.

The same thing applies when applying for a loan online via the blockchain. Beam comes to the rescue for company looking to offer this services on the blockchain.

Conclusion

Because the internet connects everything together. Exposing one's identity cheaply through online activity can give large access to cyber criminals.

This is why it is impertinent to remain anonymous in platforms which anonymity is key, what more than the blockchain where we store and manage our funds.

Useful Links And Resources

• _{Beam Website}
• _{Beam Youtube}
• _{Beam Position Paper}
• _{Beam Bitcointalk}
• _{WimbleMimble Paper}
• _{Beam Medium}
• _{Beam Telegram}

Feel Free to join this contest here
Link to twitter post
beam2018