Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S12W3 - The Mimblewimble protocol
Mimblewimble protocol is not less than a magical spell that is responsible for different transaction to occur more privately so it is something all about protection of money or financial privacy in other words.
Tom Elvis Jedusor was a special person's group who introduced this special protocol in 2016 named as Mimblewimble protocol. There was a need to address some of the issues related to privacy problems especially in traditional blockchain networks like Bitcoin.
On public ledger every transaction is recorded in a blockchain that's why everyone can see details of transactions but when we use mimblewimble protocol then it use cryptography techniques as well as coin join so that transaction may become or may remain more private.
Pedersen commitments are the type of tricks that are essential for conferential transactions. These tricks shows their commitment to those amount rather than showing actual amounts that are being sent by transactions because only sender and receiver are those who knows actual amounts and other persons than these can only sees these commitments.
Coin join is a further interesting step in wimble wimble protocol. It involves combining of multiple transactions into one big transaction so in this way inputs and outputs becomes more difficult to figure out regarding their association with each other. It is just like a puzzle game in which different pieces of puzzle game are placed randomly.
In mimbalwimble protocol there is no need or no requirement of third parties for the verification of transactions because all these things are done through cryptographic proofs. So everything remains private in this protocol without reliance upon others.
However if I talk about mimble wimble protocol then it is not adopted at wide scale still because it is comparatively new but privacy advocates are really finding it helpful for their security and privacy.Grin and beam are one of those cryptocurrencies that are implementing mimblewimble protocol.
Mimble wimble protocol use following method for working.
Creating the Transaction
First of all you have to take a piece of parchment and then you have to add transaction details that how many coins and at which address you want to send and it would also include a commitment that would be responsible for hiding that amount of coins you want to send so in this way your coins transaction would be invisible for others.
Confidential Transactions
Mimble wimble protocol used a trick which is called confidential transactions and due to use of this trick transaction nobody can see actual amount that are being sent to others. Some advanced mathematics tools are used for proving that combination of input and output in these transactions are equal without revealing actual amounts.
Cut-through
Mimbal wimble protocol also responsible for cut through process and it means that this process combines all transactions that are happening at similar time in a single block so that blockchain size may reduce and in this way it works more efficiency.
Transaction Validation
Miners and validators confirm that either the transactions are valid by making sure that commitments and sum of input and outputs match. After their checking or verification process they add these transactions into blockchain.
Privacy and Scalability
Mimblewimble protocol is responsible for privacy and scalability because after the use of complex mathematics no one can see actual amount of transactions except receiver and sender as I have already discussed it so in this way blockchain becomes more compact as blockchain can handle more transactions without getting too much big.
Illustrative example
Here below I am going to share and illustrative example:
Suppose if you are at a party and you want to give gift to your friend named Ali and Ali is not yet present in party but you also don't want to give that gift to any third person because you want to keep your gift as a secret between you and your friend Ali.
Here mimblewimble protocol would be applied in such a way:
Nimble wimble protocol would be implemented just like a box in which you can keep your gift you want to give to your friend Ali but you would not write actual gift that you want to give to him at outside of that box and you would write something else. (If actual gift is watch then you can write anything else than watch like a decoration piece or something yummy to eat). Another gift name or something else would be like a secret information or code that only you and Ali would know.
Suppose if there is someone else and he wants to give some money to his brother because he needs that money and he wants to transfer that money to his brother and he has two boxes in which he can put his money and there are two boxes available so he can put his money in both boxes but then he can combine that money in one box so that it may not looks like a burden to give money to brother into boxes so it is like a magical trick.
Now if we take first box in which there was gift and if we take second box in which there was money and when we mix up both these boxes then there is no one else who can tell that which box contains money and which box contains gift so it will became a puzzle game for others.
After that when Ali would open that box then he would know that from where this gift comes from and when brother opens box then he would receive money but no one in the party would actually know about all transactions and all secrets behind.
This whole process would remain very secret and there would be no need of any third person to organize this process. So that was an illustrative example about mingle wimble protocol.
Definitely using a mimblewimble protocol at steem blockchain could be very helpful for the improvement of privacy and scalability.
Steem Blockchain is facing more challenges regarding scalability because more and more users are joining this platform day by day and that's why definitely there is more and more need of transactions so in this way transactions are becoming slower but by the use of mimblewimble protocol this issue at this blockchain regarding scalability could be solved very easily.Mimblewimble protocol works By combining different transactions into single block so in this way it creates privacy also.
If we talk about steem then at this blockchain there are several uses that are working and making different transactions in the form of posting working and commenting on each others post so these transactions if done by using mimblewimble protocol,instead of making each transaction individually all transactions could be merge together into a single block which would be helpful in reduction of the size of blockchain and it would be more scalable then.
At steem blockchain enhancement of privacy is a big deals for user who are working there and it means that financial information of users are keep confidentially that can protect users from potential security threats.
There is a need of some technical changes if steem Blockchain wants to implement mimblewimble protocol.If steem community and developers put their hands together for implementing this protocol then nothing could be more powerful for the improvement of scalability and privacy at the platform.
Indeed mimblewimble protocol could be indeed a wonderful solution about addressing issues like privacy and scalability at Steem.
Here I'm discussing cryptography that use mimblewimble protocol.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC)
Elliptic curve cryptography is something at which mimblewimble protocol relies for its operations related to cryptography.Elliptic curves are used for the generation of public and private keys and these keys are used for the encryption and decryption of different informations and for signing transactions.
Pedersen Commitments
Pedersen commitments are those that are responsible for permitting users for hiding their amount that are being sent to others in different transactions if they want to hide but they also proves that transactions are valid and mathematics formulas are used by pedersen commitments so that they may create a commitment for hiding actual value.
Confidential Transactions
Confidential transactions use range proof which is the cryptographic technique for ensuring that sum of inputs and outputs in a transaction is valid without disclosing actual amount present in any transaction.
Schnorr Signatures
Schnorr signature is like a digital signature scheme used by mimble wimble protocol. It provides more authenticity to transactions by permitting users and allowing them to show that they are actual owners of their keys either they are private or public that are used in any transaction.
Cut-through
Mimble wimble protocol have a unique feature which is cut through feature and it is responsible for combining multiple transactions or group of transactions into a single block so that size of blockchain may not become too much big.
If all these cryptography techniques would work together then it would be more efficient for providing security,privacy, authenticity and scalability through mimble wimble protocol for ensuring of privacy of the users and blockchain remains more efficient in this way.
Mimblewimble protocol have many of its advantages as well as disadvantages so let's discuss them:
Advantages of Mimblewimble
Strong Privacy
This protocol is responsible for hiding transactions as well as amount of transactions that's why we can say that they provide confidential transactions because details of transactions are not shared with everyone and just remains in between sender and receiver.
Scalability
Mimblewimble protocol allows consolidation of transactions by using a specific technique called cut through in order of reducing size of blockchain and in this way scalability improves.
Fast Verification
Mimblewimble structure permit for faster verification of transactions and in this way network seems to be more efficient when it reduce time for confirmation that's why transactions are verified quickly here.
Disadvantages of Mimblewimble
Limited Scriptability
Mimblewimble protocol have little or limited scriptability because it doesn't support contracts which are complex like ethereum because it always remain more focused on privacy and scalability so for these things it doesn't have equal level of programmability.
Non-interactive Transaction Challenge
Mimblewimble don't handle non interactive transactions that's why transactions that require multiple parties to participate and don't require direct interaction is not supported by this protocol. So the use of this protocol could be limited in such type of scenarios.
Mimblewimble relies upon cryptographic assumptions so initial setup completion with security is very important step and initial setup of blockchain is important for prevention of vulnerability and for maintenance of security so there is a need of caution during setup process.
Greetings friend, you've presented a lovely contribution to this topic to my understanding.
I believe it is comparatively new that it causing the raising of brows on its use, cause it seems to be the solution to the secrecy the crypto world so desired, but then still fears it is too secretive.
When Litecoin, the biggest of all cryptos utilising this protocol first adopted its use, certain exchanges removed Litecoin from their trading pairs. Am I to guess they fear privacy?
Thank you so much for visiting my post and I am happy that you consider my post and all written information I mentioned as a lovely contribution in this contest and I want to clear that I just tried my best to share my maximum efforts and my knowledge with all of you and I am happy that you gain my knowledge which was my main motive
Mimblewimble protocol is really one of the most you need things that can be responsible for privacy and security of standard and receiver as well as if we say that it is not using at a wider scale then there would be nothing wrong in it because it is not using expensively but very soon with the passage of time and with the extent of desire it will be used at different blockchains
Yes you can say that certain exchanges have fear with privacy that's why they removed Litecoin from there trading pairs because there was a use of mimblewimble protocol in it. Overall I really enjoyed your comment and also enjoyed by giving you extensive reply hopefully you will also enjoy it and with this I want to say that I am waiting for your post and very soon I would visit your entry too
I also believe that this adoption can be done in the Steem blockchain where a relatively high level of privacy/secrecy could be adopted without having to allow third party access to transaction details.
Yes mimblewimble protocol can be implemented at steem blockchain if all users and specially developers of this blockchain work together with more efficiency then there would be a great level of privacy and scalability achieved at this blockchain I agree with this concept that you mention as well as I also agreed that after this amazing step there would no need of third party to make any transaction and I am helpful for these kind of development at steem blockchain
I want to say much more thanks to you that you give your time to my content and I am also hopeful to see a much better content from you and soon I would like to visit your entry but first I want to say thanks to you again
Exactly...At one point or the other, it is the option of a user to activate the privacy button if allowed. The era of third-party having full details on user wallet and transaction information should be a thing of option. Thank you for engaging...
I agree with everything that you are saying that Is Yorkie personal opinion of a user if he or she want to activate privacy button if allowed and according to me a third party should not have full details of volick and transaction information but I appreciate your concept and I also wish success to you and I also want to say thanks that you engage with me
Exactly my point... Thank you so much for the best wishes
Welcome 🤗
Very interesting post! Thoroughly enjoyed by me.
All that I knew before reading your post was the spell called "Mimblewimble" from Harry Potter. (•ิ‿•ิ)
Come to think of it, it is actually the perfect name, as in Harry Potter, the spell ties the person's tongue to prevent him or her from disclosing knowledge.
Will it be a solution for Steemit? That I cannot answer.
Good luck with the contest, and thank you for the invite!
Thank you so much for your most precious comment at my post and visiting my entry and I am really happy that you enjoyed my post and that was my aim to spread my knowledge to others as well as to not make everyone bore but I really want to make everyone happy through my interesting content.
I have a detailed answer of your question that would it be a solution for steemit to use mimblewimble protocol so yes definitely this protocol could be a solution of many problems related to privacy and scalability at this platform and if you would visit this question in which I mentioned detailed answer then you would be more aware about it
I will also love to visit your entry and I am anciously waiting for your entry in this contest also.Hope you would participate very well and thanks for all the wishes you have for me
I'm afraid that I am leaving this contest to the experts like you. I will learn from reading all the posts. (•ิ‿•ิ)
No matter if you consider that you are not much expert in explaining topic like this but one day when you would be hopeful about you then you would be able to do and achieve everything so next time I am hoping to see your content also in crypto related topics
Yes boss! (•ิ‿•ิ)
Greetings friends thanks for sharing your insight with us about this blockchain it is true that blockchain transactions are public and decentralized but mimblewimble protocol is different as it protects users transaction from public access you have also given good examples of how transaction work using mimblewimble cryptographic feature and highlight it good and negative sides thanks for the share all the best to you friend.
I am very thankful to you that you give your precious time to my post and you understand everything easily it is much good thing than this
I agree with you that this protocol is different because it protects users transactions in a different way from public and give access to transaction details to just sended and receiver which is a good thing but some people also consider it bad because its spoils the transparency for all public but over all I appreciate this protocol
I wish you good luck in this engagement challenge and I also visit it your entry which was quite information I wish you success again for this engagement challenge and for your future also and hope to see original content from you always
Aoa Dear Engagement Participant!
You have shared to us in detail and deep acknowledgement about Mimblewimble protocol along with very easy to understand the actual concept of it by adding example of confidential gifts . That's represents the private and secure assets . You also logically mentioned benefits and drawbacks of them. Over all you performed well. Wish you good luck.
Thank you so much for your valuable comment on my post and I am happy that you consider my post a detailed way of explaining every question and you pic answer of each question in your best way which is much appreciating for me
This protocol works by using cryptographic keys and ways and the more there would be cryptography involvement the more there would be the efficiency of this protocol as I have explained its working also by explaining and illustrative and interesting example so that everyone may easily understand what I want to say and yes you are true in your way that this protocol provides more privacy and security
I am happy if you like my performance and I also wish you good luck and success in your participation which I have already visited and that was also informative