monero-docs/public/todo/confidential-transactions/index.html

954 lines
No EOL
24 KiB
HTML

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en" class="no-js">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">
<meta name="description" content="Unofficial Monero Documentation">
<meta name="author" content="Piotr 'Qertoip' Włodarek">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://monerodocs.org/todo/confidential-transactions/">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="../../assets/images/favicon.png">
<meta name="generator" content="mkdocs-1.1.2, mkdocs-material-6.2.5">
<title>Confidential transactions - Monero Documentation</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../../assets/stylesheets/main.15aa0b43.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../../assets/stylesheets/palette.75751829.min.css">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,400,400i,700%7CRoboto+Mono&display=fallback">
<style>body,input{font-family:"Roboto",-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif}code,kbd,pre{font-family:"Roboto Mono",SFMono-Regular,Consolas,Menlo,monospace}</style>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../../overrides.css">
</head>
<body dir="ltr" data-md-color-scheme="" data-md-color-primary="white" data-md-color-accent="indigo">
<input class="md-toggle" data-md-toggle="drawer" type="checkbox" id="__drawer" autocomplete="off">
<input class="md-toggle" data-md-toggle="search" type="checkbox" id="__search" autocomplete="off">
<label class="md-overlay" for="__drawer"></label>
<div data-md-component="skip">
</div>
<div data-md-component="announce">
</div>
<header class="md-header" data-md-component="header">
<nav class="md-header-nav md-grid" aria-label="Header">
<a href="https://monerodocs.org" title="Monero Documentation" class="md-header-nav__button md-logo" aria-label="Monero Documentation">
<img src="../../images/monero.svg" alt="logo">
</a>
<label class="md-header-nav__button md-icon" for="__drawer">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M3 6h18v2H3V6m0 5h18v2H3v-2m0 5h18v2H3v-2z"/></svg>
</label>
<div class="md-header-nav__title" data-md-component="header-title">
<div class="md-header-nav__ellipsis">
<div class="md-header-nav__topic">
<span class="md-ellipsis">
Monero Documentation
</span>
</div>
<div class="md-header-nav__topic">
<span class="md-ellipsis">
Confidential transactions
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<label class="md-header-nav__button md-icon" for="__search">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M9.5 3A6.5 6.5 0 0116 9.5c0 1.61-.59 3.09-1.56 4.23l.27.27h.79l5 5-1.5 1.5-5-5v-.79l-.27-.27A6.516 6.516 0 019.5 16 6.5 6.5 0 013 9.5 6.5 6.5 0 019.5 3m0 2C7 5 5 7 5 9.5S7 14 9.5 14 14 12 14 9.5 12 5 9.5 5z"/></svg>
</label>
<div class="md-search" data-md-component="search" role="dialog">
<label class="md-search__overlay" for="__search"></label>
<div class="md-search__inner" role="search">
<form class="md-search__form" name="search">
<input type="text" class="md-search__input" name="query" aria-label="Search" placeholder="Search" autocapitalize="off" autocorrect="off" autocomplete="off" spellcheck="false" data-md-component="search-query" data-md-state="active" required>
<label class="md-search__icon md-icon" for="__search">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M9.5 3A6.5 6.5 0 0116 9.5c0 1.61-.59 3.09-1.56 4.23l.27.27h.79l5 5-1.5 1.5-5-5v-.79l-.27-.27A6.516 6.516 0 019.5 16 6.5 6.5 0 013 9.5 6.5 6.5 0 019.5 3m0 2C7 5 5 7 5 9.5S7 14 9.5 14 14 12 14 9.5 12 5 9.5 5z"/></svg>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M20 11v2H8l5.5 5.5-1.42 1.42L4.16 12l7.92-7.92L13.5 5.5 8 11h12z"/></svg>
</label>
<button type="reset" class="md-search__icon md-icon" aria-label="Clear" data-md-component="search-reset" tabindex="-1">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M19 6.41L17.59 5 12 10.59 6.41 5 5 6.41 10.59 12 5 17.59 6.41 19 12 13.41 17.59 19 19 17.59 13.41 12 19 6.41z"/></svg>
</button>
</form>
<div class="md-search__output">
<div class="md-search__scrollwrap" data-md-scrollfix>
<div class="md-search-result" data-md-component="search-result">
<div class="md-search-result__meta">
Initializing search
</div>
<ol class="md-search-result__list"></ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="md-header-nav__source">
<a href="https://github.com/monerodocs/md/" title="Go to repository" class="md-source">
<div class="md-source__icon md-icon">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 512"><path d="M439.55 236.05L244 40.45a28.87 28.87 0 00-40.81 0l-40.66 40.63 51.52 51.52c27.06-9.14 52.68 16.77 43.39 43.68l49.66 49.66c34.23-11.8 61.18 31 35.47 56.69-26.49 26.49-70.21-2.87-56-37.34L240.22 199v121.85c25.3 12.54 22.26 41.85 9.08 55a34.34 34.34 0 01-48.55 0c-17.57-17.6-11.07-46.91 11.25-56v-123c-20.8-8.51-24.6-30.74-18.64-45L142.57 101 8.45 235.14a28.86 28.86 0 000 40.81l195.61 195.6a28.86 28.86 0 0040.8 0l194.69-194.69a28.86 28.86 0 000-40.81z"/></svg>
</div>
<div class="md-source__repository">
monerodocs/md
</div>
</a>
</div>
</nav>
</header>
<div class="md-container" data-md-component="container">
<main class="md-main" data-md-component="main">
<div class="md-main__inner md-grid">
<div class="md-sidebar md-sidebar--primary" data-md-component="navigation" >
<div class="md-sidebar__scrollwrap">
<div class="md-sidebar__inner">
<nav class="md-nav md-nav--primary" aria-label="Navigation" data-md-level="0">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="__drawer">
<a href="https://monerodocs.org" title="Monero Documentation" class="md-nav__button md-logo" aria-label="Monero Documentation">
<img src="../../images/monero.svg" alt="logo">
</a>
Monero Documentation
</label>
<div class="md-nav__source">
<a href="https://github.com/monerodocs/md/" title="Go to repository" class="md-source">
<div class="md-source__icon md-icon">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 512"><path d="M439.55 236.05L244 40.45a28.87 28.87 0 00-40.81 0l-40.66 40.63 51.52 51.52c27.06-9.14 52.68 16.77 43.39 43.68l49.66 49.66c34.23-11.8 61.18 31 35.47 56.69-26.49 26.49-70.21-2.87-56-37.34L240.22 199v121.85c25.3 12.54 22.26 41.85 9.08 55a34.34 34.34 0 01-48.55 0c-17.57-17.6-11.07-46.91 11.25-56v-123c-20.8-8.51-24.6-30.74-18.64-45L142.57 101 8.45 235.14a28.86 28.86 0 000 40.81l195.61 195.6a28.86 28.86 0 0040.8 0l194.69-194.69a28.86 28.86 0 000-40.81z"/></svg>
</div>
<div class="md-source__repository">
monerodocs/md
</div>
</a>
</div>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../.." class="md-nav__link">
Home
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-2" type="checkbox" id="nav-2" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-2">
Interacting
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Interacting" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-2">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Interacting
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/download-monero-binaries/" class="md-nav__link">
Download
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/verify-monero-binaries/" class="md-nav__link">
Verify
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/overview/" class="md-nav__link">
Overview
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monero-config-file/" class="md-nav__link">
Config file
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monerod-reference/" class="md-nav__link">
monerod
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monero-wallet-cli-reference/" class="md-nav__link">
monero-wallet-cli
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monero-wallet-gui-reference/" class="md-nav__link">
monero-wallet-gui
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monero-wallet-rpc-reference/" class="md-nav__link">
monero-wallet-rpc
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monero-blockchain-export-reference/" class="md-nav__link">
monero-blockchain-export
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../interacting/monero-blockchain-import-reference/" class="md-nav__link">
monero-blockchain-import
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../technical-specs/" class="md-nav__link">
Technical specs
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-4" type="checkbox" id="nav-4" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-4">
Cryptography
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Cryptography" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-4">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Cryptography
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/introduction/" class="md-nav__link">
Introduction
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-4-2" type="checkbox" id="nav-4-2" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-4-2">
Asymmetric
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Asymmetric" data-md-level="2">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-4-2">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Asymmetric
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/asymmetric/introduction/" class="md-nav__link">
Introduction
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/asymmetric/private-key/" class="md-nav__link">
Private keys
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/asymmetric/public-key/" class="md-nav__link">
Public keys
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/asymmetric/edwards25519/" class="md-nav__link">
Edwards25519 curve
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/asymmetric/key-image/" class="md-nav__link">
Key image
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/base58/" class="md-nav__link">
Base58
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/prng/" class="md-nav__link">
PRNG
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../cryptography/keccak-256/" class="md-nav__link">
Keccak-256
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-5" type="checkbox" id="nav-5" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-5">
Address
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Address" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-5">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Address
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../public-address/standard-address/" class="md-nav__link">
Standard
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../public-address/subaddress/" class="md-nav__link">
Subaddress
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../public-address/integrated-address/" class="md-nav__link">
Integrated
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-6" type="checkbox" id="nav-6" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-6">
Proof of Work
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Proof of Work" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-6">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Proof of Work
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../proof-of-work/what-is-pow/" class="md-nav__link">
What is PoW?
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../proof-of-work/pow-in-cryptocurrencies/" class="md-nav__link">
PoW in Cryptocurrencies
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../proof-of-work/cryptonight/" class="md-nav__link">
CryptoNight
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../proof-of-work/random-x/" class="md-nav__link">
RandomX
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../multisignature/" class="md-nav__link">
Multisignature
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-8" type="checkbox" id="nav-8" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-8">
Infrastructure
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Infrastructure" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-8">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Infrastructure
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../infrastructure/networks/" class="md-nav__link">
Mainnet, stagenet, testnet
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../infrastructure/tor-onion-p2p-seed-nodes/" class="md-nav__link">
Tor onion seed nodes
</a>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../infrastructure/monero-pulse/" class="md-nav__link">
MoneroPulse
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-9" type="checkbox" id="nav-9" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-9">
Running a Node
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Running a Node" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-9">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Running a Node
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../running-node/open-node-tor-onion/" class="md-nav__link">
Open Node + Tor Onion
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
<li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--nested">
<input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle" data-md-toggle="nav-10" type="checkbox" id="nav-10" >
<label class="md-nav__link" for="nav-10">
Accepting Monero
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
</label>
<nav class="md-nav" aria-label="Accepting Monero" data-md-level="1">
<label class="md-nav__title" for="nav-10">
<span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span>
Accepting Monero
</label>
<ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix>
<li class="md-nav__item">
<a href="../../accepting-monero/overview/" class="md-nav__link">
Overview
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="md-content">
<article class="md-content__inner md-typeset">
<a href="https://github.com/monerodocs/md/edit/master/docs/todo/confidential-transactions.md" title="Edit this page" class="md-content__button md-icon">
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M20.71 7.04c.39-.39.39-1.04 0-1.41l-2.34-2.34c-.37-.39-1.02-.39-1.41 0l-1.84 1.83 3.75 3.75M3 17.25V21h3.75L17.81 9.93l-3.75-3.75L3 17.25z"/></svg>
</a>
<h1>Confidential transactions</h1>
<p>Pieter Wuille on CT:</p>
<p>In a system that uses CT, if someone finds a break in the fundamental security of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), he can print money. Worse, because the amounts are all private, he can do so undetectably. That's an existential threat for a currency which has controlled inflation as prime goal.</p>
<p>Such a break would be dangerous for Bitcoin (even without CT) regardless, as it relies on ECC for protecting against theft. However, Bitcoin can migrate to use a different signature scheme if necessary. It would be chaotic, but not necessarily pose an existential risk.</p>
<p>There are people who agree with this perspective. It's a mathematical fact that any privacy system that hides amounts and is built on top of ECC will at least have one of the properties below:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code>An ECC break will permit printing money undetectaby.
An ECC break will permit deanonymizing amounts in the historical chain.
</code></pre></div>
<p>In other words:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code>An ECC break means the currency can undetectably be inflated (going forward).
An ECC break means the ledger&#39;s history can retroactively be deanonymized (goin backward).
</code></pre></div>
<p>So we are faced with a choice between those two regardless if we want better privacy. Some people believe the second is worse than the first, and choosing the first actually allows for more efficient technology. This is a choice that Zcash, Monero, Grin, all make. CT with Bulletproofs would do the same.</p>
<p>However, regardless of your own opinion in this matter, Bitcoin's evolution is a large collaborative process, where such fundamental changes need buy-in from large parts of the ecosystem. My fear is that the question of giving up the ability to exactly audit the monetary supply is going to make it hard to make CT acceptable.</p>
<p>Furthermore, there are other challenges. CT makes transactions larger, slower to verify, and poses a very significant engineering challenge to incorporate into Bitcoin without breaking backward compatibility.</p>
<p>++++</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Also, is there any possible system that can have unconditional soundness and privacy at the same time (something other than ECC obviously)?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No, that's mathematically impossible.</p>
</article>
</div>
</div>
</main>
<footer class="md-footer">
<div class="md-footer-meta md-typeset">
<div class="md-footer-meta__inner md-grid">
<div class="md-footer-copyright">
Made with
<a href="https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
Material for MkDocs
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</footer>
</div>
<script src="../../assets/javascripts/vendor.93c04032.min.js"></script>
<script src="../../assets/javascripts/bundle.83e5331e.min.js"></script><script id="__lang" type="application/json">{"clipboard.copy": "Copy to clipboard", "clipboard.copied": "Copied to clipboard", "search.config.lang": "en", "search.config.pipeline": "trimmer, stopWordFilter", "search.config.separator": "[\\s\\-]+", "search.placeholder": "Search", "search.result.placeholder": "Type to start searching", "search.result.none": "No matching documents", "search.result.one": "1 matching document", "search.result.other": "# matching documents", "search.result.more.one": "1 more on this page", "search.result.more.other": "# more on this page", "search.result.term.missing": "Missing"}</script>
<script>
app = initialize({
base: "../..",
features: [],
search: Object.assign({
worker: "../../assets/javascripts/worker/search.8c7e0a7e.min.js"
}, typeof search !== "undefined" && search)
})
</script>
</body>
</html>