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Zcash’s problem
The issue is not Zcash’s design—its “zk-SNARKs” cryptography is very solid.
According to the researchers, a lot of the privacy coin’s woes can be, er, traced back to how very few Zcash users choose to make use of the “shielded pool” that stops outsiders from connecting the dots between transactions.
The issue is not Zcash’s design—its “zk-SNARKs” cryptography is very solid.
According to the researchers, a lot of the privacy coin’s woes can be, er, traced back to how very few Zcash users choose to make use of the “shielded pool” that stops outsiders from connecting the dots between transactions.
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Monero’s moment
None of this is to say that those who are hoping for privacy when they are making crypto payments need to give up and go back to cold, hard cash.
The university found that Monero’s approach means that it is “much harder” to trace transactions. This altcoin has existed since April 2014. One of its primary features involves a single-use address being generated every time a transaction is made. In January 2017, ring signatures were introduced to narrow traceability further. This concept effectively adds decoys so outsiders will find it much harder to deduce who authorized a transaction.
Although researchers found that a handful of XMR transactions are fully deducible, their study added: “The percentage of partially or fully deducible transactions has been nearly zero for over two years.” In part, Carnegie Mellon attributed Monero’s success to how it has been increasing the number of decoys involved in its ring signatures feature.
“The anonymity of Monero has evolved to a large extent in the recent few years,” the authors said. “Compared to the version three years ago, current Monero transactions can be conducted with superior anonymity with the introduction of new techniques like RingCT.”
None of this is to say that those who are hoping for privacy when they are making crypto payments need to give up and go back to cold, hard cash.
The university found that Monero’s approach means that it is “much harder” to trace transactions. This altcoin has existed since April 2014. One of its primary features involves a single-use address being generated every time a transaction is made. In January 2017, ring signatures were introduced to narrow traceability further. This concept effectively adds decoys so outsiders will find it much harder to deduce who authorized a transaction.
Although researchers found that a handful of XMR transactions are fully deducible, their study added: “The percentage of partially or fully deducible transactions has been nearly zero for over two years.” In part, Carnegie Mellon attributed Monero’s success to how it has been increasing the number of decoys involved in its ring signatures feature.
“The anonymity of Monero has evolved to a large extent in the recent few years,” the authors said. “Compared to the version three years ago, current Monero transactions can be conducted with superior anonymity with the introduction of new techniques like RingCT.”
https://modernconsensus.com/cryptocurrencies/alt-coins/without-a-trace-not-zcash-researchers-warn/
