DASH - Reading Assignment

Privacy Coins - Ultimate Course
#221

:one: What information does PrivateSend conceal, and by what method?

PrivateSend conceals information about who the sender and receiver are for a given transaction (in the final sense). It’s the CoinJoin solution proposed by Maxwell, for the Dash Masternode system.

:two: How do masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal?

The masternodes improve on the first CoinJoin proposal by making the total amount to be sent of the denomination, such that transaction anonymity is further increased.
In this system, the masternodes collects the coins and mixes them, rather than requiring someone to construct the transaction, which people can join.

:three: Alice send some DASH to Bob using PrivateSend. Describe how an attacker could link their addresses.

If the attacker runs a masternode, they have the ability to observe the mapping, and can see the sender and receiver addresses.

:four: In what way could PrivateSend be more risky than a normal Bitcoin Transaction?

When the masternodes are run by the people/organizations users wish to stay anonymous from, it somewhat defeats the purpose of attempting to stay anonymous.
These can be governments, insurance/data analysis companies, or acquaintances.

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#222

  1. PrivateSend conceals the sender of the transaction by mixing the coins by using Coinjoin.

  2. Masternodes improve on the first Coinjoin proposal by collecting the coin and mixing them without requiring someone to construct the CoinJoin transaction.

  3. An attacker can run for take over a masternode and could trace down all mixing rounds and find out the sender and recipient addresses.

  4. The centralized nature of Coinjoin, masternodes could be ran by organizations/governments/individuals bad intentioned. It involves trusting the masternode.

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#223 
1. What information does PrivateSend conceal, and by what method?

PrivateSend conceal sender address, reciver address and transaction ammount.
It does this by it makes change into even ammounts. This works similarly to CoinJoin , only Dash uses master nodes(they receive „no identy).It seperate mixinig at each denomination.

2. How do masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal?

Masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal by it collects and mixes transactions and signs in advance. There is no risk failure risk (theft of funds). Automate maching TX.

3. Alice send some DASH to Bob using PrivateSend. Describe how an attacker could link their addresses.

Even – changed outputs are a dustig attack. It is also possible to compromise the masternode .

4. In what way could PrivateSend be more risky than a normal Bitcoin Transaction?

This is riskier because we have to trust the masternode , it creates transactions and sees everything. It can be corrupted.It can be run, by someone who has no intention of protecting our privacy, but just wants to spy on us.

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#224

  1. PrivateSend is a feature of the cryptocurrency Dash that allows users to send and receive payments in a way that conceals the identity of the sender and recipient, as well as the amount being sent. PrivateSend works by using a process called CoinJoin, which mixes the inputs of multiple transactions together in order to obscure their origin.

  2. Masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal by providing a decentralized way to mix transactions, rather than relying on a single central server.

  3. An attacker could potentially link the addresses of Alice and Bob in a PrivateSend transaction by analyzing the transaction data on the Dash blockchain and attempting to identify patterns or anomalies that might reveal the source or destination of the funds. This could potentially be done by analyzing the transaction inputs and outputs, as well as the timing and sequence of the transactions.

  4. PrivateSend could be considered more risky than a normal Bitcoin transaction because it relies on the anonymity of a group of users, rather than the anonymity of a single individual. If the anonymity of any one of the users in the group is compromised, it could potentially reveal the identities of all the other users as well. In addition, PrivateSend transactions are generally larger and more complex than normal Bitcoin transactions, which could potentially make them more vulnerable to attack or analysis.

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#225

  1. What information does PrivateSend conceal, and by what method?
    PrivateSend hides the sender and receivers’ information for each transaction. Masternodes are used to power CoinJoin, InstantSend, and the governance and treasury system

  2. How do masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal?
    The masternodes offer decentralization and a trustless system.

  3. Alice send some DASH to Bob using PrivateSend. Describe how an attacker could link their
    addresses.
    If the masternode is compromised by an attacker.

  4. In what way could PrivateSend be more risky than a normal Bitcoin Transaction?
    The masternode or masternodes become compromised by an attacker.

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#226

What information does PrivateSend conceal, and by what method?

PrivateSend is a feature in the Dash Electrum Wallet, which gives privacy by keeping the amount anonymized and the number of PrivateSend rounds (mixing) through a process of splitting the user’s balance into a bunch of predefined denominations before spending, CoinJoin.

How do masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal?

Masternodes gives financial privacy through a decentralized implementation of CoinJoin.

Alice send some DASH to Bob using PrivateSend. Describe how an attacker could link their addresses.

An Attackeer could kack the masternode and have access to the sending and receiving addresses.

In what way could PrivateSend be more risky than a normal Bitcoin Transaction?

PrivateSend could be more risky because there needs to be trust of the Masternode operator.

#227

  1. What information does PrivateSend conceal, and by what method?
    PrivateSend conceals the sender, receiver, and amount of a transaction by using a method based on CoinJoin. It mixes the inputs of multiple users’ transactions, making it difficult to trace the flow of funds back to the original sender.

  2. How do masternodes improve on the initial CoinJoin proposal?
    Masternodes improve upon the initial CoinJoin proposal by automating the mixing process. Unlike traditional CoinJoin, which requires a central party to construct the transaction, masternodes in the Dash network facilitate the mixing without needing a trusted third party. This decentralized approach enhances security and privacy.

  3. Alice send some DASH to Bob using PrivateSend. Describe how an attacker could link their addresses.
    An attacker could potentially link Alice’s and Bob’s addresses if they were able to compromise or take control of a masternode involved in the mixing process. Since masternodes facilitate the transaction mixing, a compromised masternode could allow an attacker to trace the transaction flow.

  4. In what way could PrivateSend be more risky than a normal Bitcoin Transaction?
    PrivateSend could be considered more risky than a normal Bitcoin transaction due to the reliance on masternodes for the mixing process. If a masternode acts maliciously or is compromised, it could potentially affect the anonymity of the users involved in the mixing process. This centralized point of potential failure introduces a unique risk compared to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin transactions.