Homework on UTXO vs Account Model

Ethereum 101
#1065

Homework on UTXO vs Account Model - Questions

  1. The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit?

More transactions in a block, less fees, faster

  1. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?

You can actually see the details of the transaction from where to where, in UTXO model it is almost impossible who is sending money to whom as the transaction can have multiple outputs

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#1066
  1. if each TX done on ETH needs much lesser space thant UTXO on BTC, more TX fit on one block, making the whole system more sutiable for TX and practical use
    2.the history cannot be traced back like for BTC, its more simple and all TX public known, one gets a balance (comparable to a bank-account) - different from BTC. Also not possible to execute TX to yourself and another recipient in one, like the BTC allows doing.
2 Likes
#1067
  1. the account model on Ethereum does not have outputs or inputs. It’s just a moving of funds from an account to another. The numbers are updated on the database or blockchain. The tx takes less space and is faster.
  2. At the Ethereum blockchain we can see exactly what amount was sent and to which address. It’s a little less private than BTC, because on the Bitcoin blockchain we can send funds to someone and to ourselves at the same time making it harder to know which one is who and that can slow down the blockchain.
1 Like
#1068
  1. The benefit is that it is far easier to write (speed and less cost)
  2. In the UTXO model you can make a transaction where often you end by sending money back to you , without anybody being able to see this. In Ethereum you can only send the exact amount from address A to B which is for all to see. You could naturally own both adresses but it is far less flexible then the UTXO model.
1 Like
#1069

  1. The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit?

    The ETH network can function faster with less space in transactions and lower fees will be applied

  2. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?

    The account model is 1:1 and the receiver/sender can be identified whereas UTXOs in BTC have potentially many inputs/ouputs that can’t be as easily pinpointed.

1 Like
#1070
  1. The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit?
    The whole processing of transactions will be a lot faster which is always a benefit in transactions and blockchains.
  2. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?
    With the UTXO model you can send money to another person and yourself in the same transaction. So it’s really difficult to find where a certain coin came from. I didn’t understand this one too well. So where does provenance fit in this? Is provenance just for some blockchain and with bitcoin you cannot always have access to where a coin come from? Thanks to anyone who could help with this :slight_smile:)
1 Like
#1071

I can not wrap my head around this: with the UTXO’s model from bitcoin you have great privacy because you can spreads the outputs into different addresses like the sender’s and maybe back to you or different ones. But at the same time you can track each UTXO back to the initial miner. Is that correct? Does the privacy consist only of the anonymity of the input and output addresses? If so, is it not the same with ethereum?

1 Like
#1072

  1. The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit?
    This does not weigh down the network as much, allowing additional space for more transactions and smart contracts.

  2. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?
    UTXO based transactions can consist of many different outputs, one of which will be sent back to the sender’s address. This obscures the path of specific funds. The account model more simply sends funds from person a to person b, making it easy to track.

1 Like
#1073
  1. Account model is stored on nodes locally, not transferred with blocks. It can update the balance. It can control the transaction.
  2. Account model transaction contain only an event not a specified input and output state. Private Key is lacking. It can’t distinguish between coins.
#1074

2. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?

The UTXO is based on inputs and outputs, where the funds come from, where the funds goes (provenance).

Even the fact of sending funds back to yourself, means an output with a input, so you can send 1 BTC (1 input) divided for 8 persons, 0.1 BTC per person = 0.8 BTC for persons (8 outputs). The rest 0.2 BTC will be automatically sent to another address that you control from your private keys, so it counts has another output. Inputs must be spent completely, there is no way to spent like 80% of an input (0.8 BTC), this is why if you spend that 80% to persons, the 20% goes back to yourself in another address (create a new input with the rest of the funds 0.2 BTC).

From the human perspective, is quite hard to follow the track of 1 input with 9 outputs. This is when some kind of privacy comes from, since 1/9 output is yourself and 8/9 are the persons. How can you track from the outside which belongs to who?

The Account Model is quite easy to track the provenance of a wallet/account, since you can track “from, to, quantity, hash, time” on the blockchain in a way more simple than UTXO.

Hope this gives you a clear view of the subject, keep learning! :

If you have any doubt, please let us know so we can help you!

Carlos Z.

2 Likes
#1075

  1. The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit? The account model enables blocks to have more storage efficiency to help process blocks faster, and have smaller tx’s which results in smaller fees

  2. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy? With the Ethereum blockchain account model you can see and track every tx’s, but with UTXO’s you are able to you can have multiple outputs with one transaction making it hard for public to know who is being paid.

1 Like
#1076

1.Block size is smaller which makes it faster

  1. Utxo’s can be traced as transactions back to their origin Ethereum account model is more fungible
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#1077
  1. You can add more transaction data in the same block size
  2. Because you cannot send money to yourself, ubless you’re the owner of the receiving wallet as well. In bitcoin that is possible because it can give you ‘change’. By gicving change you never know what UTXO is being sent to whom. With Ethereum it is always the exact amount from a wallet to another
1 Like
#1078

The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit?
Less space per transaction make more transactions per block and higher transaction speed.

How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?
With UTXO transactions it is possible to split one transaction to more adresses. So you can not see which transaction is going to who. One of the transactions can go to down adress. With the account model from ethereum it is just a transaction from on account to another so it is better traceable and less private.

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#1079

As the Account model requires less space than the UTXO model there is the benefit of being able to fit more transactions into a block.

Alternatively the Account model is not as private as UTXO as there is no way to send “change” back to the same wallet in the same transaction.

1 Like
#1080

Homework on UTXO vs Account Model - Questions

  1. The account model doesn’t require much space as the UTXO model, why is that a benefit?
    It takes out some complexities and gives room for faster network,computation and efficient block management

  2. How is the account model not as great as the UTXO model for privacy?
    Traceability will be difficult to understand all history behind transaction.

Question:
@filip @ivan You talk about blacklist can we track a stolen bitcoin and possibly find the perpetrator and retrieve it*

1 Like
#1081
  1. Faster and more efficient transactions.
  2. At the Ethereum blockchain we can see exactly what amount was sent and to which address.
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#1082

Yes, bitcoin is not entirely private, you can track from which IP a transaction could be made, follow the provenance of those funds by reviewing his UTXO history, if the attacker does not hide is IP (location), it will be a possibility to find it.

If I for example hack into your pc, stole your funds to my address, you can check the log files to get some specific data that can help you track from where the attackers come, so if I just do the attack from my IP address…you will soon be able to see my location (or closest possibility)…

Governments can track hacked funds by doing a chain analysis and computer forensics to find some bad buys.

Hope this gives you a clear picture of the subject.
If you have any more questions, please let us know so we can help you! :slight_smile:

Carlos Z.

#1083

Thanks for the response Carlos,

I have some situation where I get scammed and I do not know who to report to talkless of tracking down the perpetrator. Therefore if there is a body,resources that I can use or a website that can help me I will appreciate if you can forward it to me and thanks for your input.

#1084

Maybe this could help? I’ve not look to deep into report a scammer, but there should be some services to do it.

https://bitcoinwhoswho.com/blog/2018/04/21/where-to-report-bitcoin-scams/

If you have any more questions, please let us know so we can help you! :slight_smile:

Carlos Z.