Monero Announcement - Reading Assignment

Privacy Coins - Ultimate Course
#202

:one: When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?

The thread was published on the 25th April, 2014 and has since been read 4655135 times.

:two: How many ‘core team’ members are there?

In this thread, the post suggested there were 7 core members.

  • Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni,
  • luigi1111,
  • NoodleDoodle,
  • smooth,
  • tacotime,
  • Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas, and
  • othe

:three: What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?

They suggested that the cryptography theory had not been battle-tested in the wild for very long, and hence is more likely to be subject to exploits.

There is also RSA private key that must be trusted to be destroyed with ZKP, and if the ZKP system were to be exploited, the attacker could potentially continuously spend funds without anyone noticing.

:four: What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?

Oftentimes with CoinJoin approaches, there is a higher degree of trust required, as an inherent part of preventing Sybil attacks with masternodes.
CoinJoin also mixes transactions, rather than outputs - and are therefore less secure.

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#203

  1. Posted: April 25, 2014, 12:38:50 AM, read 4655975 times

  2. Members: Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas, othe

  3. Ring signatures are much simpler and more mature, with many peer-reviewed papers published over more than a decade.
    CryptoNote aims for a different balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.

  4. XMR to use new cryptography to provide decentralized and trustless mixing of superior quality.
    The CoinJoin-inspired Darkcoin performs mixing with selected “masternodes” since it still uses ordinary signatures that can be mapped one-to-one. The motivation is that a randomly selected node is less likely than a single service to exhibit bad faith (such as keeping logs) . In practice, a few VPS companies host the vast majority of nodes and this approach relies on the integrity and good behavior of these nodes. XMR’s more fundamental cryptographic approach doesn’t have these vulnerabilities and the quality of anonymity is much higher.
    XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions.

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#204

  1. April 25, 2014 - Read: 4, 658, 939

  2. 7

  3. CryptoNote aims for a different balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.

  4. XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount.

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#205

  1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?
    Published 25 April 2014 and read 4658960 times.

  2. How many ‘core team’ members are there?
    7

  3. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?
    Two of the main features of CryptoNote are ring signatures that mask sender identities by mixing and one-time keys that make transactions unlinkable. Their combined effect gives a high degree of anonymity without any extra effort on the part of the user. CryptoNote aims for a different balance through the dual layers of privacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.

  4. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?
    XMR is not based on the Bitcoin protocol, which allows XMR to use new cryptography to provide decentralized and trustless mixing of superior quality. XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with.

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#206

1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?
Published on April 25th 2014 and read 4660569 times as of today.
2. How many ‘core team’ members are there?
7 are named
3. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?
At the time of writing these technologies were considered too new to be proofen for use outside of research. It also could open the door to an attacker spening non existent tokens because the whole networks economy isn´t visible.
4. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?
For CoinJoin a higer degree of trust is needed. XMR also only mixes outputs, which is claimed to be more secure and convenient

#207

When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?

The thread was published April 25, 2014 12:38:50 AM and has been Read 4664553 times.

How many ‘core team’ members are there?

There are 7 core team members.

Riccardo “fluffypony” Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Franciso “ArticMine” Cabañas, othe

What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?

Ring Signatures are more mature and has many peer-reviewed papers published over more than a decade. CryptoNote uses dual layers of provacy provided by one-time keys and ring signatures.

What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?

Ring signatures are more secure and convenient because they mix outputs not transactions.

#208

• When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?

April 25, 2014 at 12:38:50 AM, Read 4609538 Times

• How many ‘core team’ members are there?

7

• What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?

Ring signatures and one time keys

• What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?

• XMR’s ring signatures are also far more secure and convenient than CoinJoin because they mix outputs not transactions. This means a transaction doesn’t involve waiting around for other senders to mix with. Nor is a user restricted to mixing only if others are sending the same amount. Arbitrary amounts can be sent.

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#209

  1. When was the thread published, and how many times has it been read?

    The thread was published on April 18, 2014, and has been read 4,666,287 times.

  2. How many ‘core team’ members are there?

    There are 7 core team members mentioned in the announcement.

  3. What are the stated benefits over ZeroCoin and ZKP-based approaches?

    Monero’s advantages over ZeroCoin and Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP)-based approaches include avoiding the complexities and potential vulnerabilities associated with ZKP, such as the trusted setup required by ZeroCoin. Monero aims for simplicity and security without relying on the intricate constructions required for ZKP. Monero uses ring signatures to provide unlinkability, which is not reliant on ZKP and does not require a trusted setup.

  4. What are the stated benefits over CoinJoin-based approaches?

    Compared to CoinJoin-based approaches, Monero offers enhanced privacy by default rather than as an optional service. Monero’s privacy features are inherent to every transaction, making it more resistant to analysis and tracking compared to the optional mixing services that CoinJoin-based methods rely on. Ring signatures also play a key role here, as they allow for the mixing of outputs within a single transaction, which can obscure the transaction’s origin more effectively than CoinJoin.