By Bitcoin Magazine - 10 months ago - Reading Time: 6 minutes
Prezante Ark: Yon altènatif Bitcoin Solisyon Echèl Konsantre Sou Konsèvasyon Konfidansyalite
Sa a se yon editoryal opinyon pa Kudzai Kutukwa, yon defansè enklizyon finansye ak parèy Mandela Washington.
“When use of strong cryptography becomes popular, it's harder for the government to criminalize it. Therefore, using PGP is good for preserving democracy. If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy… PGP empowers people to take their privacy into their own hands. There has been a growing social need for it. That's why I wrote it.”
-Phil Zimmerman, “Why I Wrote PGP"
Jounal kay of Roman Sterlingov, who stands accused of running the custodial Bitcoin mixer, "Bitcoin Fog," is indicative of the many situations in which individuals are targeted by law enforcement for safeguarding their financial privacy.
As outlined in “Ki sa ki Bitcoin Èske,” the U.S. Department of Justice relied on Chainalysis' Reactor software to trace the purchase of the Bitcoin Fog domain back to an address linked to Sterlingov’s Mt. Gox account, establishing him as its operator. Reactor was designed to tie cryptocurrency addresses with real-world identities. Despite the various irregularities present in this ka kontinyèl, yon moun ka tire konklizyon ke li voye yon mesaj klè nan "ou pa dwe gen vi prive finansye."
Prezante Ark
Given this growing hostility toward financial privacy for Bitcoin transactions, there is a pressing need for the development of superior tools. At the recently concluded Bitcoin 2023 conference, a potentially game-changing tool, called the Ark Protocol, te prezante.
Announced during one of the keynote sessions on the open-source stage by developer Burak, Ark is a Layer 2 scaling solution that enables cheap, anonymous and off-chain Bitcoin transactions. The protocol also has a minimal on-chain footprint, which further protects user privacy while keeping transaction costs low. In what can be described as an “accidental invention” that occurred when Burak was trying to develop a Lightning wallet, Ark is a distinct protocol that could potentially scale non-custodial bitcoin itilize.
Burak named the protocol "Ark" in reference to Bwat Kontra Noe a, which acts as a lifeboat that provides refuge from predatory blockchain surveillance firms and custodians.
sousDuring his presentation, Burak highlighted one of the most concerning trends with the Lightning Network today, which is that there are currently more custodial users of Lightning than there are non-custodial ones. This is mainly due to the kontrent lajan likid sikile on Lightning that require non-custodial users to first receive liquidity from someone else’s node before they can receive funds. Custodial wallets like Wallet Of Satoshi abstract this problem away from the user but at the expense of the user not being 100% in control of their funds, as well as their financial privacy.
Yon Pwotokòl Altènatif Kouch 2
Mwen te fè entèvyou ak Burak pou m te gen yon konpreyansyon pi pwofon sou Ark ak enspirasyon ki dèyè devlopman li. Lè m te poze l yon kesyon sou sa ki te fè l devlope yon pwotokòl altènatif Kouch 2, li te di:
"Mwen te toujou yon kritik nan Zeklè sitou paske nan pwoblèm lajan likid sikile entrant, resevwa async osi byen ke anprint sou-chèn li yo. Lajan likid entrant toujou te santi tankou yon ensèk pou mwen, ki te fè itilizatè a eksperyans anyen men bèl. Anplis de sa, li ta pran plis pase yon syèk pou yo monte tout popilasyon mondyal la nan yon fason ki pa gadyen sou Lightning Network, asepte ke chak moun gen kat chanèl ke chak konsome kèk santèn vbyte.”
Kòm li te kòmanse adrese pwoblèm sa yo ak lòt, lide bous Zeklè l 'evantyèlman morphed nan Bwat Kontra.
“Ark can be best defined as trustless e-cash or a liquidity network similar to the Lightning Network but with a UTXO set that lives entirely off-chain and it’s neither a statechain nor a rollup,” Burak said. “These UTXOs are called ‘virtual UTXOs’ or ‘vTXOs,’ which have a ‘lifespan’ of four weeks. The core of Ark's anonymous off-chain payments is driven by the vTXOs.”
Throughout the conversation, Burak continued to emphasize his obsession with a frictionless experience for the end user, his view being that sending sats should be as easy as pushing a button. This is one of the reasons why Ark users do not need to have channels or liquidity, as this is delegated to a network of untrusted intermediaries known as Ark service providers (ASPs). These are always-on servers that provide liquidity to the network, similarly to how Lightning service providers operate, but with an added benefit: ASPs are unable to link senders with receivers, which adds another layer of privacy for users.
This is made possible by the fact that every payment on Ark takes place within a CoinJoin round which obfuscates the connection between sender and receiver. The best part about this is that the CoinJoin happens entirely off-chain while settling payments every five seconds, which not only drastically reduces on-chain footprints but also fortifies the users’ privacy. The anonymity set is every party involved in a transaction and, theoretically, this creates a greater degree of privacy than what’s possible on the Lightning Network. Furthermore, Ark mimics on-chain user experiences in that users have a dedicated address for sending and receiving payments, but the difference is that it’s a reusable address that doesn’t compromise the user’s privacy, made possible in a way that’s similar to how silent payments travay.
Komès-Offs
Sepandan, tankou nenpòt lòt sistèm, Ark gen pwòp echanj li yo. Malgre ke li ka pa ofri règleman enstantane osi vit ke Lightning fè sa, li bay aksè imedyat nan fon san yo pa oblije rete tann pou konfimasyon nan sa Burak dekri kòm "disponibilite imedya ak finalite reta."
For vendors, Lightning is still the better option when it comes to receiving payments. Additionally, liquidity providers are required, but based on the assumption that individuals will be motivated to offer liquidity to earn yield in bitcoin, Burak also thinks this challenge can be easily overcome in the long term. This novel proposition addresses certain shortcomings in Lightning, yet also comes with its own set of challenges.
Wout la devan
An rezime, pwotokòl Bwat Kontra a se yon solisyon inik, dezyèm kouch ak kapasite sòti inilateral ki pèmèt tranzaksyon san pwoblèm san yo pa enpoze okenn kontrent lajan likid sikile oswa entèaktif, ni nesesite yon koneksyon dirèk ant moun k ap resevwa ak reseptè. Se poutèt sa, moun k ap resevwa yo ka fasilman resevwa peman san yo pa gen konplikasyon nan nenpòt ki konfigirasyon onboarding, kenbe yon prezans sèvè kontinyèl oswa konpwomèt anonimite yo bay twazyèm pati. Ki fèt pou yon solisyon évolutive, ki pa gen gad, Ark pèmèt itilizatè yo nèt sou tout pwen kontwòl sou lajan yo epi li bay tout moun opsyon a pwòp tèt ou gad lajan yo.
Ark is interoperable with Lightning, but also serves as a complement to it. However, due to the complicated process of self-custodial Lightning and varying levels of privacy for senders and receivers, along with the imminent danger posed by blockchain surveillance firms, scaling solutions that prioritize privacy, like Ark, have become essential. The various attempts to attack Bitcoin through malicious prosecution, like in the case of Sterlingov, and predatory legislation such as the EU's Mika, demonstrate the need for scalable, efficient, privacy-preserving tools in order to prevent future issues.
It’s against this background that I think Ark is an interesting concept worth keeping an eye on as development of the protocol unfolds. Of course, without code to review at the moment or a battle-tested, working prototype, it’s still a long road ahead. Despite the unforeseen challenges ahead, Burak is optimistic about Ark’s potential and is convinced that it’s a breakthrough that strikes the balance between private Bitcoin transactions and scalability, in a user-friendly manner. A sentiment that I also share, given the vital need for non-custodial, privacy-preserving tools.
This is a guest post by Kudzai Kutukwa. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazin.
Sous orijinal: Bitcoin Magazine