By Bitcoin Tidskrift - 10 månader sedan - Läsningstid: 6 minuter
Vi presenterar Ark: Ett alternativ Bitcoin Skalningslösning fokuserad på att bevara integriteten
Detta är en åsiktsledare av Kudzai Kutukwa, en förespråkare för ekonomisk integration och Mandela Washington-stipendiat.
“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"
Smakämnen Vid 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 “Vad Bitcoin Gjorde,” 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 pågående ärende, skulle man kunna dra slutsatsen att det sänder ett tydligt budskap om "du ska inte ha ekonomisk integritet."
Vi presenterar 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, introducerades.
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 använda.
Burak named the protocol "Ark" in reference to Noaks ark, which acts as a lifeboat that provides refuge from predatory blockchain surveillance firms and custodians.
KällaDuring 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 likviditetsbegränsningar 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.
Ett alternativt lager 2-protokoll
Jag intervjuade Burak för att få en djupare förståelse för Ark och inspirationen bakom dess utveckling. När jag frågade honom om vad som fick honom att utveckla ett alternativt Layer 2-protokoll, sa han:
"Jag har alltid varit en kritiker av Lightning främst på grund av inkommande likviditetsproblem, asynkron mottagning samt dess fotavtryck på kedjan. Inkommande likviditet kändes alltid som en bugg för mig, vilket gjorde användarupplevelsen allt annat än trevlig. Utöver det skulle det ta mer än ett sekel att ta med hela den globala befolkningen på ett icke-frihetsberövande sätt på Lightning Network, förutsatt att varje person har fyra kanaler som var och en förbrukar några hundra vbyte."
När han satte sig för att ta itu med dessa och andra frågor, förvandlades hans Lightning-plånboksidé så småningom till Ark.
“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 Blixttjänstleverantörer 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 tysta betalningar arbete.
Avvägningar
Men som alla andra system har Ark sina egna avvägningar. Även om det kanske inte erbjuder omedelbara uppgörelser så snabbt som Lightning gör, ger det omedelbar tillgång till medel utan att behöva vänta på bekräftelser i vad Burak beskrev som "omedelbar tillgänglighet med fördröjd slutgiltighet."
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.
Vägen framför
Sammanfattningsvis är Ark-protokollet en unik skalningslösning i andra lager med unilateral exit-möjlighet som möjliggör sömlösa transaktioner utan att införa några likviditetsrestriktioner eller interaktivitet, och inte heller nödvändiggöra en direkt koppling mellan avsändare och mottagare. Därför kan mottagare enkelt ta emot betalningar utan krångel med någon onboarding-installation, upprätthålla en kontinuerlig servernärvaro eller äventyra sin anonymitet till tredje part. Designad för att vara en skalbar lösning utan förvaring, tillåter Ark användare fullständig kontroll över sina pengar och ger alla möjligheten att själv förvara sina pengar.
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 Glimmer, 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.
Detta är ett gästinlägg av Kudzai Kutukwa. Åsikter som uttrycks är helt deras egna och återspeglar inte nödvändigtvis de från BTC Inc Bitcoin Tidskrift.
Ursprunglig källa: Bitcoin magazine