Privacy Coins - Course Project

Privacy Coins - Ultimate Course
#1

This is a 2-part assignment where you’ll use what you’ve learned to evaluate some different privacy coins. Look at Cryptoslate’s list of top Privacy Coins:

  1. Choose a privacy coin you’re unfamiliar with, answer these questions and post your answers below:
    a. Name and Symbol
    b. Is it a fork of another coin? Which one? When did it fork?
    c. What information is shielded, and how?
    d. What information is unshielded, and how?
    e. How could an attacker link Alice and Bob?

  2. For 3 other posts in this thread, read and leave a response. You could…

  • Ask for clarification
  • Add more detail
  • Challenge one of their points
  • Leave a meme
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#2

Choose a privacy coin you’re unfamiliar with, answer these questions and post your answers below:

a. Name and Symbol
EPIC Cash (Epic Private Internet Cash)
Ticker symbol: EPIC

b. Is it a fork of another coin? Which one? When did it fork?
EPIC uses the MimbleWimble protocol and is a fork of Grin. EPIC forked from Grin codebase v1.1.0-beta.2 and went live on September 2, 2019.

c. What information is shielded, and how?
EPIC uses the same exact privacy model as Grin; whereby, Confidential Transactions and CoinJoin obfuscate transaction amounts as well as the sender/receiver relationships, Dandelion++ shields IP addresses, and wallet addresses don’t exist on MW—only TXOs.

d. What information is unshielded, and how?
The information unshielded on EPIC includes the used input, new outputs, transaction kernel, and the kernel offset. This information is available on the blockchain.

e. How could an attacker link Alice and Bob?
An attacker could potentially link Alice and Bob through some sort of a “Flashlight Attack” (as described by Ian Miers). Further, Ivan Bogatyy’s article “Breaking Mimblewimble’s Privacy Model” claimed to have performed such an attack; nevertheless, his results left much to be desired. He was able to pick up transactions prior to cut-through aggregation. Because addresses aren’t used in MimbleWimble and because IP addresses are hidden, this “attack” doesn’t mean much. That being said, it’s still an area where work should be done to enhance privacy.

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#3

Well done :clap:

How is it different from GRIN? just branding?

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#4

Thank you, @Grant_Hawkins! :pray: This was an awesome exercise.

The most notable (and interesting) difference I’ve found relative to Grin is EPIC’s approach to mining. They utilize multiple algorithms, in a process called Feijoada, in order to both increase the hash rate and increase protection from 51% attacks. They made the case that if certain mining hardware loses profitability on other chains, they can set up on EPIC’s chain instead. And EPIC posits that a 51% attack would prove even more difficult if the attackers have to factor in multiple algorithms. Right now, EPIC uses RandomX+(for CPU’s), ProgPow(for GPU’s), and CuckAToo31+(for ASIC’s). It’s a novel approach.

Other differences include having an EPIC Blockchain Foundation (aka a dev tax), an allegedly more powerful testing framework, and a front-heavy emission rate until 2028 when it syncs with the BTC supply—they’re also sticking with the 21 million cap.

If you get the chance to check it out, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Some useful links:



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