Tale of Two Coins - Reading Assignment

  1. Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…
    GRIN:
  2. Funding: volunteer-based development
  3. Governance: Relying on a community funding model
  4. Target Customer: command-line wallet only, so only programmer can use.
  5. Emission Schedules: a new token is issued every second.

BEAM

  1. Funding: VC funding

  2. Governance: maintaining a corporate structure

  3. Target Customer: pirvide GUI wallet to let more people can use it easily

  4. Emission Schedules: limited

  5. What is the key privacy concern of both, and what feature do they implement to deal with this?

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Q1: Grin depends on internal funding from within and donations from their community. They are more focused on building a tech community around their product while also focusing on a unfixed monetary policy that issues a new token every second. Beam is VC backed and are set up more like a business. They are pushing for mass adoption and have a fixed issuance schedule compared to BTC.

Q2: They both aim to make TXs indecipherable with the Mimblewimble protocol.

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  1. Funding: Grin: community funded, donations. Beam: VC funded and tax on block reward.
    Governance: Grin: community led. Beam: corporate model
    Target Customer: Grin: tech savvy. Beam: non tech users
    Emission Schedule: Grin: perpetual inflation every second. Beam: fixed supply similar to bitcoin

  2. Inputs and outputs are not hidden; dandelion.

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  1. a) i) Beam takes its example from privacy-centric cryptocurrency zcash, maintaining a
    corporate structure, and funneling a portion of the block reward into a Foundation to
    support the blockchain’s development.
    ii) Grin takes a different approach, relying on a community funding model that is similar to
    the one utilized by the monero project.

    b) i) Beam maintains a corporate structure like zcash
    ii) Grin relies on an open community structure

    c) i) Beam has a simple GUI wallet and appeals to non-technical users
    ii) Grin uses a CLI wallet that appeals to tech people

    d) i) Beam has a limited emissions schedule because it wants to be a store of value like
    btc
    ii) Grin emission schedule is unfixed and a new token is produced every few seconds

  2. For example, concerns that both implementations may potentially be vulnerable to
    machine-learning analysis – due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs – are
    also under discussion, both teams currently implement a privacy feature named Dandelion
    to better conceal these potential leaks, there may be other experimental efforts that can be
    concluded as well going forward.

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a) Funding

  • GRIN: Community funded, like Monero.

  • BEAM: Originally VC funded. Also funded by a percentage of block rewards, which go to a company, like Zcash.

b) Governance

  • GRIN: Run by the community

  • BEAM: Run by a company

c) Target Customer

  • GRIN: Individuals with a technical background

  • BEAM: The masses of consumers, who value ease-of-use

d) Emission schedule

  • GRIN: One coin minted each second in perpetuity. Use is encouraged rather than using GRIN as a store of value.

  • BEAM: Emission is limited so that BEAM can be a store of value.

  1. The key privacy concern for both is that transactions on blockchains are traceable. They implemented Mimblewimble which does not save an entire blockchain with utxos linked to one another, appened block by block, going back to the genesis block. Even privacy coins, which have this basic structure, but with privacy enhancing features grafted on top, may be vulnerable to analysis in the future. Rather, in Mimblewimble each block re-assigns utxos to current owners, with no trail of transactions, and with no addresses.
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  1. Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…

  2. Funding
    Grin: community funded, donations. Beam: VC funded and tax on block reward.

  3. Governance
    Grin: community led. Beam: corporate model

  4. Target Customer
    Grin: tech savvy. Beam: non tech users

  5. Emission Schedules
    Grin: perpetual inflation every second. Beam: fixed supply similar to bitcoin

  6. What is the key privacy concern of both, and what feature do they implement to deal with this?
    Inputs and outputs are not hidden; dandelion.

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Hey @Grant_Hawkins great course, sorry for not participating so much in the public forum for answers regarding course content, I was interested in specific parts of the course more than others :mage: I found some interesting material and Have been struggling to implement some experimentation using BTC source code as my programming skills are far behind my comprehension skills! Wondering if there will ever be perhaps a privacy V2 course with more of a deep dive on the programming side of things?

I would love to try and implement some “elements” in my version of BTC source code just struggling to wrap my head around how this would function?

https://web.archive.org/web/20200502151159/https://people.xiph.org/~greg/confidential_values.txt

Summary

https://github.com/ElementsProject/secp256k1-zkp

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Hey, glad you’re finding it useful!

I am indeed working on some programming-focused follow up courses. Keep an eye on Twitter and you will definitely see it :wink:

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1 - Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…

Funding - Grin followed a highly principled, cypherpunk ideology – including no token premine or ICO, as well as volunteer-based development 
		- Grin is structured as a research project. They do not receive any outside funding except for donations, they do it part-time.
		
		– Beam sought VC funding and hired a team of developers to work on the software full-time, allowing it to speed ahead of Grin in its implementation.


Governance - Beam takes its example from privacy-centric cryptocurrency zcash, maintaining a corporate structure, and funneling a portion of the block reward into a Foundation to support the blockchain’s development.
		   - Beam is a privacy coin an alignment of incentives within the block rewards so that the project stays alive.

		   - Grin: As not engage in any ICO, pre-mine or founder rewards, Grin uses a less reliable income source by relying on a community funding model that is similar to the one utilized by the monero project.
	

Target Customer - Beam focuses on usability by having a simple wallet interface that is considered central to the project’s overall value-add.
				A GUI wallet and a mobile wallet will increase adoption, increase number of transactions and usage and will thus increase the anonymity set.
				Also, wallets boast implementation in different operating systems, including MacOS, Windows, and Linux.


				- Grin is very much aimed at a technical crowd, and will be very much ‘use at your own risk’.
				- Grin currently only offers a command-line wallet, and is less accessible for non-technical users.
				
				
Emission Schedules - Beam sees itself as a “store of value” coin that has a fixed issuance schedule akin to bitcoin.

				   Grin’s monetary policy is unfixed. At present, a new token is issued every second. This is due to the project’s belief that sustained issuance will stabilize the value of the currency.	

2 - What is the key privacy concern of both, and what feature do they implement to deal with this?

Both implementations have a concern that they may be potentially vulnerable to machine-learning analysis – due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs
Both teams currently implement a privacy feature named Dandelion to better conceal these potential leaks, there may be other experimental efforts that can be concluded as well going forward.
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a: Grin: donations; BEAM: uses part of the block reward to fund devs
b. Grin: community funding and open source; BEAM: corporate with a team of full time devs
c. Grin: Tech people; BEAM: regular people
d. Grin: tokens issued every second; BEAM: schedule similar to BTC
2. “For example, concerns that both implementations may potentially be vulnerable to machine-learning analysis – due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs – are also under discussion.”

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a. Grin is a volunteer based development so rely on donations as such whilst Beam sought VC (Venture Capitalist) funding.

b. Beam is more corporate orientated with it ‘taxing’ miners block rewards and diverting these back to their Foundation to help with development. Grin however more community orientated with Governance being derived from within the community and being driven by corporate interests.

c. Grins target audience is more aimed at a technical audience whilst Beam is looking for more mass adoption.

d. Grin issues a new tokens every second and its supply is unlimited whilst Beam has a fixed supply.

  1. Both Coins fear machine learning analysis as both fail to conceal the inputs and outputs. To combat this both are using Dandelion to help conceal these.
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  1. Funding
    GRIN: Completely open source, funded by donations, volunteer-based development
    BEAM: funded by VC, hired a team of developers

Governance
GRIN: open source and community driven, rely on a community funding model (similar to Monero)
BEAM: Corporate structure where a portion of the block reward goes into a Foundation to support the development

Target Customer
GRIN: In early days technical crowd, “use at your own risk” approach, use only command line wallet
BEAM: Mass adoption for every user (independent from operating sytem, provide GUI and mobile wallet)

Emission Schedules
GRIN: No fixed supply = infinite supply (currently one token per second)
BEAM: Fixed issuance schedule similar to bitcoin

2.Both wanted to be a privacy oriented protocol, with an implementation of Mimblewimble ( fuse transactions together such that they become indecipherable). Both are may affected vulnerable to machine-learning analysis – due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs. Therefore, they implemented Dandelion to prevent such leaks.

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  1. Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…

a. Funding:

  • GRIN’s => Donation
  • BEAM’s => VC funding.

b. Governance:

  • GRIN’s => community
  • BEAM => corporate structure

c. Target Customer:

  • GRIN’s => targets technical users
  • BEAM => mainstream

d. Emission Schedules:

  • GRIN’s => infinite supply, one coin per second
  • BEAM => fix supply
  1. What is the key privacy concern of both, and what feature do they implement to deal with this?

They both may potentially be vulnerable to machine-learning analysis – due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs. They implement Dandelion to better conceal these potential leaks.

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  1. Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…

  2. Funding
    Grin is fund by internal people and donations
    Beam is fund by Venture Capitals

  3. Governance
    Grin: Community
    Beam: More a corporate structure

  4. Target Customer
    Grin: Technical people
    Beam: End users who want interface friendly stuff

  5. Emission Schedules
    Grin: Every second a new token minted
    Bean: Fixed ammount of tokens

  6. What is the key privacy concern of both, and what feature do they implement to deal with this?
    Key privace is: ptentially be vulnerable. They implement Dandelion.

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• Funding: GRIN’s – No ICO, donations & volunteer development vs BEAM’s – VC funding & hired a team of developers fulltime.
Governance: GRIN’s – Minblewimble protocol & community driven decentralization similar to Monero vs BEAM’s – Corporate structure and taking a cut from miners for development similar to Zcash
Target Customer: GRIN’s – Technical crowd vs BEAM’s – they are looking for mass adoption by offering simple wallet interface & even mobile wallets
Emission Schedule: GRIN’s one per second aiming to fight the volatile market VS BEAM’s fixed akin to Bitcoin aiming to be a store of value.
• Both implementations may potentially be vulnerable to machine-learning analysis – due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs. They implemented Dandelion.

1 Like

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1. Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…
a. Funding Grin: Community donations | Beam: VC
b. Governance Grin: Community driven, open source | Beam: Corporate
c. Target Customer Grin: More technical/niche | Beam: The average person/ mass
d. Emission Schedules Grin: Infinite supply | Beam: Fixed supply

2. What is the key privacy concern of both, and what feature do they implement to deal with this?
They could be vulnerable to ML analysis due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs & outputs, and as such they both implemented Dandelion

2 Likes
  1. Funding
    Grin: Donations
    Beam: VC funding.
    Governance:
    Grin: relying on a community funding model that is similar to the one utilized by the monero project.
    Beam: takes its example from privacy-centric cryptocurrency zcash, maintaining a corporate structure, and funneling a portion of the block reward into a Foundation to support the blockchain’s development.
    Target Customer
    Grin: for technical users
    Beam: it is user-friendly, therefore it can be used by anyone.
    Emission Schedules
    Grin: a new token is issued every second, an “infinite” production.
    Beam: has a fixed issuance schedule akin to bitcoin (store of value).
  2. Both aim to implement MimbleWimble. There is concern due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs, to overcome this problem the two teams are implementing the Dandelion privacy feature.
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  1. The differences between GRIN and BEAM.

FUNDING - GRIN: Volunteer-based development. No token pre-mine. BEAM: Venture Capital funding.

GOVERNANCE - GRIN: Open-source and community driven. BEAM: Has a corporate structure. Uses some of the block rewards to fund development.

TARGET CUSTOMER - GRIN: Aimed at the technical crowd. BEAM: Aims at a wide audience, including non-technical people.

EMISSION SCHEDULES - GRIN: Unfixed issuance - currently one token per second. BEAM: Fixed issuance of coins.

  1. The key privacy concern of both teams of developers is the potential vulnerability to machine-learning analysis (a method of data analysis based on the idea that systems can learn from data, identify patterns and make decisions with minimal human intervention) due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs. They intend to implement Dandelion to better conceal any information leaks.
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  1. Describe the difference between GRIN’s and BEAM’s…
    a. Funding
    Grin is fund by internal people and donations
    Beam is fund by Venture Capitals
    b. Governance
    Grin: Community
    Beam: More a corporate structure
    c. Target Customer
    Grin: Technical people
    Beam: End users who want interface friendly stuff
    d. Emission Schedules
    Grin: Every second a new token minted
    Beam: Fixed amount of tokens

  2. Both aim to implement MimbleWimble. There is concern due to the design’s failure to conceal inputs and outputs, to overcome this problem the two teams are implementing the Dandelion privacy feature.

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