"Confidential Transactions" sidechain element preserves Bitcoin privacy & censorship-resistance

[Millard]

Confidential Transactions: Preserve security while simultaneously obscuring transaction values.

One of the most powerful new features being explored in Elements is Confidential Transactions. This keeps the amounts transferred visible only to participants in the transaction (and those they designate), while still guaranteeing that no more coins can be spent than are available in a cryptographic way.

This goes a step beyond the usual privacy offered by Bitcoin’s blockchain, which relies purely on pseudonymous (but public!) identities. This matters, because insufficient financial privacy can have serious security and privacy implications for both commercial and personal transactions. Without adequate protection, thieves and scammers can focus their efforts on known high-value targets, competitors can learn business details, and negotiating positions can be undermined.

Read more: https://elementsproject.org/elements/confidential-transactions/

 

[Millard]

Bitcoin Privacy: "Confidential Transactions" Feature Can Fix Some of CoinJoin's Problems

One of the main reasons Blockstream is working on Confidential Transactions is to preserve the censorship-resistant properties of Bitcoin and other blockchains...

With Confidential Transactions, privacy is improved by cryptographically masking the amounts associated with Bitcoin transactions. When this privacy-enhancing feature is used, onlookers are unlikely to be able to figure out which addresses are change addresses , which means it's difficult to tell which Bitcoin address is receiving a payment...

When Confidential Transactions is combined with CoinJoin, it becomes much more difficult to censor transactions as a miner because there is more difficulty associated with identifying the individuals behind specific transactions.

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/bitcoin-privacy-confidential-transactions-feature-can-fix-some-of-coinjoins-problems-cm591903 (Bitcoin Privacy: "Confidential Transactions" Feature Can Fix Some of CoinJoin's Problems)