According to the quoted paragraph below, it seems to me that Xtrabytes transactions are anonymous or can offer that functionality. Did I understood this correctly? Thanks!
"VITALS comprises a private network directly interconnecting the online STATIC nodes; effectively providing VPN-like functionality to the network. VITALS therefore supports the communication needs of the XTRABYTES blockchain by providing interference-free direct paths between nodes to ensure security and speed when processing transactions."
Here is a Q&A from borz a while back that has your answer in it.
"1. Here is my question: CCrevolution said : If 1 or several STATIC nodes go rogue, the others ask them to correct themselves and if they do not correct...they get blacklisted - BOOM Shutdown attack. Now if something would go very wrong and only 1 'good' STATIC would be left, would it still be able to protect against the rest that went rogue?
1.) If the client isn't fake and it uses the correct last version of code, it will never get blacklisted. This is the reason why we will never have only one client controlling the network.
2. How many nodes would you need to be compromised for the system to be considered insecure, is a 51% attack via nodes possible?
2.) The PoSign is not a voting system therefore 51% or any other percent does not exist. All blocks are signed by all STATICs . If only one STATIC signs the block then it is still valid. Later, if other STATICs validate they will also sign.
3. Will the project send coins anonymously and if not will it be possible to add that as a feature in the future?
3.) Anonymity is not the goal, trust is the goal.
4. Can you comment on scalability, will we have no problems if this coin became as big or bigger than Bitcoin?
4.) Scalablity is unlimited.
5. If someone owned ALL the nodes or even 99% of the nodes what could they do? Steal the beats of the coins or shutdown the system? I know it might not be economically profitable to do so but what if a Government later with unlimited resources tried, could it be done?
5.) This is not POW, therefore unlimited resources means nothing.
6. Its a very general question and has already been hinted at. But please can you say more about what makes this more secure than other coins on the market right now. And could you explain the kind of scenario that would have to happen for the system to be hacked even if that is theoretically a long shot. Can you say this coin is 100% unhackable? Or are we talking almost impossible?
6.) I hope 100% unhackable.
7. Is it possible to implement a smart contract platform into XTRABYTES in the future, similar to Etherium's smart contracts?
7.) Yes, i have lot of better plans than ETH
Another set of questions:
1. Are the virtual nodes and their network generated exclusively by a new block/transaction that is created by the STATIC and nonSTATIC nodes?
1.) The XBY owners create transactions. Nodes validate the transactions only. Nodes never create transactions. The virtual nodes will be creating blocks from validated transactions.
2. Is the number of individual chord nodes possible the same as the number of STATIC and nonSTATIC nodes online?
2.) No. The number of virtual nodes is fixed. All virtual nodes are controlled by one or more STATIC and nonSTATIC nodes. If the number of STATICs is less than virtual nodes then random STATICs will control additional virtual nodes.
3. If a virtual chord node is generated only by a new block/transaction created by the STATIC and nonSTATIC nodes, then can’t the STATIC and nonSTATIC nodes be attacked and disabled by DDOS?
3.) Example: S1 STATIC controls V1 virtual node. If attacker attacks and disables S1 STATIC then other ( S2 or S3 ... etc...) STATICs will take control of the V1 virtual node until the S1 STATIC DDOS has stopped.
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Some more related info on how this will work:
P2P systems work like this:
This is not the best type of network and therefore many problems exist. You have displayed some
of these problems, but more exist which is why we will be using a type of "overview" network.
This is another very big innovation we are implementing and no other coin uses overview networks:
We will use what is referred to as a chord overview network where the the STATIC and nonSTATIC nodes connect to "chord nodes". The "chord network" is a "virtual overview" or in other words, the upper layer of the network and we will call it the Virtual Chord Network.
The STATIC nodes and the nonSTATIC nodes create the blocks... All nodes create the same block and all blocks have the same blockhash. Therefore, all block have the same ID (we will explain later why contain all blocks contain the same transactions).
Transactions work exactly the same as the block creation and so now we can see that all blocks will be the same in each STATIC and nonSTATIC and later you will see why this is, as we continue this explanation.
Each node (STATIC and nonSTATIC ) is connected to one "virtual chord node" the chord nodes are only virtual, instead of being real nodes. If the block is ID=1 ( or if we create transaction then TR ID ) then this block will create the #1 virtual chord node and will then send the created block to the #2, #4, #8 nodes (this is an example of a network with just 16 virtual chord nodes) the #2 will send to #3 #5 #9 and so on...
The block creation time is not uncontrolled either. So, if we use 160sec block time (just an example because 160 seconds is easier to understand with a 16 virtual chord system).
Therefore, the chord nodes create blocks as follows:
#1 between 0-10 seconds
#2 between 10-20
#3 between 20-30
and continuing to #16 up to 160 seconds.
However, we will use more chords of course as this is just a simplified example so the process is more easily understood.
Therefore, no transaction or block conflicts occur and every peer knows who will create the block and who will first distribute the block.
Added question: But what if that creator block is down or attacked? Does it switch to a different STATIC ?
Since all chord nodes are virtual it is impossible to DDOS. There are no IPs or other relay identities available to attack.
Chord nodes are virtual, so they are never removed:
#1S = #1 STATIC
#1C = #1 virtual chord node
If just #1S is online ( only one STATIC ) then:
#1S will control #1C-#16
If #1S-#3S is online, then:
#1S will control #1C-#5C
#2S will control #6C-#10C
#3S will control #11C-#16C
If any STATIC goes offline, for example #3S, then #11C-#16C will be shared between #1S and #2S
This is the reason why it is not important how many STATIC nodes exist or how many STATIC nodes are online or offline. The number of overview virtual network nodes is a constant. The block and transaction time are not part of the ID.
So, one of the key points to answer your question is that all STATICs and other nodes do not have to learn about the blocks simultaneously... The transactions distribute throughout our network, sequentially, over the 120 second block time in intervals that eventually get out to the entire network before the next block is created.
With regard to network lag, this is not relevant because the network is virtual. Therefore if lag exists it is equal across the entire virtual network. So, the virtual overview network or the Virtual Chord Network solves the problems you bring up.
To simplify this explanation for those less technical:
P2P (peer to peer file sharing type systems) is like water in a lake. The Virtual Chord Network is like a series of canals. We use water, just like in the lake, but the lake is uncontrolled.
Many questions have been asked about XTRABYTES' core technology, features, and advantages. The following summary seeks to address those questions and to further elucidate various aspects of the XTRABYTES platform.
Security is at the heart of XTRABYTES' technology and is where its principal advantage lies. XTRABYTES leverages the concept of digital signatures extensively in its security algorithms. Common examples of digital signatures include SSL and Microsoft's signed software, but XTRABYTES goes several steps further to ensure the robustness of its signature protocol.
Simply put, as the number of digital signatures increases, level of security increases. XTRABYTES employs this tenet in its core technology—STATIC nodes rely on multiple layers of encrypted and digitally signed sources to guarantee the integrity of the network, while competitor systems rely either on a single signature only, or even none at all.
It is impossible to steal all signatures, given that not all STATIC nodes are online at a given time, and that they use different operating systems (eg. Windows. Mac. Linux)—and even if a virus compromises all online STATIC nodes, a single off line STATIC node is capable of restoring the network once reactivated.
Further, online keys are intermediate only—deposit and genesis keys are private and always offline—and consequently can easily be changed if necessary. If such a signature is compromised, the associated STATIC signature will automatically be revoked as the consensus among nodes has been violated. The owner of the affected STATIC node is then warned to generate a new signature before the node can resume participation on the network.
STATIC nodes communicate with one another via the PULSE system. If nodes are online, the system behaves like instant messaging, while offline nodes are always automatically forwarded missed messages by the network. All of these transmissions are encrypted, secured.and time-stamped. This is in direct contrast to the Bitcoin network whose peers communicate with one another in an unsecured fashion.
Level 2 nodes will be similar to the original STATIC nodes save for the fact that the intermediate signatures will be declared in a future block, not in the genesis block. All STATIC nodes will have a TRUST index number.
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