Dandelion BIP and MAST in LAYMAN Terms.

[#BitcoinVegan]

Hello I remember reading a article I think from bitcoin tech  tall regarding a Dandelion BIP and MAST, and I would like to know what this exactly means for BTC?

[1713903667]

1713903667

[1713903667]

1713903667

[Carlton Banks]

Hello I remember reading a article I think from bitcoin tech  tall regarding a Dandelion BIP and MAST, and I would like to know what this exactly means for BTC?

Very different things



Dandelion is a transaction propagation technique to make analytical identification of the originating IP of a given Bitcoin transaction more difficult.

MAST adds recursion (only 1 level) to the Bitcoin scripting language (so a script can call itself within itself, but only once, not indefinitely). I didn't fully understand the purpose of this when I read about it, so bring on the professionals. Clearly, more expressive scripts are possible with MAST, but what can be newly expressed, I'm not sure about.

[#BitcoinVegan]

Hello I remember reading a article I think from bitcoin tech  tall regarding a Dandelion BIP and MAST, and I would like to know what this exactly means for BTC?

Very different things



Dandelion is a transaction propagation technique to make analytical identification of the originating IP of a given Bitcoin transaction more difficult.

MAST adds recursion (only 1 level) to the Bitcoin scripting language (so a script can call itself within itself, but only once, not indefinitely). I didn't fully understand the purpose of this when I read about it, so bring on the professionals. Clearly, more expressive scripts are possible with MAST, but what can be newly expressed, I'm not sure about.

First off I love the name and pic🤣🤣🤣🤣.

So with the dandelion BIP is that away of keep the IP private?

[Carlton Banks]

It's never going to keep the IP 100% private.


Dandelion sends your transaction to only one Bitcoin node from peers connected to your node. Your transaction is then relayed again the same way, to only one peer belonging to the node where your transaction first propagated to. This pattern (called the "stem" phase) continues for a randomised number of peers, and then the final peer in the Dandelion propagation method relays your transaction in the normal way (i.e. that peer sends it to all of their connected peers, not just one, and those peers also send to all their peers etc etc).

This helps to defeat analysis techniques to determine the originating IP of a transaction, but it depends on the good nature of the peer you begin the Dandelion propagation with: that peer necessarily knows your IP, and might well be able to determine that they were the first in the stem. So it's never 100% IP privacy, although it's possibly an improvement on standard propagation.

And I mean only possibly, as someone responding to the Dandelion RFC on the bitcoin mailing list figured out a flaw in the technique that degrades the effectiveness if a peer sends multiple transactions while connected to the same set of nodes. Dandelion is still a work in progress, it may or may not make it into Bitcoin.

[#BitcoinVegan]

How many nodes are they being sent to now and what's the importance of a node?

[Carlton Banks]

How many nodes are they being sent to now

All that they're connected to.

what's the importance of a node?

The nodes are the network. It started with Satoshi, his node was the first. Slowly, more people joined the network by connecting their node. Every new node is someone extra that can send or receive BTC, using their node.

If you're thinking "I send and receive BTC without a node of my own", then that's because you're using a service that sends and receives Bitcoin for you, using their Bitcoin network node.

[#BitcoinVegan]

How many nodes are they being sent to now

All that they're connected to.

How can I set up my own node?

what's the importance of a node?

The nodes are the network. It started with Satoshi, his node was the first. Slowly, more people joined the network by connecting their node. Every new node is someone extra that can send or receive BTC, using their node.

If you're thinking "I send and receive BTC without a node of my own", then that's because you're using a service that sends and receives Bitcoin for you, using their Bitcoin network node.