Announcement – Custom Stealth Address Pseudonyms and The Obsidian ProtocolThe members of The Black Chamber are proud to announce a new feature to Blackcoin’s Wallet Obsidian: Customized stealth addresses through the use of pseudonyms! Now sending to a stealth address is as easy as sending an email!
The update for Wallet Obsidian with this new protocol can be found here:
https://github.com/obsidianorg/app/releases/tag/0.3.0Why This Is A Game-Changer: Individuals, businesses, merchants can now use and advertise a name, catchphrase, brand or any custom string of characters to receive payments anonymously. Now you can choose whatever characters or numbers you wish for a customized pseudonym to receive stealth payments to a posted Blackcoin public address. As with other stealth addresses, third parties will be unable to know the amounts received by a posted pseudonym generated through Obsidian. Customary cryptocurrency public addresses are impossible to remember and often must be either copied or painstakingly inputted manually. Addresses with long strings of letters and numbers are intimidating and alienating for those unfamiliar with digital currencies. Now public addresses with easily-remembered words, names or phrases are possible and simple to implement. There are no limits to how this can be used. This unique combination of customization and privacy will be a powerful tool for merchants and advances Blackcoin’s objective of mainstream adoption.
The characters may be in any language that can be typed. For example, a user can choose a pseudonym in Chinese as 投资公司 or in English the words “InvestmentCompany” or combine them for the custom stealth address of “投资公司InvestmentCompany”.
While other coins and wallets have stealth address features, based upon our due diligence, we could not find any other coin or system that allows you to customize those stealth address features in the cryptocurrency sphere, not even Bitcoin.
This pseudonym system is unique to Blackcoin. Please correct us if we somehow missed this feature in some existing coin or system.
Development of the Protocol: This feature was not possible without the skill and continuing efforts of JP Richardson. JP’s development of this unique protocol for Blackcoin allows custom stealth addresses through pseudonyms with registration, deregistration and multiple pseudonym features using characters in any language. This vanguard system for stealth addresses and pseudonyms will be known as the
Obsidian Protocol.
How it Works: After updating Wallet Obsidian, users will see three new icons on the left side of the interface screen. There is a button that begins the process of registering a pseudonym with the network. The wallet must have at least 100 BLK to allocate for registration. Presently there can only be one pseudonym per wallet. Addresses may be in any characters or numbers that can be typed and in any language. Note that Wallet Obsidian still functions with regular stealth addresses. Realtime feedback has been added to the registration process. If the pseudonym has not been registered, Obsidian will create a pseudonym registry transaction and submit it to the blockchain. If the pseudonym has been registered or is pending, it prompts the user with an error. When sending funds to a custom stealth address, Obsidian actively scans the blockchain for transactions and detects which ones match a pseudonym registry transaction. When it finds a match, it extracts the pseudonym and stealth address information to construct the stealth address. It then places this information into a local database (file).
Deposit for Pseudonyms: To register a pseudonym, Obsidian requires a deposit of 100 BLK per alias. Presently, there is no deregistration feature and funds will not be immediately retrievable. Since stealth addresses are composed of two public keys that the user owns, the fee essentially goes to the user. Think of it like an escrow for oneself. The BLK are not burned or lost, but are “parked” at an address until they are “deregistered”. If the user ever spends the fee after registering the pseudonym, they've effectively deregistered the pseudonym. The deposit of 100 BLK per address because an amount is needed for the transaction to register on the network and so one person could not easily register a large number of pseudonyms. Note that there must be five confirmations before the alias becomes effective.
Instructions for Update Installation: If you have not already downloaded Wallet Obsidian, go to:
https://github.com/obsidianorg/app/releases/tag/0.3.0 If you have already downloaded and installed Wallet Obsidian, follow these steps: 1. Download the update. 2. Start Obsidian. 3. Click the wrench in the bottom left and in the developer tool screen 4. In the developer tool screen, type: localStorage.lastBlackCount = 710300 5. Press “[ENTER]” 6. Restart Obsidian. 7. As a test, type “jprichardson” and the address will be in green type to show a registered stealth address. This process is only for those who already downloaded and installed Obsidian. Users new to Obsidian who have not downloaded and installed the prior version do not have to follow this process.
For additional details:
http://www.reddit.com/r/blackcoin/comments/3ad6f4/announcement_custom_stealth_address_pseudonyms/
