Zerocoin, the bitcoin killer? Time will tell but I say yes

[TonyT]

As we all know by now, bitcoin is not really anonymous (though I agree it's close).  But Zerocoin is.  And Zerocoin will kill bitcoin, you mark my words.

Excerpts from a blog on Zerocoin below from The Economist.  See link for full article.
 

TonyT

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2014/01/cryptographic-currency

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Jan 26th 2014, 15:55 by G.F. | SEATTLE


MATT Green would like you to think of Zerocoin, a Bitcoin-like alternative currency in the process of finalising its specifications, as a bulletin board in a shared space—like an office tea room. Pin a ten-pound note to the board and you may later remove any other similar note from the board so long as you can prove that you pinned a like amount at any previous time. Such a pool of cash would launder a transaction, disconnecting the serial number on the note you pinned from the one you claimed.

Bitcoin was designed, in part, to ensure complete and permanent transparency about each transfer of value from one party to another, while uncoupling it largely from the concept of an independent identity. Researchers have shown it is possible in many circumstances with the current version of the common Bitcoin software code, widely used on servers and client software, to track transactions well enough to group them by the parties engaged. Tie that to an exchange, which converts legal tender to and from Bitcoins, or a wallet service, which stores the coins on behalf of members, and external authorities could issue warrants and finger individuals. 

Dr Green and three colleagues at Johns Hopkins University—Christina Garman, Ian Miers, and Aviel D. Rubin—released a paper in April 2013 that charted a different path relying on zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP). In Zerocoin, originally proposed as an extension to Bitcoin that could be incorporated into the currency's basic protocols, a Zerocoin is minted by a party who creates a unique serial number for a coin and then generates a random number. The two numbers are combined with a cryptographic function called hashing that is effectively impossible to reverse: only the possessor of the serial number and random number can produce the resulting hash.
 
Dr Green explains that this proof gives no insight to other parties as to which coin is possessed by the owner even though the serial number has been revealed. The random number remains private and cannot be deduced. But because the owner knows it, the ZKP provides full assurance to the rest of the currency ecosystem of that ownership as all other parties can duplicate the ZKP without knowledge of that secret number. "We are proving to you that we are talking about something that is in the set of previous transactions," says Dr Green.

Dr Green says he has no particular political agenda for Zerocoin. Instead, it's the academic delight of perfecting a system which takes Bitcoin's pseudo-anonymity into something approaching full anonymity. His group wants to sort out now how to fairly administer the early generation of coins and the like, but "if people want to go a different direction with it after it's out there, that's fine." Once the genie is out of the bottle, Dr Green doesn't plan to retain the stopper.

[SecondsOld]

It is extremely difficult to gain traction in the crypt world and Bitcoin already has the market cornered.  Will be interesting to see what he future brings.

[Barek]

Let them show an implementation with a somewhat usable overhead, then we'll talk.

[ashleyconnor]

You do know that ZeroCoin is a protocol change to *coin?

It's not designed to be it's own crypto- currency unless the dev team has run out of patience with it being adopted and decided to fork.

From the github page:

Zerocoin: C++ lib for anonymous extension to bitcoin

[corebob]

Isn't zerocoin a privacy wrapper for other coins, like bitcoin?

In that case, how can it displace it?

[renfr]

Who would ever buy a coin called ZEROcoin? 

[Dalmar]

Who would ever buy a coin called ZEROcoin? 

Meh, it sounds cool... Zero as in zero trace. 

[Dalmar]

It is extremely difficult to gain traction in the crypt world and Bitcoin already has the market cornered.  Will be interesting to see what he future brings.

Black market websites might pick it up.

Bitcoin gained traction largely due to the black market community. Silk Road was a major thing in bitcoin's adoption.

[cr1776]

You do know that ZeroCoin is a protocol change to *coin?

It's not designed to be it's own crypto- currency unless the dev team has run out of patience with it being adopted and decided to fork.

From the github page:

Zerocoin: C++ lib for anonymous extension to bitcoin

They stated that they intended it to be its own coin now - zerocash, iirc. Of course it could be rolled into *coin later.

I also saw that their next paper update should be available shortly (end of Feb, supposedly, from their twitter account).

:-)

[Lethn]

You do know that ZeroCoin is a protocol change to *coin?

It's not designed to be it's own crypto- currency unless the dev team has run out of patience with it being adopted and decided to fork.

From the github page:

Zerocoin: C++ lib for anonymous extension to bitcoin

That's what I thought, to me Anoncoin is a more realistic option that actually seems to be making progress, for the record, I've realised I've mentioned it a number of times now and no I don't own any I would like to though.

[ashleyconnor]

You do know that ZeroCoin is a protocol change to *coin?

It's not designed to be it's own crypto- currency unless the dev team has run out of patience with it being adopted and decided to fork.

From the github page:

Zerocoin: C++ lib for anonymous extension to bitcoin

They stated that they intended it to be its own coin now - zerocash, iirc. Of course it could be rolled into *coin later.

I also saw that their next paper update should be available shortly (end of Feb, supposedly, from their twitter account).

:-)

You are correct. I've just read the article:

Dr Green says that he and his colleagues were unable to gain enough support from the Bitcoin community to allow Zerocoin to operate within the ecosystem. This led them a few weeks ago to create a plan to launch a full-fledged alternative currency. The Zerocoin system will be based on the open-source Bitcoin software code, and will allow both zero-knowledge coins and Bitcoin-style public/private key coins to co-exist.

So they are forking due to lack of interest by Bitcoin.

So do I think that ZeroCoin can replace Bitcoin? No. But they will definitely swallow up SilkRoad like transactions which is good for Bitcoin.

[corebob]

The only "better" bitcoin out there as I see it is darkcoin.

It has world class developers behind it and its not just a bitcoin clone.
They take privacy and neutrality seriously, and it is not pre-mined in any way.
Jesus, I can't believe anyone buying into a coin that isn't open from day one.

Thats the only real competition to bitcoin I have found so far.

[LiteCoinGuy]

Zerocoin is probably not a bitcoin killer but could get in the top 5 cryptocurrencies for sure. if you want to learn more:


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=362468.msg3878992#msg3878992

[Dalmar]

The only "better" bitcoin out there as I see it is darkcoin.

It has world class developers behind it and its not just a bitcoin clone.
They take privacy and neutrality seriously, and it is not pre-mined in any way.
Jesus, I can't believe anyone buying into a coin that isn't open from day one.

Thats the only real competition to bitcoin I have found so far.

You are obviously hyping up a coin you are holding. Darkcoin is nowhere near as innovative or comparable to Zerocoin.

[maxxoccupancy]

Whether the answer is ZeroCoin or something else, I think that we have seen that there are enough problems already with the Bitcoin protocol and approach to mining that something else may be necessary to protect a buy in from loss due to government efforts to seize or trace funds, scams, and volatility.  There's no question in my mind that there's a tremendous need for an anonymous digital currency.  My investment in the protocol is to push the bleeding edge.  Get more people into this to try it out, find out what works and what doesn't, then

Ethereum is, in my mind, a great evolutionary step forward in digital currency.  However, putting everything behind the Bitcoin brand name is a strategy that I don't entirely agree with.  For the time being, I think that we need a whole marketplace of altcoins that employ and different technology and different ideas.

[corebob]

The only "better" bitcoin out there as I see it is darkcoin.

It has world class developers behind it and its not just a bitcoin clone.
They take privacy and neutrality seriously, and it is not pre-mined in any way.
Jesus, I can't believe anyone buying into a coin that isn't open from day one.

Thats the only real competition to bitcoin I have found so far.

You are obviously hyping up a coin you are holding. Darkcoin is nowhere near as innovative or comparable to Zerocoin.

I'm not holding any darkcoin yet. I have been looking into what projects has competent coders behind it, and darkcoin, with their libbitcoin codebase is one of them.
And I'm sure there is others too. Without competent people working on the projects its just not going to make it in the long run.
Most altcoins out there is just another bitcoin clone. I doubt they can make it, specially not those who doesn't allow people to start mining from day one.

[Pentax]

not a chance, as far as I'm concerned.

Nothing that isn't widely adopted has any chance of overtaking bitcoin.  less demand = less demand.  bitcoin has headwinds already in terms of regulation.  I can't wait to see what fincen thinks of zerocoin.

zerocoin is a niche currrency.  while I do think it has innovation, irrespective of whether it is good or bad, it is not going to gain the widespread adoption that bitcoin has due to it's very nature.

I think we'll see lots of niche currencies and they actually have a shot at some sort of market, as they serve a purpose not already served, relative to all of these other naked pump and dumps that bring no innovation and spring up like so many weeds in a field.

[anti-scam]

Zerocoin's "business model" is inherently flawed. It involves complex cryptography with anonymity implications so it has to be open source to be trusted, but if it is open source then it can be easily copied by Bitcoin. The only point to releasing it as its own currency is for a nice pump and dump.

[Dalmar]

Zerocoin's "business model" is inherently flawed. It involves complex cryptography with anonymity implications so it has to be open source to be trusted, but if it is open source then it can be easily copied by Bitcoin. The only point to releasing it as its own currency is for a nice pump and dump.

Bitcoin probably wont ever implement full anonymity as many are trying to push it into the mainstream and acceptance by traditional finance and regulators. Current system is 'good enough' for bitcoin.

As for other altcoins copying zerocoin's code, they won't be as valuable and respected by the crypto community as the first mover. Look at all those early bitcoin copy cats, none of them ever came close in value and respect.

[anti-scam]

Zerocoin's "business model" is inherently flawed. It involves complex cryptography with anonymity implications so it has to be open source to be trusted, but if it is open source then it can be easily copied by Bitcoin. The only point to releasing it as its own currency is for a nice pump and dump.

Bitcoin probably wont ever implement full anonymity as many are trying to push it into the mainstream and acceptance by traditional finance and regulators. Current system is 'good enough' for bitcoin.

I don't believe that. It's the standard conspiracy theorist line but if you examine closely you will see that the core developers gave the original Zerocoin protocol a fair shake and rejected it for technical, not political, reasons.