What happened to TumbleBit?

[Abiky]

It's been quite some time since developers announced the experimental privacy feature for Bitcoin known as Tumblebit. The project worked in a similar fashion to a cryptocurrency mixer without the middleman (sort of like a non-custodial mixer). Last time I've checked, development for nTumblebit on the GitHub repository has stalled. The last commit was around 3 years ago (2018 to be exact).

I'm starting to wonder what could've led developers to abandon the project altogether? Will development continue sometime in the future? Or will Tumblebit become just another nail in the coffin? What do you think could've happened with TumbleBit?

[Pmalek]

The project seems to be pretty much dead, but there has been some development in April 2019 according to this GitHub repository:
https://github.com/NTumbleBit/NTumbleBit

Some kind of TumbleBit Wallet was also released 3 years ago for testing purposes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TumbleBit/comments/6b3zj1/introducing_hiddenwallet_full_block_spv_tumblebit/

Is that the official GitHub page of the project btw?  
From the little info I managed to find, it seems there was some testing being done, but it never went above that.

[BlackHatCoiner]

It seems a dead project to me. First of all, the last change was made two years ago (doesn't it seem a decade?). Note that the current version of TumbleBit is written based on Bitcoin Core v0.16.0, not that it's that important. I liked their idea, when I read, though. (TumbleBit: An Untrusted Bitcoin-Compatible Anonymous Payment Hub)

As far as I understood, it's an off-chain bitcoin mixer, with no third-party required to mix each user's coins. That was the first concept of TumbleBit: https://github.com/BUSEC/TumbleBit. I guess that after that, there were more contributors interested and they started the entire project from zero. TumbleBit (from BUSEC) was written in C++ and Python, but later, they turned it to 100% C#.

[leea-1334]

It's been quite some time since developers announced the experimental privacy feature for Bitcoin known as Tumblebit. The project worked in a similar fashion to a cryptocurrency mixer without the middleman (sort of like a non-custodial mixer). Last time I've checked, development for nTumblebit on the GitHub repository has stalled. The last commit was around 3 years ago (2018 to be exact).

I'm starting to wonder what could've led developers to abandon the project altogether? Will development continue sometime in the future? Or will Tumblebit become just another nail in the coffin? What do you think could've happened with TumbleBit?

They are busy working on Taproot are they not? I do not understand the full implications of this but I understand that it is signalling already,,, and if everything is going well with no objections then everything should be ready by the end of the year. A lot of github things stalled but I guess because there is now things like Monero doing all of those thing?

[Abiky]

The project seems to be pretty much dead, but there has been some development in April 2019 according to this GitHub repository:
https://github.com/NTumbleBit/NTumbleBit

Some kind of TumbleBit Wallet was also released 3 years ago for testing purposes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/TumbleBit/comments/6b3zj1/introducing_hiddenwallet_full_block_spv_tumblebit/

Is that the official GitHub page of the project btw?
From the little info I managed to find, it seems there was some testing being done, but it never went above that.

I believe that's the official GitHub page of the project. The NTumbleBit variant had more development activity than the original project. It's sad to see that developers have abandoned it, in times when privacy is a must on the Bitcoin blockchain. I mean if Bitcoin Cash has something similar dubbed "CashFusion" and "CashShuffle", why can't Bitcoin have a non-custodial mixer? Maybe developers stopped working on TumbleBit because there are already other privacy solutions in the crypto/Blockchain space? With Monero, Zcash, and other privacy coins on the market, there might be no need to implement a privacy mechanism into Bitcoin.

At least, the code is open for anyone to continue building the project. Whenever it'll become a reality in the future or a distant dream, it's yet to be seen. We're going to have to continue using third-party mixers if we want to obfuscate our Bitcoin. Choosing a privacy coin like Monero works too, but you won't get the same level of security and reliability as the original Bitcoin blockchain.

They are busy working on Taproot are they not? I do not understand the full implications of this but I understand that it is signalling already,,, and if everything is going well with no objections then everything should be ready by the end of the year. A lot of github things stalled but I guess because there is now things like Monero doing all of those thing?

It was said that Taproot includes Schnorr Signatures which is meant to increase privacy. If it works, then there might be no need for TumbleBit after all. Many miners have shown their support to this upgrade, so it should be a matter of time before Bitcoin achieves privacy for the first time in history. Fingers crossed everything will go well once the timeframe for the upgrade is reached.

[dkbit98]

Problem with TumbleBit wallet project was probably higher fees that would make it almost impossible to be used with current bitcoin fees.
I think that developer of this wallet Nopara moved on to other projects and I can see him very active today in social media and still talking about privacy options for bitcoin.
His github account is also very active and we can see that he is often contributing to Wasabi wallet.

why can't Bitcoin have a non-custodial mixer?

I would like to see that but it's not so easy to make one that actually works and it would be under surveillance of everyone.

[Abiky]

I would like to see that but it's not so easy to make one that actually works and it would be under surveillance of everyone.

In crypto land, anything's possible. All it takes if for a developer (or a group of developers) to being working on the project to make it a reality sometime in the future. Considering that competing projects already have a non-custodial mixer, I think that doing the same for Bitcoin should be a no-brainer. I've recently discovered a wallet called "Wasabi" with built-in mixing features. It might work exactly the same as TumbleBit, enabling privacy for those who need it the most. Samourai's wallet has the "Whirlpool" privacy feature that's similar to Wasabi's privacy mechanism. The more non-custodial mixers Bitcoin has, the more options people will have for achieving true privacy on the Blockchain. Non-custodial mixers are so much better than third-party mixers as you control the keys. But governments may not be happy with such solution. They might end up cracking down the industry in order to prevent people from obfuscating transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't worry about TumbleBit's abandoned status since its code is open source. Anyone can revive the project in the future if there's enough interest in doing so. With Taproot closer to activation, we might not need a separate solution for achieving privacy on the Bitcoin blockchain. Transactions will be private by default via the use of Schnorr Signatures (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Expect to see governments react in a negative way towards Bitcoin as a result of the network upgrade. After all, they want to keep track of every transaction made on the Blockchain. Schnorr Signatures makes it harder for governments to achieve the task, making Bitcoin a high priority threat to the existence of central banks worldwide. No matter what happens in the future, Bitcoin will be here to stay. Just my opinion