Dark Wallet Alpha Specs and Discussion

[caedes]

Hi, DarkWallet dev here!

As you know we have just made a first alpha release (https://github.com/darkwallet/darkwallet/releases/tag/0.1.0).

It goes together with the following document:

https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/DarkWallet/Alpha

That details different aspects of the wallet workings.

The current release is aimed at increasing the awareness and feedback about all those features, included coinjoin mixing and stealth. We are taking a no compromises approach, there is still some work to be done but we expect to have a working, usable wallet with all privacy features enabled by default as well as strong support for other features like multisig funds.

You are all invited to read the document and test the software. All feedback is welcome, looking forward to discussing different aspects of the wallet so we can refine things towards a release.

Cheers!

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[Simcom]

What do you believe are the biggest advantages/disadvantages Darkwallet has compared to the two anonymous alt-coins being developed, Darkcoin and Zerocoin?

It is my understanding that Darkwallet uses a central server that serves as a hub to organize the mixing.  Are you concerned that this hub could be either shut down, or compromised by law enforcement/goverment agencies? Do you have contingency plans in place to set up multiple servers in various parts of the world to circumvent this?

Thank you! 

[Gyrsur]

how much is libbitcoin (Bitcoin core implementation of Dark Wallet as I understand so far) compatible to "Bitcoin Core" the reference implementation of the Bitcoin protocol?

as I understood central servers are necessary like the Electrum central servers. are they Open Source software? where can I find this implementation? until now the client is Open Source but is the server code also available?

About how compatible it is, I can't really answer myself just that it should be following the bitcoin protocol and we don't have any "propietary" extensions or anything like that. Of course it's going to need heavy testing, auditing etc and we are open and wellcome anyone that helps on that.

About servers, yes the model is similar to electrum. Since the server is opensource you can install it in you server, and in the future there is nothing against you can just run it in you laptop or some parts of it, ie we have no long running assumption everyone *has to be connected to our lobby or to a server*.

We're soon releasing more installers and howtos about server configuratiojn or autonomous config by installing everything (or some part) in your computer.

Edit: A little detail here. DarkWallet itself is javascript and uses bitcoinjs-lib as its core bitcoin implementation. Then our "obelisk server" runs libbitcoin.

Edit2: We have a thread for discussing DarkWallet technicals: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=592493.0. Will be better if we leave this thread for coinjoin specifics and do any dw specifics there.

thank you!

[b!z]

Dark Wallet sounds awesome. Watching this thread.

[caedes]

What do you believe are the biggest advantages/disadvantages Darkwallet has compared to the two anonymous alt-coins being developed, Darkcoin and Zerocoin?

Nothing, we are a wallet, and those are altcoins.

We will be multicoin after we will have a solid bitcoin wallet.

[RUEHL]

I seem to have lost $1.50 USD worth in BTC thus far.

May 1, sent $1 worth and received in dark wallet. Sent all via coinjoin back to my blockchain.info and it seems stuck somewhere with message, "You have a pending mixer transaction".



May 2, sent 50 cents worth from blockchain.info to dark wallet with a bunch of confirmations and now that isn't showing up in dark wallet.  Blockchain showing blockchain.info to dark wallet address:

Code:

https://blockchain.info/address/1PqwVdXyA1BKDHLam5vFHjyNYkVbEM2gFC

Dunno why but my Lobby chat seems frozen since May 1.  I do show connected to the server.

Code:

Connected to unsystem @ wss://gateway.unsystem.net

gateway: ok
obelisk: ok

[caedes]

I seem to have lost $1.50 USD worth in BTC thus far.

May 1, sent $1 worth and received in dark wallet. Sent all via coinjoin back to my blockchain.info and it seems stuck somewhere with message, "You have a pending mixer transaction".

(...)

Dunno why but my Lobby chat seems frozen since May 1.  I do show connected to the server.

(...)

Hi!

Ok, your money is not lost, just the mixer didnt exit cleanly after a failed negotiation for the coinjoin, so it just didnt send. The funds are reserved and wont let you send, also seems your connection just hang or something.

You need to restart the wallet (from manage extensions) or just close all browser windows and restart. That will make it refresh history and free outputs. If mixing gives you trouble to send the money you can go to the topbar send and from there you can disable mixing for that send (advanced options).

Btw, it's really dangerous now to use it with mainnet! You should use testnet.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thx for testing! We're working hard to polish all relevant issues so we can make a more solid release soon, just updated the roadmap: https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/DarkWallet/Roadmap

Usually you can get support for this kind of issues in the darkwallet lobby.

[dabura667]

Hey guys!

Great job on the wallet. I am looking forward to more updates in the future.

I have a question about the stealth addresses:

Are you planning to apply for a BIP to standardize your Dual-key P2SH enabled Stealth Address setup?

Also, I was wondering if this implementation can exist without the lookup table and just searching the blockchain directly?

If OP_RETURN only holds the sender's pubkey and the nonce... I am wondering what would happen if the lookup tables went down or out of use in many years and I had to restore wallet from seed. How would it calculate the addresses created from my stealth address?

[genjix]

If OP_RETURN only holds the sender's pubkey and the nonce... I am wondering what would happen if the lookup tables went down or out of use in many years and I had to restore wallet from seed. How would it calculate the addresses created from my stealth address?

That's fine as the server indexes all stealth data.

[spooderman]

Thanks a lot guise.

Watching.

[RUEHL]

Ok, your money is not lost, just the mixer didnt exit cleanly after a failed negotiation for the coinjoin, so it just didnt send. The funds are reserved and wont let you send, also seems your connection just hang or something.

Thanks caedes, I ended up uninstalling and restoring from seed.  That did the trick.  I sent from DW back to my blockchain.info account disabling coinjoin. All good now.

It's just $1.50 but heck, it's still BTC. 

[dabura667]

That's fine as the server indexes all stealth data.

My question is, what happens if that data on the server disappears or is maliciously altered?

ie If all of Electrum's servers suddenly stopped existing, I can export all my privkeys and import to any other client. But without the information on your servers, I can not restore my stealth generated addresses from seed.

My question: Do you plan on remedying this? Or is this feature?

Also if you could touch on how to prevent malicious servers from editing the ephemkeys (or deleting entries altogether) so you can't lookup your stealth transactions? Maybe I'm just not understanding the wiki right.

Thanks!

[caedes]

That's fine as the server indexes all stealth data.

My question is, what happens if that data on the server disappears or is maliciously altered?

ie If all of Electrum's servers suddenly stopped existing, I can export all my privkeys and import to any other client. But without the information on your servers, I can not restore my stealth generated addresses from seed.

My question: Do you plan on remedying this? Or is this feature?

Also if you could touch on how to prevent malicious servers from editing the ephemkeys (or deleting entries altogether) so you can't lookup your stealth transactions? Maybe I'm just not understanding the wiki right.

Thanks!

The server is indexing, but the data comes from the blockchain, so as long as other clients support stealth too, you can also take your privkeys elsewhere, there is nothing specific about darkwallet or the obelisk in the stealth spec itself. DarkWallet connects to an obelisk server with similar assumptions to electrum clients, and we added one command in the server to serve stealth data.

For all blockchain information we will be into ways to validate the history and all the bitcoin information. About stealth, it's not inherentily impossible to look it up without an obelisk server, you just need access to blockchain stealth data in one way or another.

[genjix]

I spoke with dabura on IRC, and wrote this info:

https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/DarkWallet/Stealth#Restoring_from_seed

He wants to add sending to stealth in Electrum.

[poordeveloper]

I am testing it right now. I must say I'm impressed with it - I'm kind of sorry I can't use it with real Bitcoins yet
One thing I've noticed is that I think I've been notified twice for a few of the TXs I've sent to the wallet. I'm talking about desktop notifications.

EDIT: In the "Send" tab, the "Sending from" option, would be much clearer if it had the balance of each "Pocket".
Also, allowing to send the full balance (even as an option inside the advanced options) would be very helpful.

[genjix]

good idea about balance on send screen.

btw we're on freenode IRC #darkwallet

https://webchat.freenode.net/

or use XChat

[dabura667]

I spoke with dabura on IRC, and wrote this info:

https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/DarkWallet/Stealth#Restoring_from_seed

He wants to add sending to stealth in Electrum.

I have it working now on Electrum 1.9.8

Edit:

https://github.com/dabura667/electrum/compare/1.9.8-commit...StealthAddressSend

I compared it to the 1.9.8 commit here is the diff if you would like to use it and you have the source version.

I got it to send properly from the send tab AND the csv and import files etc.

[Lethn]

Does anyone know how stable this Alpha is? What are the chances of losing coins? Need to know this kind of thing before I go near it, I trust the devs behind it thought, looks like an interesting project, not surprised to see Cody and Amir working together on it

I'm just a bit wary because it's money, I'm currently checking out Twister and like it a lot, so I'd definitely be interested in something like Dark Wallet on top of that.

[genjix]

Make a testnet wallet. Get started with testcoins by searching startpage.com for "testnet faucet".

About Twister stuff: https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/TrollNet
It's planned and more: https://wiki.unsystem.net/index.php/Bitlaw