Steemit Crypto Academy Contest / S12W3 - The Mimblewimble protocol

A very warm greetings to all steemians out there, it's a pleasure to again participate in this weeks engagement contest for us to share our knowledge about this emerging technology called blockchain and its leading digital currency bitcoin which dominates the crypto market with it large trading volume and market capitalization, we learn everyday while we are alive to boost our exposure to the vast knowledge in this world.

Introduction

The anonymous creator of bitcoin Satoshi Nakanoto who created a pseudo digital token to give financial freedom to the world have been fully running for decades with the help of decentralized nodes across the world and the help of mining rigs which help validate users transactions across the globe without restriction the idea of this decentralized innovation is to give everyone an equal opportunity to control their finance without been subjected to centralized parties which are previously known as middlemen for completing our daily transactions in general decentralization breath freedom for all users across the world.

Satoshi's idea of decentralization gave birth to different incentives of what we are witnessing today the likes of Mimblewimble protocol is aim to clone the idea of Satoshi whereby giving users anonymity to carry out seamless transaction without been tracked by third parties, due to security concerns some users want to remain anonymous which this protocol also known as Harry Potter blockchain aims to achieve.

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Use your own words to show your understanding of the Mimblewimble protocol

The mimblewimble protocol also know as the Harry Potter's blockchain was introduced by an anonymous developer called Tom Elvis Jedusor in 2016 according to some articles the idea behind this technology is to counter Voldemort spell or tongue tying spell if you have watched the movie Harry Potter and the constant battle between the magic lord and Harry Potter we will understand why this anonymous developer choose to call this protocol a counter spell blockchain to counter centralized system.

With that said we can look at the mimblewimble protocol a channel that aims to make users transactions untraceable since the present world and security pressing issue are quite alarming an alternative to government based payment system is designed to make our transactions more private.

In simple and general term the mimblewimble protocol is a special privacy focused decentralized blockchain technology that aims to increase user transparency, confidentiality of conducting transactions while maintaining stronger security of the blockchain network itself, it uses an advanced cryptographic mechanisms to protect users transaction detail by blocking users processed transactions on the blockchain against third parties access.

In simple terms mimblewimble protocol is an advanced privacy centred blockchain that aims to promote security by protecting users transactions in a blockchain it does not store transactions individually like seen in bitcoin block but it collect multiple transactions and store them in one block which makes its difficult to be tracked by other third-parties financial institutions.

*Mimblewimble main features

The mimblewimble protocol has three main features which makes it very unique

1. Anonymity: since this blockchain protocol is focused on providing users with privacy one of its core features is anonymity which makes users transaction private on the blockchain.

2. Fungibility: Fungibility means difficult to trace since this blockchain put multiple users transactions in one block is is very difficult to be traced by outsiders.

3. Scalability: since this blockchain doesn't store or keep unnecessary transactions it makes it block size capacity very flexible and free from bulk transactions, therefore with more block size and capacity there will be increased scalability.

If you're looking for privacy on blockchain technology then look no further as mimblewimble protocol blockchain is here to keep all your transactions anonymous on this decentralized space with all its unique features.

Furthermore mimblewimble protocol has its token known as the mimblewimble coin (MWC) it is based on Proof of work (PoW) protocol which incentivise the use of miners to process users transactions like seen on bitcoin blockchain.

Explain how the Mimblewimble protocol works, giving an illustrative example.

Here I will highlight the mechanism through which this protocol protects users transactions in the next subheading.

How mimblewimble protocol works

The mimblewimble protocol works like any other blockchains but the only difference here is mimblewimble protocol works to provide anonymity, scalability and fungibility for users.

In essence this blockchain protocol works to keep users transactions anonymous on public blockchain Ledger.

The blockchain protocol works using two main mechanisms

1. Use of elliptic curve cryptography ECC: this implemented mechanism allow mimblewimble protocol to verify and compute users transactions without making the transaction public.

2. Cut through mechanism CT: this mechanism is used to achieve a higher level of security and anonymity on mimblewimble protocol by concealing users transactions.

Therefore from the two mentioned mechanism we can see how the mimblewimble protocol users some combined cryptographic protocols to carry out anonymous transactions on its blockchain.

An illustrative example

Here is an illustrative example of how mimblewimble protocol works.

Let's say there are three users who want to make transaction on mimblewimble protocol blockchain.

Let's name them users A, B and C.

First step both user A, B and C need to have their private keys, public address for sending and receiving token.

Now users A wants to send let's say 5 MWC token to users B and users 4 MWC to user C

For users A to send token to B he needs users B and C MWC public address for receiving token once user A receive the address he can initiate and process the transaction to User B and C address.

Since this transaction is done on mimblewimble protocol blockchain users A sent out token will be encrypted on mimblewimble protocol thereby putting all his transactions in one block instead of separate blocks this encryption process will make user A transaction to B and C anonymous form public view.

Do you think the Mimblewimble protocol could be used on the Steem blockchain to improve scalability and privacy.

There are different factors to be considered before answering this question this factor will determine if using mimblewimble protocol blockchain on steem blockchain will improve it privacy or not.

1. Privacy aspect of mimblewimble protocol: since this blockchain is primarily focused on making users transactions public and anonymous this process does not work inline with what steemit blockchain is all about. Therefore steemit blockchain being a social media platform will not necessarily want it transactions to go private because this will not be used to attract more users to the blockchain.

2. Scalability: mimblewimble protocol is very good with it scalability features as it reduces congestion of unnecessary transactions, this will enhance steemit blockchain to maintain and manage scalability problem when there are high traffic demand. In terms of scalability this will help steemit blockchain.

3. Regulatory challenges: we have seen how privacy based blockchain platforms like monera blockchain and tornado cash have been in constant disagreements with regulator mimblewimble protocol is privacy based and will attract the attention of regulators this will make steemit blockchain very unfriendly for public users who are are afraid of regulatory pressure and clampdown.

Therefore looking at privacy aspect of mimblewimble protocol it doesn't resonate with the idea of steemit blockchain one is private and the other is public also looking at regulatory aspect steemit will be under close watch, mimblewimble will not be good for development of steemit blockchain if we consider compatible of smart contracts it means steemit blockchain need to have a new development entirely to be compatible with mimblewimble which will require lot of time and development.

The scalability aspect of mimblewimble is what will benefit steemit blockchain in general looking at the good and bad side the negative aspects seems much even though scalability is very important to my opinion mimblewimble protocol will not be profitable for social media platform like steemit blockchain.

Discuss in detail the cryptography that uses the Mimblewimble protocol.

Every blockchain protocol has different cryptographic components used to build it chain mimblewimble protocol isn't different from the rest here some of the cryptographic features of mimblewimble protocol.

Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) mimblewimble protocol use this cryptographic technique tool on its blockchain in other create public and private keys on its blockchain protocol which is used to provide strong security for the blockchain.

**Pedersen commitment: this is another cryptographic technique embedded in mimblewimble protocol for users to make value commitment on the blockchain without revealing the context of the value.

CoinJoin this encryption cryptographic technique allows mimblewimble protocol to perform or combine multiple transactions in one single transaction this process is used to enhance privacy of users transactions

Cut through this encrypted cryptographic process is used to cancel out transactions with the same input and out from the blockchain thereby reducing blockchain size.

Schnorr signatures these cryptographic feature allows mimblewimble protocol to combine multiple transaction signatures in one single signature.

The above listed cryptographic feature used in mimblewimble protocol shows the blockchain is built solely for privacy.

Mention the advantages and disadvantages of the Mimblewimble protocol.

Advantage of mimblewimble protocol

1. Enhanced privacy: with all the cryptographic features explain above we can conclude that mimblewimble protocol is focused towards ensuring individual privacy.

2. Scalability: by reducing transactions and putting them in a single block of transaction mimblewimble protocol reduce size of blockchain storage.

3. Combine transactions; mimblewimble protocol blockchain is used to collect multiple transactions and add them to a single block

4. Strong security: mimblewimble various cryptographic technique used by this blockchain shows its has very good and stronger security features when compared with other blockchains.

Disadvantage of mimblewimble

1. Smart contract compatibility: mimblewimble protocol blockchain doesn't support complex smart contract compatibility feature.

2. Attract regulatory bodies: being a private based blockchain will always attract regulatory concern as this can be used as a medium for fraud.

3. Reduce transparency: the high level of privacy in this blockchain can reduce transparency as users can't be able to track transaction records.

In conclusion

Privacy in the crypto ecosystem is good it has attracted lot if users into the crypto space which mimblewimble protocol blockchain aims to achieve but it as well raise concern as it medium of privacy can be used for bad actions such as making large illicit transactions which can't be traced it is therefore advised that users should make additional research on any blockchain of their choice before using it this idea of ot strong privacy feature makes it unsuitable to be used for steemit blockchain as well