By Shelly Melancon (Switzerland)
Defi and crypto users consider privacy a very high priority. The user anonymity of digital currencies was what made them attractive to many people.
However, as control measures on the industry increase, this anonymity is fast fading away. However, this concern isn’t new. In an article published early last year, Tim Copeland emphasized the triviality in doxing or revealing sensitive personal details about Ethereum wallet owners by simply using their public wallet details.
Hence, a foundation called the right to privacy launched RAILGUN, a Defi project coordinated by various scientists in Europe, Australia, and Canada. The Ethereum-built privacy project enables users to interact with various Defi applications, including distributed exchanges (DEXs).
RAILGUN users can also involve themselves in various crypto and Defi-based projects to earn financial rewards, and no matter how huge, they won’t be scared of someone spying on them.
Achieving privacy on Ethereum through ZK-snarks was once an impossible mission. But it is now possible due to advancements in cryptographic technology (RAILGUN’s smart contracts).
About RAILGUN
RAILGUN is an aggregation of smart contracts with zero-knowledge proofs. Smart contracts are computer codes used to enforce laws and perform obligatory transaction roles in Defi applications. But, proofs reveal specified details about an entity without revealing vital details.
The combination of smart contracts and proofs enables RAILGUN users to trade digital currencies and use Defi apps without revealing any details they don’t want to reveal. Hence, their financial transactions are private.
Also read:Emmanuel Goldstein, the project’s lead researcher, states that the project will be fully functional by next month. Users can deposit any token such as ETH, USDC, renBTC, renZEC and retain their anonymity. Hence, their trades with each deposited token remain private.
In contrast to previous Ethereum-built privacy projects, RAILGUN doesn’t require any new nodes, additional infrastructure, or a ‘layer 2’ to function optimally. Goldstein affirms that “RAILGUN is totally on-chain with the complete Ethereum security and without any trade-off.”
The RAILGUN team has revealed plans to include a private DEX in the project’s privacy system and third-party wallet apps to automatically feature RAILGUN’s privacy for free. Users will prefer this new community with complete privacy and anonymity on all activities (especially transfers and trades) to a large pool of noisy anonymous ecosystems.
A side benefit of this project is that users can benefit from the activities of one another.
What Makes RAILGUN Unique?
Similar privacy projects don’t have the privacy, security, and flexibility of RAILGUN. Mixers and other current solutions lack functionality (such as lack of internal shielded transfers) and convenience (no interaction with smart contracts).
Also, there are no easy or efficient ways users can perform transactions on this protocol.
RAILGUN’s Zero-Knowledge Proofs
The utilization of these proofs is the main reason RAILGUN can offer privacy and anonymity. RAILGUN uses ZK-snarks to hide valid transactions without disclosing details about the transaction amount, recipient, or sender.
The smart contract verifies the proof and updates the Merkle tree. The Merkle tree collates the generated notes (recipient’s balance encrypted by the recipient’s public key) and erases the consumed notes (the sender’s own). Thus, no user can double-spend or create money out of thin air.
RAILGUN User Benefits
- hinders spies from checking out your Defi routines
- allows donations without revealing details about the donations
- allows coin investments without notifying your wallet followers
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