Presentation Bachelor Thesis Koffi Tino Gnagniko: „Thora protocol enhanced with SALRS to ensure payers and payees privacy“

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On 22. Dezember 2022 at 5pm, Koffi Tino Gnagniko will present his bachelor thesis titled „Thora protocol enhanced with SALRS to ensure payers and payees privacy“.

You can join the Zoom meeting using the following details:

https://fau.zoom.us/j/65767077997?pwd=c2ZMV29WK3lpUlZqMTJiY1B4VGliZz09

Meeting ID: 657 6707 7997 Passcode: 812492

Abstract:

The transaction throughput of many currently available cryptocurrencies is insufficient to support their expanding demand.Payment channel networks (PCNs), utilized by well-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum has emerged as an attractive solution to the scalability problem. PCNs like Lightning Network increase the transaction throughput by processing payments off-chain and using the blockchain only in case of a dispute. Unfortunately, they use HTLC to ensure atomicity, which leads to collateral (i.e., the time coins a locked multiplied by the payment amount) linear to path size, weak atomicity, and restricted payments on a path. Several protocols have been proposed to overcome those problems, but they all fall short on some properties. Thora, on the other hand, is a multi-channel update protocol that ensures atomicity and overcomes all the problems issued by HTLC. Furthermore, Thora enables applications like crowdfunding, mass payments, and rebalancing due to its arbitrary topology. The only problem is that Thora lacks the sender’s and receiver’s privacy. Meaning in a dispute case, a user’s participation in a multi-channel update will be visible on the blockchain.

In this thesis, I present Thora enhanced with SALRS (a scheme that combines Stealth Address and Linkable Ring Signatures to guarantee the payer’s and payee’s privacy of a transaction). The modification will ensure that no one, not even parties, will know who participates or has participated in a multi-channel update. Thora will be modified such that its properties and applications are still preserved in the same way as in the original version.