Dec 13, 2019
Bitgrin’s Non-interaction Transactions
Do mimblwimble transactions necessarily require interaction？ No！
PHARAZEN who is the developer of Bitgrin said：“Bitgrin is using a system of non interactive transactions that delegates transaction processing to randomized nodes in the network. This allows for non-interactive transactions without the concession of a central server (often referred to as a relay, such as with Grinbox for grin, or the SBSS present in Beam.”
Source: Q4 report of Bitgrin
The core dev team will tackle technological challenges that have yet been resolved in the mimblewimble ecosystem; these include non-interactive transactions and secure IP-based transactions with NAT hole-punching. Both of these technical developments will make transacting in Bitgrin a seamless and effortless experience putting us one step closer to widespread adoption.
Another take on non-interactive transactions
Bitgrin has no addresses; this is due to the fact that transactions are created by computing a shared secret. Both the sender and receiver agree on a blinding factor for the transaction or in more simple terms, both parties exchange data with each other, and create the transaction.
This type of transaction is “interactive” as both parties have to interact with each other to create the transaction. Once the transaction is created, it is broadcasted to the network.
Having no addresses can be seen as an advantage as there is nothing to link you to your counter-party, ensuring the maximum degree of privacy and anonymity.
Although, it can also be a major disadvantage. Most cryptocurrency participants are accustomed to non-interactive transactions and sending their coins to an address.Therefore, there is an additional layer of friction and difficulty to transacting on Bitgrin in comparison to other blockchains.
Current Methods for Transfer
HTTPS
HTTPS transfer is the quickest way to transact Bitgrin. The sender specifies the IP address he wants to send the coins to, the receiver turns on his HTTP listener and receives the coins.
A major disadvantage with this method of transfer is that both parties have to be online during the time of the transaction. Imagine having to have your email open 24/7 in order to be able to receive emails, it would be chaos. HTTP transfers work for now, they are still cumbersome as participants have to open their ports on their router, something that requires a certain degree of technical savviness.
The Bitgrin community has worked to improve HTTPS transfers in two ways.
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BitgrinPay — Allows users to transact with exchanges & pools without having to open their port
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Nat-Transfer — Allows users to transact with each other without having to open their port. This is a development that is coming this Quarter.
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These two solutions solve the port-forwarding issue but users still have to be online to transact with each other. This is where file-transfer comes in.
File-transfer
The file transfer method is a multi-step process that allows participants to move transaction forward while the other party is offline.
The sender creates a transaction file that he/she sends through email, messaging, etc. to the recipient. The recipient acknowledges the file through their wallet(Kingfish), and sends it back to sender. The sender finalizes the file and broadcasts transaction to network.
This method of transfer requires little to no technical prowess and prevents users from sending coins to the wrong address mistakingly. However, this process adds significant friction to transacting Bitgrin as it is a multi-step process and requires a 3rd party to transfer the files.
Bitgrin Introduces Non-Interactive Transactions
Non-interactive transactions will be introduced for the first time ever to a mimblewimble coin this Quarter. Lead dev, Pharazen, has been developing this solution for several months now.
As for details or the progress on this development, there isn’t much information out there aside from what has been made public already.
Maybe the community could conduct a Q&A with the core dev team to get a better grasp on the progress of this development.
This is a groundbreaking development for the space and will change the way people transact.
Origination of transactions with NAT hole-punching.
“Hole punching (or sometimes punch-through) is a technique in computer networking for establishing a direct connection between two parties in which one or both are behind firewalls or behind routers that use network address translation (NAT).”
Currently, as explained in the “Current Methods for Transfer — HTTPS” section, every user transacting on Bitgrin through HTTPS has to open their port. This process is cumbersome and requires a certain degree of technical skill.
Although the Bitgrin core devs have come up with a solution to transact through HTTPS with pools and exchanges(BitgrinPay), it is still impractical for user-to-user transactions.
The development of secure IP-based transactions added with NAT hole-punching will allow people to transact between each other without having to open their ports. Bitgrin will be the first mimblewimble-based coin to implement this innovative solution and will make transacting much more seamless.
This is a development other projects can adopt into their blockchains thus improving the mimblewimble ecosystem as a whole!
