VEIL — A COMPARISON WITH MONERO AND A TECHNICAL OVERVIEW OF ITS SUPERIORITY FOR PRIVACY AND ANONYMITY
INTRODUCTION
Online financial transactions, especially with cryptocurrencies have increased exponentially over the years. However, the issue of the security of those transactions; the privacy and the anonymity of transactions and the involved parties have been largely overlooked my numerous projects. Blockchain technology built on a largely decentralized, distributed ledger architecture(with the exception of very few) has facilitated trustless transactions that are not only cheaper but faster and more efficient.
Privacy and anonymity which were previously overlooked have become a necessity with the increased rate of data breaches resulting in personal information leaks, identity theft, and the loss of funds. Government regulations also, and compliance with KYC and AML acts have adversely affected the anonymity of transactions with cryptocurrency, ironically bringing in the problem which blockchain technology was intended to challenge and resolve; centralization.
WHY MONERO WAS CHOSEN FOR COMPARISON
Monero was developed with a focus on privacy which is obtained through its Ring Confidential Transactions (Ring CT) which obfuscates transaction amount from prying third parties, making available the details of the transacted amount only to the receiver and the sender, ensuring transaction privacy. Unlike popular blockchain architectures,(e.g Ethereum)the balance of users cannot be accessed just by running a search on the blockchain. Monero employs CryptoNote technology which in terms of privacy is an improvement of the Bitcoin protocol by combining untraceable ring signatures and unlinkable public keys.
Although Monero ensures transactional privacy, the anonymity of transactions due to coin mixing is not guaranteed. In a tweet by one of the core developers of Monero, Riccardo ‘’fluffypony’’ Spagni, he attests to the technological superiority of another privacy-focused cryptocurrency ZCash which employs a modified version of the Zerocoin protocol zk-SNARK in terms of transaction untraceability and anonymity.
However, the Zerocoin protocol which features superior anonymity has limited privacy, with only certain types of transactions being private. In order for a truly anonymous and private blockchain network, the combination of both the privacy of the RingCT technology and anonymity of the Zerocoin protocol.
INTRODUCING VEIL- THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Veil, as the name implies, provides the much needed ‘Veil’ in the world of anonymous and private cryptocurrency transactions. Veil employs both the RingCT technology for always-on transactional privacy and the Zerocoin protocol for superior anonymity. Veil combines the Zerocoin protocol based on zero-knowledge proof which is used in the validation of transactions in order to prove that a transaction has occurred between two parties (prover and verifier) without requiring the details of the transaction(transacted amount, sender and receiver) is combined with the Bitcoin core protocol version 0.17.1. Veil is open-source and its code repository can easily be accessed at https://github.com/Veil-Project/veil
CONSENSUS ALGORITHM
Monero employs a Proof of Work(PoW) consensus system based on the CryptoNote algorithm. Proof of Work rewards miners for solving cryptographic hashes without taking into cognizance their cryptocurrency holdings.
Veil adopts the hybrid consensus algorithm model of Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake(PoS). Veil utilizes the ASIC resistant X16RT hashing algorithm for mining while the Proof of Stake consensus where holders of Veil are rewarded for staking their cryptocurrency provides a more eco-friendly and energy efficient mode of new coin minting.
PRIVACY AND ANONYMITY
Monero does ensure transactional privacy but the anonymity of the parties involves in the transaction is not guaranteed.
Veil, however, ensures both transactional privacy and user anonymity, allowing for transactions that are untraceable, private and secure. Veil also supports the dandelion protocol which is a network layer anonymity solution, hence, transaction anonymity is doubly ensured at both the network layer (IP anonymity) and at the blockchain level (Zerocoin protocol).
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Unlike Monero which is a fork of Bytecoin, Veil is not a fork of any existing cryptocurrency. Monero was fairly launched without any ICO or premine. As regards research and development, Monero has a Monero Research Lab for carrying our research and development.
Veil, fairly launched without any premine or ICO also has the Veil Labs for carrying out research and development. The Veil Labs was established by the Veil project in order to pioneer new frontiers in the in fields of cryptography, privacy and blockchain technologies in order to ensure that Veil stays ahead as a superior alternative in the market of privacy-oriented cryptocurrency.
PRICE, TOTAL SUPPLY, AND MARKET CAPITALIZATION
Monero, released on the 18th April 2014, is currently trading at $ 62.53 and has a current market capitalization of $ 1, 060,060, 627 (as at the time of writing), reaching an all-time high of over $460. Monero has a total supply of 18.4 million XMR which will be completely mined by 31 May 2022, and subsequently, will have 0,3 XMR per minute generated continuously as a reward to miners indefinitely.
Veil was seed funded with an excess of a million dollars, hence, commenced development directly without organizing a crowdsale (ICO) exercise. Veil was released officially(genesis block) on 1st January 2019. The maximum coin supply has been capped at 300 000 000 VEIL which will be completely generated by 2037(approximately) when block rewards will be stopped. As at the time of writing, Veil has a circulating supply of 14, 469, 289 with a market capitalization of $ 4, 156, 464 with each Veil trading at $ 0.287.
During the approximate period of four months (January — April 26), Veil has grown in market capitalization to about 400% of its seed funding, an indication of its potential to attract investors and traders.
CONCLUSION
Veil as a privacy-focused cryptocurrency with anonymous transactions restores the much needed transactional privacy and anonymity without trading off security and transaction speed. Veil as a project keeps alive the vision of the decentralization of the global financial system through anonymous, secure, and private transactions.
It is obvious that in the market of privacy coins, Veil not only utilizes the core technology behind the Monero project for transactional privacy, but also ensures the anonymity of transactions both at the blockchain level and at the network layer, ensuring that transactions are always secure, anonymous, and private.
For the sake of research and inquiries, or to become a part of the ever-growing online community, use any of the following links:
