diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/paper/taler.tex')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/paper/taler.tex | 20 |
1 files changed, 20 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/paper/taler.tex b/doc/paper/taler.tex index ccdc54444..8698719cb 100644 --- a/doc/paper/taler.tex +++ b/doc/paper/taler.tex @@ -317,6 +317,26 @@ never get cashed out into another currency. In addition, Zerocash's anonymity for the receiver facilitates illegal activities like extortion, money laundering, and tax evasion. +BOLT~\cite{BOLT} is a proposed off-chain payment channel inspired by +the Lightning Network \cite{LightningNetwork}. In essence, BOLT is +an e-cash system designed to operate in parallel with Zerocash, along +with a second similar system. Aside from using Zerocash for resolving +disputes, and ultimately transferring coins, BOLT sacrifices some of +the customer anonymity provided by the e-cash primitives so that the +party acting as the exchange can be an arbitrary miner but cannot +defraud the customer. BOLT asserts that sacrificing customer anonymity +in this way is acceptable given Zerocash's strong anonymity properties, +but the authors do propose using it outside Zerocash. + +In general, these off-chain payment channels, like BOLT and the +Lightning Network, improve the blockchain based payment schemes by +centralizing payment processing, but they remain orders of magnitude +more costly than Taler with the same degree of centralization. +In addition, they require that miners act far more like traditional +payment processors than conventional cryptocurrencies, exposing miners +to legal risks. Taler is explicitly designed to help a Taler exchange +navigate these legal risks. + GreenCoinX\footnote{\url{https://www.greencoinx.com/}} is a more recent AltCoin where the company promises to identify the owner of each coin via e-mail addresses and phone numbers. While it is unclear |