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diff --git a/doc/paper/taler.tex b/doc/paper/taler.tex index d85f55948..28dd4a670 100644 --- a/doc/paper/taler.tex +++ b/doc/paper/taler.tex @@ -231,11 +231,8 @@ major irredeemable problems inherent in their designs: Bitcoin also lacks anonymity, as all Bitcoin transactions are recorded for eternity, which can enable identification of users. Anonymous payment systems based on BitCoin such as CryptoNote~\cite{cryptonote} -(Monero), Zerocash~\cite{zerocash} (ZCash) and BOLOT~\cite{BOLT} -% FIXME: exacerbate is very strong, lots of people wouldn't believe -% this claim, it only exacerbates certain aspects (money laundering) -% and computational/storage cost. -exacerbate Bitcoin's design issues. These systems exploit the +(Monero), Zerocash~\cite{zerocash} (ZCash) and BOLT~\cite{BOLT} +exacerbate the design issues we mention above. These systems exploit the blockchain's decentralized nature to escape anti-money laundering regulation~\cite{molander1998cyberpayments} as they provide anonymous, disintermediated transactions. @@ -1148,14 +1145,11 @@ perfectly balanced in between frontend and backend. Nevertheless, these experimental results show that computing-related business costs will only marginally contribute to the operational costs of the Taler payment system. -% FIXME: Say that storage costs dominated? Are storage costs comparable -% for a self hosted system? Didn't we reduce the storage costs with the -% key generation trick? \section{Discussion} -% \subsection{Well-known attacks} +\subsection{Well-known attacks} Taler's security is largely equivalent to that of Chaum's original design without online checks or the cut-and-choose revelation of @@ -1181,7 +1175,7 @@ actually facilitates voluntary cooperation between the exchange and criminals~\cite{sander1999escrow} and where the state could deanonymize citizens. -%\subsection{Offline Payments} +\subsection{Offline Payments} Chaum's original proposals for anonymous digital cash avoided the need for online interactions with the exchange to detect double spending by @@ -1192,19 +1186,19 @@ may be infeasible in practice. Furthermore, a customer may accidentally deanonymize himself, for example by double-spending a coin after restoring from backup. -%\subsection{Merchant Tax Audits} -% -%For a tax audit on the merchant, the exchange includes the business -%transaction-specific hash in the transfer of the traditional -%currency. A tax auditor can then request the merchant to reveal -%(meaningful) details about the business transaction ($\mathcal{D}$, -%$a$, $p$, $r$), including proof that applicable taxes were paid. -% -%If a merchant is not able to provide theses values, he can be -%subjected to financial penalties by the state in relation to the -%amount transferred by the traditional currency transfer. +\subsection{Merchant Tax Audits} + +For a tax audit on the merchant, the exchange includes the business +transaction-specific hash in the transfer of the traditional +currency. A tax auditor can then request the merchant to reveal +(meaningful) details about the business transaction ($\mathcal{D}$, +$a$, $p$, $r$), including proof that applicable taxes were paid. -% \subsection{Cryptographic proof vs. evidence} +If a merchant is not able to provide theses values, they can be +subjected to financial penalties by the state in relation to the +amount transferred by the traditional currency transfer. + +\subsection{Cryptographic proof vs. evidence} In this paper we have use the term ``proof'' in many places as the protocol provides cryptographic proofs of which parties behave @@ -1221,7 +1215,7 @@ the participants have to disclose their core secrets. %We performed some initial performance measurements for the various %operations on our exchange implementation. The main conclusion was that %the computational and bandwidth cost for transactions described in -%this paper is smaller than $10^{-3}$ cent/transaction, and thus +%this paper is smaller than $10^{-2}$ cent/transaction, and thus %dwarfed by the other business costs for the exchange. However, this %figure excludes the cost of currency transfers using traditional %banking, which a exchange operator would ultimately have to interact with. @@ -1229,29 +1223,30 @@ the participants have to disclose their core secrets. %aggregating multiple transfers to the same merchant. -%\section{Conclusion} +\section{Conclusion} -%We have presented an efficient electronic payment system that -%simultaneously addresses the conflicting objectives created by the -%citizen's need for privacy and the state's need for taxation. The -%coin refreshing protocol makes the design flexible and enables a -%variety of payment methods. The current balance and profits of the -%exchange are also easily determined, thus audits can be used to ensure -%that the exchange operates correctly. The libre implementation and open -%protocol may finally enable modern society to upgrade to proper -%electronic wallets with efficient, secure and privacy-preserving -%transactions. +We have presented an efficient electronic payment system that +simultaneously addresses the conflicting objectives created by the +citizen's need for privacy and the state's need for taxation. The +coin refreshing protocol makes the design flexible and enables a +variety of payment methods. The current balance and profits of the +exchange are also easily determined, thus audits can be used to ensure +that the exchange operates correctly. The free software +implementation and open protocol may finally enable modern society to +upgrade to proper electronic wallets with efficient, secure and +privacy-preserving transactions. % commented out for anonymized submission -%\subsection*{Acknowledgements} +\subsection*{Acknowledgements} -%This work was supported by a grant from the Renewable Freedom Foundation. -% FIXME: ARED? +We thank people (anonymized). +%This work benefits from the financial support of the Brittany Region +%(ARED 9178) and a grant from the Renewable Freedom Foundation. %We thank Tanja Lange, Dan Bernstein, Luis Ressel and Fabian Kirsch for feedback on an earlier %version of this paper, Nicolas Fournier for implementing and running %some performance benchmarks, and Richard Stallman, Hellekin Wolf, %Jacob Appelbaum for productive discussions and support. - +\newpage \bibliographystyle{alpha} \bibliography{taler,rfc} |