Bitcoin and its programmers are always innovating. Finding and building on a new thing or idea is what makes technology an amazing facet of modern life and bitcoin is no exception. And now a new concept is in the works; Dandelion.
Spreading new ideas
Dandelion was conceptualized and released for testing in January of 2017. Since then the project has grown and was published as a BIP in June. The goal of Dandelion is to provide more anonymous transactions by making the IP address attached to each transaction more obscure. This will improve transaction security and reduce the risk of hacking.
Dandelion
As stated the goal of Dandelion is to make tracing the IP harder. This plan is broken up into 2 distinct parts, the Stem and the Fluff; much like the actual flower. The stem is the starting process, and the transactions moves from point A to point B in a straight line. Naturally C follows after B, but then the fluff becomes a part of the chain. The fluff redirects the transaction chain along more pathways and branches. This makes sorting through the fluff to reach the stem much harder.
When trying to follow the trail of transactions, the eavesdropper needs to work backwards to reach the source. Tracking through chains of fluff searching for the stem is incredibly harder this way, which means Dandelion has accomplished its goal. But this is not the only step that is taken. Coupled with the fluff is an Embargo system. This process causes the stem of the transaction chain to show no verification or knowledge of the actual transactions; that is until the fluff stage is activated. A message is sent backwards through the chain triggering the original node into activation.
There is a third point in the Dandelion system. And it is meant as a fail safe, if a certain amount of time passes by without the original node receiving the activation message, then the transaction will automatically occur without the protection of Dandelion.
This system has reached moderate success, however the launch may still take some time as certain aspects are altered and changed. But one question still lingers with the current issues.
How will this affect the looming government regulations?
