For those who have been following our developer series, Tectum Blockchain has been successfully integrated into the Metamask Wallet. This means that users can now send Bitcoin for free without paying expensive gas using the T12 protocol. However, the benefits of using the T12 protocol exceed cheap transactions.
Security and privacy are arguably as essential as transaction fees when sending and receiving information via a decentralized network. Tectum Blockchain provides definite solutions to the challenges of user safety and seclusion. This article will enlighten people on how they can further protect themselves using the decentralized network from the fastest blockchain in the world.
Before then, let’s examine the current challenges associated with Web3 networks.
While developing Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto created three principles for blockchain. They include decentralization, transparency, and security. Anyone who examines these factors will question how transparency and security could be combined. Nonetheless, the founder of Bitcoin proves that this is possible by displaying transaction details on a public block explorer. At the same time, miners had to authenticate and authorize transactions to ensure on-chain safety.
While this mechanism does solve the problem of combining security and transparency, it creates another problem of its own. The level of transparency in blockchain adversely affects the privacy of most users.
First, blockchains are public decentralized ledgers containing information. Even the “private” ledgers still grant access to a large group of individuals. This means that anyone with access to check the details of every Bitcoin payment taking place on the blockchain. What makes this even more disturbing is the kind of information people in that ecosystem can access.
Most block explorers reveal details like the funding wallet public key, token balance, amount sent, and receiver account details. This is no different from your bank sending a credit or debit alert and including your account balance in that alert. Worse still, everyone who has an account with your bank can see that information.
Although this proves your bank’s dedication to transparency, it violates your privacy. Even if your bank is very secure and no one can actually steal money from your account, it will still make you uncomfortable. In fact, you may even feel like the financial institution is putting a mark on you. Even if they were not interested, cybercriminals may begin to target and try to steal from you.
For a better understanding, publishing transaction details is an essential part of the operation. Blockchains either broadcast a request for miners to process or assign the transaction to a node. Regardless of the approach, there has to be some level of exchanging information to complete the data transfers. The node or miner has to authenticate that the transaction is true before authorizing it. This is because blockchain transactions are immutable and cannot be changed.
For the node or miner to authenticate the transaction, the person issuing the transaction request must prove that they are the “real” owner. To do this, they simply show their identity to the node administrator for the transaction to be authorized. Blockchains have utilized this method because it has proven to be the smartest way to authenticate ownership and enable authorization.
Tectum Blockchain utilizes a different mechanism that proves ownership without revealing excessive details. Instead of publishing all the details, people can only see the date, time, amount sent, transaction hash, and public keys of both parties. This is because our network utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to process transfer requests from users. How does this system work?
“Zero-knowledge is a protocol whereby one party (the prover) can prove to another party (the verifier) that a given statement is true while avoiding conveying to the verifier any information beyond the mere fact of the statement’s truth.” Although the system is quite complex, this is a clear example of it.
For example, you book a table for a dinner date at a restaurant and prove to the waiter that you have a booking without telling the waiter your table number and location. When you get to the restaurant, you can inform the waiter that your name is Mister A and you booked your table in the first 6 hours of a day in the first 15 days of a month. The waiter then enters that information into a system that runs an algorithm and confirms that the details are correct.
The system is also so secure that even the waiter does not know your table number and location in the restaurant. This is such that even if someone else asks the waiter about your table number and location, they will not be able to get such information.
Think of yourself making a Bitcoin payment on the Tectum Blockchain as the person booking a table at a restaurant. Just as the waiter cannot know the table you booked, the node validator cannot ascertain the balance in your wallet. Besides the necessary information to inform someone that you sent them BTC, ETH, or USDT, everything else remains private. The T12 protocol is the truest definition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, other blockchains can see how much you have in your account balance after you pay for the table. They may even be able to tell the type of credit or debit card used in making the purchase.
Looking at both cases, would you rather use the fastest blockchain in the world and maintain your privacy or another network that broadcasts your private information? Take charge of your privacy today by following this tutorial to integrate the Tectum Blockchain into your Metamask wallet.
