Ring Confidential Transactions

This article introduces a method of hiding transaction amounts in the strongly decentralized anonymous cryptocurrency Monero. Similar to Bitcoin,Monero is a cryptocurrency which is distributed through a proof of work “mining” process. The original Monero protocol was based on CryptoNote,which uses ring signatures and one-time keys to hide the destination and origin of transactions. Recently the technique of using a commitment scheme to hide the amount of a transaction has been discussed and implemented by Bitcoin Core Developer Gregory Maxwell. In this article,a new type of ring signature,A Multi-layered Linkable Spontaneous Anonymous Group signature is described which allows for hidden amounts,origins and destinations of transactions with reasonable efficiency and verifiable,trustless coin generation. Some extensions of the protocol are provided,such as Aggregate Schnorr Range Proofs,and Ring Multisignature. The author would like to note that early drafts of this were publicized in the Monero Community and on the bitcoin research irc channel. Blockchain hashed drafts are available in [14] showing that this work was started in Summer 2015,and completed in early October 2015. An eprint is also available at http://eprint.iacr.org/2015/1098.