Tron testing shielded transactions for more privacy

The Tron Foundation is adding privacy features to the Tron blockchain with shielded transactions. In the current beta test these shielded transactions hide the address of both the sender and the receiver, the amount, the input and output of transactions. Tron has based these shielded transactions on zk-SNARK. The developers of Zcash have created this privacy method.

Sun invited developers to take a look at the test version of the updated network. The privacy features will be made available through a smart contracts to support both TRC10 and TRC20 tokens. In addition the Delegated Proof-of-Stake protocol will also embrace the privacy features, allowing for anonymous voting.

Justin Sun hasn’t revealed when the shielded transactions will enhance the privacy on the Tron main net. Past beta tests suggest this might take a few months.

Enhancing user privacy

Privacy has been a much talked about feature in the field of cryptocurrencies lately. These types of currencies suggest that users are always completely anonymous, but there are still ways to trace money or identity users. However, there are several layers of anonymity. Monero provides more privacy than for example Bitcoin.

Bitcoin indeed isn’t anonymous, and developers are now considering to add privacy features. The rise of popularity of privacy coins also had a backlash, as South Korean exchanges were ‘forced’ to remove the projects from their platform.

ECB digital currency with private transactions

The European Central Bank is doing research into cryptocurrencies. The idea is that all members of the European Union will embrace a digital currency. The latest report regarding the potential central bank digital currency suggests that the ECB wants to add privacy features to their digital money.

Users will get a limited amount of vouchers, which will allow for small, private payments. These private transactions are only possible for small transactions. When users are sending higher amounts of digital euros, the vouchers can’t be applied. This way the digital money would still comply with anti-money laundering rules.

Originally published at NEDEROB.