Bitcoin Developer Offers Prototype Intranet Storage
 | |
| Bitcoin Developer Offers Prototype Intranet Storage |
BTC Brian Bishop has proposed a prototype of the BTC intranet storage. According to the developer, such a product will help protect bitcoins from theft and ill-conceived spending.
The idea of safe storage of BTC using blockchain tools was expressed in 2016, but to implement the initial proposal, a hard fork was required, which Bitcoin developers did not implement. Now the idea has been continued - Bitcoin developer Bryan Bishop offered a prototype of a hard-fork-free storage on GitHub and shared his idea with members of the Bitcoin Core mailing list.
“People don’t know how to protect their keys,” Bishop said. “We can help them by creating software that will allow us to better and more securely store bitcoins.”
The main idea is to store BTC on the network in a safe way that allows you to stop the transaction in case of security problems. The approach to storing private keys on the network distinguishes Bishop's proposed repository from the cold wallet concept.
Cornell University professor and blockchain expert Emin Gun Sirer was part of the team that suggested creating such a BTC storage back in 2016. He said he was closely following Bishop’s work.
“It's great to see how repositories move from concept to reality,” he said. “We would like storage to become a standard feature for all cryptocurrencies.”
How it works
In the case of storing crypto assets in an ordinary cryptocurrency wallet, their safety is guaranteed only by the security system of the wallet itself. If someone gains access to private keys, then the user has no way to stop the transaction.
The repositories proposed by Bishop and other developers offer an alternative option, in which, in case of security problems, the user can stop the transfer of the crypto asset. The stored bitcoins will be divided into “shards,” as Bishop calls them. These shards will help to release bitcoins into the hot wallet in parts - one shard for a certain period of time.
The proposal includes the concept of “watchtowers” - control channels for identifying fraudulent transactions that will help monitor storage. Each time these channels record the movement of the BTC shard, they will notify the owner of the crypto asset about it.
If the attempt to transfer bitcoins has not been authorized, the user will be able to activate a pre-signed transaction, which will transfer all of his BTC to a cold wallet before they are unlocked by an attacker. Under certain conditions, the watchtower may skip the notification step and simply initiate the transfer of BTC to the cold wallet.
“To manage this storage and everything associated with it, at least the appropriate software is required. This is not a manual procedure, ”Bishop said.
It is not yet clear whether each user will need to run their own “watch towers”, or whether one channel will be used by several people. According to the developers, such storages will help users protect themselves not only from hackers, but also from themselves, and avoid thoughtless spending.
This model of BTC release at certain time intervals can be useful, for example, for cryptocurrency holders who periodically “pay themselves” some amount and want to get rid of the temptation to withdraw a large number of coins.
“I want to clarify that this is an experimental model and so far only a prototype,” said Bishop.
The Bishop implementation was created with the assumption that BIP 119 will someday be adopted. It is viable now, but, according to Bishop, if BIP 119 is adopted, "it will make some security measures tougher."
Related projects
Bishop is not the only one working on the concept of such repositories. Chainsmiths is developing a Revault product that it plans to start fundraising for. The author of the product was the CEO of Kevin Loaec (Kevin Loaec).
He said Revault is for “people and companies who need to quickly and quickly move assets. The product demonstrates a whole new level of security compared to what multi-signatures now offer. ”
Bob McElrath, who previously worked at Fidelity, is currently working on a similar implementation with several collaborators, which will be published shortly. His description of the product is very similar to the idea proposed by Bishop.
“This is a very complex type of wallet,” writes McElrath. “It includes at least three types of wallets: an“ active ”wallet (used to send and receive), a“ vault ”(synchronized vault), and a“ recovery ”wallet (new vault in case of an attack).”
Ittay Eyal, also part of the team that created the initial Bishop repository offer, is working on a similar idea, but for a different blockchain. He said:
“Our team is now developing a reliable and secure storage implementation for Ethereum in collaboration with Certora.”
He said Revault is for “people and companies who need to quickly and quickly move assets. The product demonstrates a whole new level of security compared to what multi-signatures now offer. ”
Bob McElrath, who previously worked at Fidelity, is currently working on a similar implementation with several collaborators, which will be published shortly. His description of the product is very similar to the idea proposed by Bishop.
“This is a very complex type of wallet,” writes McElrath. “It includes at least three types of wallets: an“ active ”wallet (used to send and receive), a“ vault ”(synchronized vault), and a“ recovery ”wallet (new vault in case of an attack).”
Ittay Eyal, also part of the team that created the initial Bishop repository offer, is working on a similar idea, but for a different blockchain. He said:
“Our team is now developing a reliable and secure storage implementation for Ethereum in collaboration with Certora.”