Z-Channel: Scalable and Efficient Scheme in Zerocash

Yuncong Zhang; Yu Long; Zhen Liu; Zhiqiang Liu; Dawu Gu

Paper 2017/684

Z-Channel: Scalable and Efficient Scheme in Zerocash

Yuncong Zhang, Yu Long, Zhen Liu, Zhiqiang Liu, and Dawu Gu

Abstract

Decentralized ledger-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin present a way to construct payment systems without trusted banks. However, the anonymity of Bitcoin is fragile. Many altcoins and protocols are designed to improve Bitcoin on this issue, among which Zerocash is the first full-fledged anonymous ledger-based currency, using zero-knowledge proof, specifically zk-SNARK, to protect privacy. However, Zerocash suffers two problems: poor scalability and low efficiency. In this paper, we address the above issues by constructing a micropayment system in Zerocash called Z-Channel. First, we improve Zerocash to support multisignature and time lock functionalities, and prove that the reconstructed scheme is secure. Then we construct Z-Channel based on the improved Zerocash scheme. Our experiments demonstrate that Z-Channel significantly improves the scalability and reduces the confirmation time for Zerocash payments.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Publication info: Published elsewhere. Major revision. Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy 2018
Keywords: Cryptocurrency Blockchain Zerocash Privacy Instant payment
Contact author(s): shjdzhangyuncong @ sjtu edu cn
History: 2018-04-16: last of 2 revisions; 2017-07-18: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2017/684
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2017/684,
      author = {Yuncong Zhang and Yu Long and Zhen Liu and Zhiqiang Liu and Dawu Gu},
      title = {Z-Channel: Scalable and Efficient Scheme in Zerocash},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2017/684},
      year = {2017},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2017/684}
}