Paper 2016/056

Blindly Signed Contracts: Anonymous On-Blockchain and Off-Blockchain Bitcoin Transactions

Ethan Heilman, Foteini Baldimtsi, and Sharon Goldberg

Abstract

Although Bitcoin is often perceived to be an anonymous currency, research has shown that a user's Bitcoin transactions can be linked to compromise the user's anonymity. We present solutions to the anonymity problem for both transactions on Bitcoin's blockchain and off the blockchain (in so called micropayment channel networks). We use an untrusted third party to issue anonymous vouchers which users redeem for Bitcoin. Blind signatures and Bitcoin transaction contracts (aka smart contracts) ensure the anonymity and fairness during the bitcoin $\leftrightarrow$ voucher exchange. Our schemes are practical, secure and anonymous.

Metadata
Available format(s)
PDF
Category
Applications
Publication info
Published elsewhere. 3rd Workshop on Bitcoin and Blockchain Research
Keywords
bitcoinblockchainsmart contractsblind signaturesanonymity
Contact author(s)
ethan r heilman @ gmail com
History
2016-03-02: revised
2016-01-25: received
See all versions
Short URL
https://ia.cr/2016/056
License
Creative Commons Attribution
CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2016/056,
      author = {Ethan Heilman and Foteini Baldimtsi and Sharon Goldberg},
      title = {Blindly Signed Contracts: Anonymous On-Blockchain and Off-Blockchain Bitcoin Transactions},
      howpublished = {Cryptology ePrint Archive, Paper 2016/056},
      year = {2016},
      note = {\url{https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/056}},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/056}
}
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