We propose an analytical model of ring samplers towards a deeper understanding of them through systematic studies. Our model helps to describe how anonymous a ring sampler is with respect to a given signer distribution as an information-theoretic measure. We show that this measure is robust, in the sense that it only varies slightly when the signer distribution varies slightly. We then analyze three natural samplers -- uniform, mimicking, and partitioning -- under our model with respect to a family of signer distributions modeled after empirical Bitcoin data. We hope that our work paves the way towards researching ring samplers from a theoretical point of view.
Category / Keywords: ring signatures, cryptocurrencies Date: received 11 Dec 2020 Contact author: ronge at cs fau de,egger@cs fau de,lai@cs fau de,dosc@cs fau de,hfyin@inc cuhk edu hk Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation Version: 20201213:170025 (All versions of this report) Short URL: ia.cr/2020/1550