Paper 2021/1478

Zarcanum: A Proof-of-Stake Scheme for Confidential Transactions with Hidden Amounts

sowle and koe

Abstract

This article explores a Proof-of-Stake mining algorithm in an environment where amounts are hidden with homomorphic commitments, in particular, using confidential transactions. Our goal was to avoid revealing amounts and other sensitive information (like which output was used to stake a given block) to blockchain observers when doing staking. Our contribution is a Proof-of-Stake mining scheme that does not reveal amounts and is compatible with ring confidential transactions.