Category:Voting Pools - Revision history

Justusranvier: /* Overview */

2014-11-12T12:54:52Z

‎Overview

Justusranvier: /* Overview */

2014-11-12T12:54:00Z

‎Overview

Justusranvier: /* Role of Open-Transactions */

2014-11-12T12:48:12Z

‎Role of Open-Transactions

Justusranvier at 21:00, 7 August 2014

2014-08-07T21:00:06Z

Justusranvier: Rewrite for clarity

2014-08-07T20:34:59Z

Rewrite for clarity

Justusranvier: /* Voting Pool Security Theorem */ Link to voting pool components.

2014-07-11T12:09:59Z

‎Voting Pool Security Theorem: Link to voting pool components.

Murrekatt: /* Abstract, Authors List, Keywords */

2014-05-25T12:13:37Z

‎Abstract, Authors List, Keywords

FellowTraveler: /* Introduction */ fixed typo

2014-05-24T02:33:44Z

‎Introduction: fixed typo

RAM at 06:06, 2 May 2014

2014-05-02T06:06:36Z

RAM at 00:48, 2 May 2014

2014-05-02T00:48:23Z

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 [[File:Voting Pools Diagram NT.png|800px]]
-Voting pools bridge two worlds - OT and Bitcoin (cryptocurrency). The OT Voting Pool system consists of transaction servers, audit servers, and Bitcoin wallets held by wallet providers. OT tracks the BTC-denominated balances of every user of a service (down to 16 decimal places currently), as well any "service" balances that may be held by the transaction servers. The [[Notary (voting pools)|Notary] is the portion of a voting pool which is closest to the users themselves. Users can interact with notaries through software user-interface clients that generate API function calls, or directly through client-side scripts containing OT API function calls. The Notary acts as a backend processor for a deposit-accepting business (such as a currency exchange or issuer), and handles all issues related to cryptocurrency deposits, withdrawals, and balance updates.
+Voting pools bridge two worlds - OT and Bitcoin (cryptocurrency). The OT Voting Pool system consists of transaction servers, audit servers, and Bitcoin wallets held by wallet providers. OT tracks the BTC-denominated balances of every user of a service (down to 16 decimal places currently), as well any "service" balances that may be held by the transaction servers. The [[Notary (voting pools)|Notary]] is the portion of a voting pool which is closest to the users themselves. Users can interact with notaries through software user-interface clients that generate API function calls, or directly through client-side scripts containing OT API function calls. The Notary acts as a backend processor for a deposit-accepting business (such as a currency exchange or issuer), and handles all issues related to cryptocurrency deposits, withdrawals, and balance updates.
 The transaction server and the bitcoin wallet communicate via an [[Audit Server (voting pools)|Auditor]]. The Auditor independently verifies the OT operations of all transaction servers in the voting pool, as well as the bitcoins held by the pool on the blockchain itself. It uses this audit data to know when it should direct the wallet to create a withdrawal transaction, and it is also the component responsible for information sharing and achieving consensus between all members of the pool. It is the Auditors and the wallets who hold the keys to creating transactions at the request of the user, and the Auditors must all act by consensus and with the cooperation of the wallet to create multi-signature blockchain transactions.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 [[File:Voting Pools Diagram NT.png|800px]]
-Voting pools bridge two worlds - OT and Bitcoin (cryptocurrency). The OT Voting Pool system consists of transaction servers, audit servers, and Bitcoin wallets held by wallet providers. OT tracks the BTC-denominated balances of every user of a service (down to 16 decimal places currently), as well any "service" balances that may be held by the transaction servers. The OT [[Transaction Server (voting pools)|transaction server]] is the portion of a voting pool which is closest to the users themselves. Users can interact with transaction servers through software user-interface "clients" that generate API function calls, or directly through client-side scripts containing OT API function calls. The transaction server acts as a backend processor for a deposit-accepting business (such as a currency exchange or issuer), and handles all issues related to cryptocurrency deposits, withdrawals, and balance updates.
+Voting pools bridge two worlds - OT and Bitcoin (cryptocurrency). The OT Voting Pool system consists of transaction servers, audit servers, and Bitcoin wallets held by wallet providers. OT tracks the BTC-denominated balances of every user of a service (down to 16 decimal places currently), as well any "service" balances that may be held by the transaction servers. The [[Notary (voting pools)|Notary] is the portion of a voting pool which is closest to the users themselves. Users can interact with notaries through software user-interface clients that generate API function calls, or directly through client-side scripts containing OT API function calls. The Notary acts as a backend processor for a deposit-accepting business (such as a currency exchange or issuer), and handles all issues related to cryptocurrency deposits, withdrawals, and balance updates.
-The transaction server and the bitcoin wallet communicate via an [[Audit Server (voting pools)|auditing server]]. The auditing server independently verifies the OT operations of all transaction servers in the voting pool, as well as the bitcoins held by the pool on the blockchain itself. It uses this audit data to know when it should direct the wallet to create a withdrawal transaction, and it is also the component responsible for information sharing and achieving consensus between all members of the pool. It is the audit servers and the wallets who hold the keys to creating transactions at the request of the user, and the audit servers must all act by consensus and with the cooperation of the wallet to create multi-signature blockchain transactions.
+The transaction server and the bitcoin wallet communicate via an [[Audit Server (voting pools)|Auditor]]. The Auditor independently verifies the OT operations of all transaction servers in the voting pool, as well as the bitcoins held by the pool on the blockchain itself. It uses this audit data to know when it should direct the wallet to create a withdrawal transaction, and it is also the component responsible for information sharing and achieving consensus between all members of the pool. It is the Auditors and the wallets who hold the keys to creating transactions at the request of the user, and the Auditors must all act by consensus and with the cooperation of the wallet to create multi-signature blockchain transactions.
-In order to manage the actual bitcoins held by the pool, each transaction server has a corresponding Bitcoin [[Wallet (blockchain)|wallet]]. The wallet software manages a hierarchical and deterministic list of addresses and the multi-signature transaction generation. The Bitcoin wallet supports standard cryptocurrency balances and separate tracking of colored coins. Most funds are held in a cold-wallet system where human interaction by multiple independent audit server operators is required to rotate to a new sequence of hot-wallet addresses, and the bitcoin wallet supports a formal "cold" state for addresses which require a signed consensus message to become "hot". Wallet providers maintain platforms robust enough to handle peak deposit and withdrawal volumes experienced by a popular service.
+In order to manage the actual bitcoins held by the pool, each transaction server has a corresponding blockchain [[Wallet (blockchain)|wallet]]. The wallet software manages a hierarchical and deterministic list of addresses and the multi-signature transaction generation. The blockchain wallet supports standard cryptocurrency balances and separate tracking of colored coins. Most funds are held in a cold-wallet system where human interaction by multiple independent operators is required to rotate to a new sequence of hot-wallet addresses, and the blockchain wallet supports a formal "cold" state for addresses which require a signed consensus message to become "hot". Wallet providers maintain platforms robust enough to handle peak deposit and withdrawal volumes experienced by a popular service.
 ==Security==

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 ===Role of Open-Transactions===
-Open-Transactions (OT) is a financial cryptography library that implements triple entry accounting with destructible receipts. OT allows creditors to issue liabilities in the form of digitally signed and notarized receipts whose balances can be traded as currency and are available for manipulation via smart contracts and other financial instruments. Transactions are constructed by users and notarized by [[transaction servers]]. OT maintains a real-time, cryptographically secured state of all liability balances for a given issuance type. Account balances in OT are protected from tampering with strong cryptography, which eliminates the co-mingling of funds between unrelated accounts. As an accounting system, OT does not normally have the ability to manipulate actual underlying assets, such as physical gold reserves.
+Open-Transactions (OT) is a financial cryptography library that implements triple entry accounting with destructible receipts. OT allows creditors to issue liabilities in the form of digitally signed and notarized receipts whose balances can be traded as currency and are available for manipulation via smart contracts and other financial instruments. Transactions are constructed by users and notarized by [[Notary (voting pools)| third party witnesses]]. OT maintains a real-time, cryptographically secured state of all liability balances for a given issuance type. Account balances in OT are protected from tampering with strong cryptography, which eliminates the co-mingling of funds between unrelated accounts. As an accounting system, OT does not normally have the ability to manipulate actual underlying assets, such as physical gold reserves.
 Unlike other technologies for creating financial instruments in blockchain currencies, Open-Transactions does not use or require special tokens.

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 ====Voting Pool Security Theorem====
 If the probability of <code>m+1</code> (Type 1 Event) or <code>n-m+1</code> (Type 2 Event) services simultaneously and identically behaving in a malicious or incompetent manner is lower than the probability of any individual server behaving in a malicious or incompetent manner, user deposits on that service are at less risk of loss if the service is a member of an <code>m-of-n</code> voting pool than they would be at risk if the service is not a member of a voting pool.
 Voting pools can guarantee the integrity of user deposits if, in any given situation, at least <code>m</code> pool members are well-behaving for Type 1 events and at least <code>n-m</code> pool members are well-behaving for Type 2 events.

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 <div class="toclimit-2">__TOC__</div>
-Open Transactions is a financial cryptography library and software system featuring client user-interfaces where users can create, store, and transfer digital assets, instruments, and contracts via transaction servers. We describe a "voting pool" protocol for using consensus votes to process cryptocurrency transactions on the Open Transactions network. In the voting pool scheme, digital currencies can be deposited into multi-signature wallets where a spend transaction can only be initiated by a consensus vote signed by a group of independent auditors. Voting pools provide end-users with greater trust because they decentralize control over the deposited funds, ensuring that no individual server operator can transfer user funds without the complicity of a majority of the other voting pool members. Voting pools also provide unique security features such as shared multi-signature hot-and-cold wallet rotation and trusted multi-signed payment requests for deposit addresses. Voting pools allow end-users to deposit, trade, and withdraw cryptocurrencies on the Open Transactions network with greater trust than on any system that doesn't implement voting pools.
+==Introduction==
-<div center>'''authors''': (to be decided at time of publication)</div>
+Voting pools are an arrangement of OT transaction servers to securely store and account for customer cryptocurrency deposits, and to redeem valid withdrawal requests even in the event the custodial entity has completely disappeared. They are designed to ensure that no single person or organization can ever perform unilateral actions on deposited funds in order to reduce the risk of loss or theft, and custodial liability.
-'''Keywords''': cryptography, cryptocurrency, Diffie-Hellman, key exchange, currency, FOREX, contracts, Chaumian cash, bitcoin, financial, transactions, multi-signature, encryption, trust, servers, consensus, voting, game theory
+By forming voting pools, users of OT can create and transact in financial instruments which are based on Bitcoin (or other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies), and it's possible to create exchanges which can not lose or steal customer cryptocurrency deposits. Voting pools are a "best of both worlds" merger between trustless blockchain technology and high speed server-mediated transactions.
-== Introduction ==
+===Role of Open-Transactions===
 Open-Transactions (OT) is a financial cryptography library that implements triple entry accounting with destructible receipts. OT allows creditors to issue liabilities in the form of digitally signed and notarized receipts whose balances can be traded as currency and are available for manipulation via smart contracts and other financial instruments. Transactions are constructed by users and notarized by [[transaction servers]]. OT maintains a real-time, cryptographically secured state of all liability balances for a given issuance type. Account balances in OT are protected from tampering with strong cryptography, which eliminates the co-mingling of funds between unrelated accounts. As an accounting system, OT does not normally have the ability to manipulate actual underlying assets, such as physical gold reserves.
 Bitcoin is a digital asset ledger that includes its own currency and payment system. Bitcoins are not backed by any issuer, and therefore carry no counterparty risk. The validity of the global Bitcoin ledger (blockchain) is enforced by a global P2P network which requires, on average, ten minutes to update.
 With regards to OT, Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) form a unique case. Since cryptocurrencies can be manipulated digitally in the way that other assets can not, OT servers can provide additional functions beyond merely ownership accounting. Importantly, in the case of cryptocurrencies, OT can provide auditing and safe storage of reserves on the blockchain itself. Since OT servers can process transactions more rapidly and inexpensively than a blockchain, it is desirable in many cases to allow an OT server to handle financial transactions off-chain, rather than performing them directly on the blockchain itself.
@@ Line 20: / Line 25: @@
 Unlike legacy currencies, cryptocurrencies can be irrevocably lost or stolen, and it’s typically not possible to distinguish between insider or external theft. Historically, this ambiguity appears to have been routinely exploited.
-Voting pools are an arrangement of OT transaction servers to securely store and account for customer cryptocurrency deposits, and to redeem valid withdrawal requests even in the event the custodial entity has completely disappeared. They are designed to ensure that no single person or organization can ever perform unilateral actions on deposited funds in order to reduce the risk of loss or theft, and custodial liability.
+Voting pools are an open standard intended to be a universal replacement for bespoke systems that handle customer cryptocurrency deposits.
-Voting pools are an open standard intended to be a universal replacement for bespoke systems that handle customer cryptocurrency deposits.
+The transaction server and the bitcoin wallet communicate via an [[Audit Server (voting pools)|auditing server]]. The auditing server independently verifies the OT operations of all transaction servers in the voting pool, as well as the bitcoins held by the pool on the blockchain itself. It uses this audit data to know when it should direct the wallet to create a withdrawal transaction, and it is also the component responsible for information sharing and achieving consensus between all members of the pool. It is the audit servers and the wallets who hold the keys to creating transactions at the request of the user, and the audit servers must all act by consensus and with the cooperation of the wallet to create multi-signature blockchain transactions.
-==Voting Pool Overview==
+In order to manage the actual bitcoins held by the pool, each transaction server has a corresponding Bitcoin [[Wallet (blockchain)|wallet]]. The wallet software manages a hierarchical and deterministic list of addresses and the multi-signature transaction generation. The Bitcoin wallet supports standard cryptocurrency balances and separate tracking of colored coins. Most funds are held in a cold-wallet system where human interaction by multiple independent audit server operators is required to rotate to a new sequence of hot-wallet addresses, and the bitcoin wallet supports a formal "cold" state for addresses which require a signed consensus message to become "hot". Wallet providers maintain platforms robust enough to handle peak deposit and withdrawal volumes experienced by a popular service.
-==Wallet Providers==
+==Security==
-==Design Criteria==
+===Goals===
 In order to achieve the desired security and robustness goals for voting pools, the following criteria are enforced:
@@ Line 42: / Line 49: @@
 #It must be possible to alter the voting pool by adding, removing, or replacing members in a coordinated and secure fashion.
-==Security Model==
+===Model===
 The goal of the voting pool security model is that users of deposit-accepting services should never experience a loss of deposited funds.
@@ Line 59: / Line 66: @@
 ====Voting Pool Security Theorem====
-{{Main|Voting Pool Compostion}}
+{{Main|Voting Pool Composition}}
 If the probability of <code>m+1</code> (Type 1 Event) or <code>n-m+1</code> (Type 2 Event) services simultaneously and identically behaving in a malicious or incompetent manner is lower than the probability of any individual server behaving in a malicious or incompetent manner, user deposits on that service are at less risk of loss if the service is a member of an <code>m-of-n</code> voting pool than they would be at risk if the service is not a member of a voting pool.
 Voting pools can guarantee the integrity of user deposits if, in any given situation, at least <code>m</code> pool members are well-behaving for Type 1 events and at least <code>n-m</code> pool members are well-behaving for Type 2 events.

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:06, 2 May 2014
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		+	<div class="toclimit-2">__TOC__</div>
	== Abstract, Authors List, Keywords ==		== Abstract, Authors List, Keywords ==