Check yourself: Default-private money

Questions and answers, readable without JavaScript.

1. What does a transparent ledger publish, in this note's terms?

   • Only amounts, never addresses
   • Nothing a neighbour can read
   • Encrypted amounts by default
   • A public graph of transfers. Addresses are pseudonymous, and linking one to a person makes the history around it legible
   Answer 1

   A public graph of transfers. Addresses are pseudonymous, and linking one to a person makes the history around it legible

   On chains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum the ledger is a public database. Addresses are pseudonymous, not anonymous. Once linked to a person, counterparties, timing, and recurring payments become legible.

   Read the note → · What Transparent Ledgers Leak — and Why On-Chain Privacy Matters

2. Which three mechanisms does the note name as Monero-class default privacy?

   • View keys, payment IDs, and transparent change
   • Stealth addresses, ring signatures, and RingCT
   • Ring size, a remote node, and an exchange account
   • Bulletproofs, Tor, and a hardware wallet
   Answer 2

   Stealth addresses, ring signatures, and RingCT

   Monero's public materials, as the note recounts them, build default privacy from stealth addresses, ring signatures, and RingCT — recipient linkage, sender linkage, and amounts.

   Read the note → · What Transparent Ledgers Leak — and Why On-Chain Privacy Matters

3. What does RingCT hide, and when did it become mandatory?

   • The sender's IP, from 2022
   • The entire chain from every observer
   • Amounts, while nodes can still check that inputs and outputs balance. Mandatory network-wide after September 2017
   • Only the fee, and only if you opt in
   Answer 3

   Amounts, while nodes can still check that inputs and outputs balance. Mandatory network-wide after September 2017

   RingCT hides amounts and still lets the network verify the balance and that no coins were created. It became mandatory network-wide after September 2017.

   Read the note → · What Transparent Ledgers Leak — and Why On-Chain Privacy Matters