side memory - Transient memory of an other peer to peer network controlled through the bitcoin utxo set

Summary:

Tamas Blummer, a blockchain developer, has proposed a generic design pattern for peer-to-peer networks called side memory. Side memory is not a persistent store but rather a transient memory of another peer-to-peer network. The UTXO set in Bitcoin is an example of shared transient memory. The main idea behind side memory is to associate data with a unique coin in the UTXO set, which can then be used to control and limit the scarcity of Bitcoin. To implement this, there are several ways to associate data with a UTXO, including requiring more satoshis to be committed. However, nodes of the other network would have to run a Bitcoin node as well to observe changes in the UTXO. To simplify the task, Tamas proposes using time locks and SPV validation. The UTXO committing to associated data would have a relative timelock so that it cannot be spent within n blocks after entering the UTXO set. A network node that originally publishes the data would also send an SPV proof of the inclusion of associated commitment into the Bitcoin blockchain to its peers. Other network nodes would then only need to observe the progress of Bitcoin's header chain to validate the proof before accepting data into their transient store. Nodes that publish new data would have to listen to all blocks after they broadcast the commitment until they see it confirmed and can extract the proof.The network nodes could use IBLTs (Invertible Bloom Lookup Tables) to distribute associated data. Such an associated network would be lightweight since it only observes and stores Bitcoin's header chain and its own peer-to-peer network. Tamas plans to release the code of a network that implements this design pattern with the SPV optimization and IBLTs and is looking for help testing it in a limited deployment before releasing it publicly. This pattern is useful as sybill attack protection of coinjoin networks as time-locked commitments can act as fidelity bonds.

Updated on: 2023-05-20T20:54:50.345587+00:00