Published on: 2019-07-17T18:36:42+00:00
In an email thread, Lloyd Fournier expressed his thoughts on Orfeas's paper on formalizing the Lightning Network in the cryptographic framework of Universal Composition (UC) and its security. He found that the ideal functionalities in UC should be simple and intuitive and suggested including reasonable assumptions instead of cluttering up the ideal functionality. Lloyd also raised a concern about ensuring that real-world transactions are indistinguishable from the ideal world due to distinguishability caused by on-chain transactions.Orfeas responded by stating that they were actively working on addressing this concern for Sprites/SaUCy. They need to define a similar constraint like "smart contract isolation respecting protocols" for blockchain UC to make sense. In their paper, Orfeas and Prof. Aggelos Kiayias formalized the Lightning Network in the cryptographic framework of UC and provided a proof of its security. They believe that a formal proof of security is necessary to specify the exact operating parameters that safeguard users' funds and transactions against arbitrary attackers.In another email thread, LL provided feedback on Orfeas Stefanos Thyfronitis Litos' paper on the Lightning Network. While not an academic expert, LL believes that the approach of modeling the protocol relative to the G_ledger functionality is appropriate. LL suggested that the F_PayNet ideal functionality could be simpler and more intuitive by eliminating assumptions such as malicious parties never wanting to lose funds or honest parties always following the protocol. LL also questioned how transactions in the real world can be indistinguishable from those in the ideal world and expressed confusion about the receipt mechanism used in the OpenChannel protocol.Orfeas responded to LL's comments by providing additional information about their research. They explained that the formal proof of security was necessary to specify operating parameters for safeguarding user funds and transactions against arbitrary attackers, validate the underlying cryptography used in LN, incorporate LN into cryptographic protocols, and increase trust in the wider community. The paper is authored by Orfeas Stefanos Thyfronitis Litos and Prof. Aggelos Kiayias, and any feedback on the paper is greatly appreciated.Overall, the formalization of the Lightning Network in the cryptographic framework of Universal Composition aims to provide fast, scalable, user-friendly, and trustless use of bitcoin. The paper co-authored by Prof. Aggelos Kiayias and Orfeas Stefanos Thyfronitis Litos proves the security of LN and offers a formal proof of security to specify operating parameters that safeguard users' funds and transactions against arbitrary attackers. The authors believe that their work contributes to the efforts made by the Lightning community on both theoretical and practical fronts. The paper can be found at https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/778, and feedback is welcomed.
Updated on: 2023-07-31T21:47:45.191629+00:00