Open AccessEnhancing Privacy and Improving Security in Scalable Blockchain
Author(s) -
Ammar Mhana,
Ghassan N. Mohammed,
Fadhel K. Jabor
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
xi'nan jiaotong daxue xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 0258-2724
DOI - 10.35741/issn.0258-2724.54.5.7
Subject(s) - cryptocurrency , blockchain , anonymity , popularity , computer security , computer science , internet privacy , scalability , ledger , business , database , law , finance , political science
Bitcoin is a decentralized blockchain-based cryptocurrency that has taken the world by storm. Since its introduction in 2009, it has grown tremendously in terms of popularity and market cap. The idea of having a decentralized public ledger while maintaining anonymity and security attracted the attention of developers and customers alike. Special nodes in the bitcoin network, called miners, are responsible for making the network secure by using a concept called proof-of-work. A certain degree of anonymity is also maintained as no personally identifiable information of a person, like name, address, etc., is linked to the bitcoin wallet. In terms of bitcoin, a user is anonymous if different interactions of the user cannot be linked to each other or the user. Recent research shows that bitcoin is not as anonymous as it appears to be. The inherently public nature of blockchain technology makes it difficult to achieve privacy. The purpose of this paper is to review how varying degrees of user privacy is maintained in bitcoin cryptocurrency. This paper is divided into two main segments. The first segment explores privacy-enhancing techniques adopted in bitcoin. The second segment critically analyzes these techniques.