Special shout out to prof - @fredquantum for making this class as detailed as possible. Your influence spreads like fragrance.
### 1. Understanding of Mimblewimble.
Mimblewimble protocol is a blockchain protocol developed to improve the fungibility, privacy and scalability of blockchains. It was made on July 16, 2016 by unknown person using the fictitious name for Voldemort from Harry Potter **"Tom Elvis Jedusor"**. it's a notable privacy cryptocurrency projects that was built using Mimblewimble that include Beam and Grin.
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This protocol makes all transactions private by the receiver of a transaction in a random way by selecting a range of invisible factors which are prepared by the transaction sender. The selected invisible factor is useful for verifying ownership by the receiver and allow the sender to finish the transaction.
Mimblewimble also make use of cryptographic method called **CoinJoin** that permits two or more transaction at a time, senders can combine their transactions into only one transaction. This cimmerian the intended receiver to any noticing third party by creating a block of the Mimblewimble protocol that consist of lists of all outputs inputs, and signature data.
Mimblewimble is actually a blockchain protocol that let's transactions of cryptocurrency to stay completely unknown. This merit offered by Mimblewimble is distinctly a great one, compared to regular transactions of cryptocurrency.
No one knows the person or group of people that's behind Mimblewimble technology, it goes by pseudonym **“Tom Elvis Jedusor,”** the French name translated for Harry Potter’s arch-nemesis Voldemort.
### 2. How Mimblewimble works.
Mimblewimble depend on ECC (Ellipticall Curve Cryptography) , a cryptographic approach that based on separate logarithms. If you remember high school mathematic, logarithms are essentially the “opposite” of multiplications. For instance: 2⁵ = 32.
It's calculated as; log2 (32) = 5. This is named logarithm to the equation above. 2 need to multiply itself in 5 times to get 32.
The positive of logarithms in ECC is very more complicated than that example I made above. The term "discrete" direct to a mathematics branch that restores around studying a set of separate mathematical values. The topics that discrete mathematic covers are Probability and set theory.
ECC execute uncountable discrete logarithm equations and still becast them in a graph so as to pin down the cryptocurrency transaction private key. This explanation may sounds confusing, but worry not, because that is the ECC point: it make Blockchain equations work out in more complicated way, therefore give strength to the security wall that defines Mimblewimble.
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### 3. Understand of the Confidential transactions (CTs)
The secret transactions is a cryptographic protocol that results in the amount value of a transaction that's being coded. The coding is special because it is still able to verify that no bitcoins can been made or destroyed within one transaction but without uncovering the precise transaction amounts.
Secret transactions needs a softfork general agreement change so as to be added to the bitcoin, although it's possible for them to be added to a sidechain as well.
Secret transactions (CTs) keep the type and amount of assets that was transferred visible to participants in the transaction only and they can still make it visible to those they want to reveal the private key to, while still guaranteeing that no more coins can be spent than the ones available in a cryptographic manner.
This has more step unlike the other usual privacy that is proposed by Bitcoin’s blockchain, which depend on pseudonymous (but public) identities. It matters, because financial privacy that's not sufficient can leads to serious privacy and security implications for the whole personal and commercial transactions. With no adequate guide, scammers can place their activities on targets that's high-value, the competitors can learn the details of the business, and positions for negotiating can be dig.
Confidential Transactions's general idea was proposed by Adam Back in 2013 on BitcoinTalk. It's aims is to make the transaction contents private — as Greg Maxwell also explained it in Bitcoin talk in year 2017, the transacted amounts are often more valuable to intelligencers. For instance if you need to spend 500 sats on a coffee but you broke up 1 BTC to do it, the coffee preparer would now discover that you have at least 0.999995 BTC (which could be controversial for your own security if coins hit new highs in the value of dollar).
With Confidential Transactions, receiver’s address and the amount that was transferred are not visible to observers, only the two or more parties to the transaction and those that they share it with know the transaction value. For this to succeed, Pedersen commitment is a cryptographic method that is used.
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### 4. How Mimblewimble Protocol can be utilized on the Bitcoin Network to enable anonymity of transactions and improve scalability.
Although Scalability was a big problem for the Bitcoin network and it was talked about in 2017, that's what bring the creation of Bitcoin Cash. Blocks that was mined in the process of bitcoin mining usually reached 1mb in size limit. To solve the scalability issue in the Bitcoin network, two technologies implemented; the SegWit or Segregated Witness, and the Lightning Network and despite this, there’s still no effective solution to Bitcoin’s scalability issue.
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But with **cut-through** technology, Bitcoin Scalability issue may have solution. Cut-through gets rid of transaction that are not necessary, the unnecessary information and it reduces the block sizes. Cut-through technology allow the aggregation of inputs and outputs from all transactions. Because with cut-through technology help, Mimblewimble protocol is able aggregates all the outputs and inputs and still unifies them into one input and output. This gives space and it means nodes don’t need past transactions to verify the new transactions.
*Mimblewimble Protocol can be utilise in Bitcoin network, enable anonymity of transactions, improve scalability* if Bitcoin network make use of the *Cut-through technology* that Mimblewimble Protocol use and Bitcoin network can also perform confident transaction like Mimblewimble Protocol perform.
### 5. The Pros and Cons of Mimblewimble protocol.
#### Pros:
A. Mimblewimble has a smaller block size unlike Bitcoin, it makes transactions more easy. Because of this, cryptocurrency coins that is built on Mimblewimble are actually interchangeable.
B. Mimblewimble has advanced security underbuilding: if the origin of a coin is not known, it becomes hard to trace, and so it cannot be made invalid.
C. It's protocol bundle are demonstrably save against inflation and coin stealing under accepted range assumptions.
#### Cons:
A. The advanced features of security does not mean that Mimblewimble is not penetrable. Since It depends on digital signatures, it means like any protocol in the digital space, it has its own imperfections and it is vulnerable to amount computer attacks.
B. On Grin, 96% of transactions can be de-anonymize. Grin is cryptocurrency that make use of Mimblewimble protocol. Ivan Bogatyy a Blockchain researcher stated that he did it by spending $60 on a node.
C. According to Ivan Bogatyy, Mimblewimble should not be considered a possible alternative to Monero or Zcash when it comes to privacy.
### 6. A Crypto that uses the Mimblewimble protocol.
**Litecoin, Grin, Beam, and Mimblewimblecoin** uses Protocol but I will talk about **Litecoin**
Litecoin was founded in 2011, just two years after bitcoin came alive, Litecoin was founded by a former Google engineer, his name is **Charlie Lee**. Litecoin is the 9th cryptocurrency, measured by market capitalization. At the beginning, it was a powerful competitor to bitcoin. cryptocurrency market has become recently saturated with new offerings, Litecoin's popularity has decreased.
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MimbleWimble Extension Block upgrade with Litecoin will improve the key features that Litecoin didn't have which is the fungibility and privacy. Testnet of MimbleWimble was launched on 10th month of year 2020 and the code has been has been tested for over five months.
MimbleWimble was named after a fictional; Harry Potter, it uses easy transactions. It let's senders cipher the number of coins make making use of "blinding factors” while bewilderment the addresses. This extremely improves the blockchain privacy while also heighten its scalability.
Charlie Lee placed his focuse on scalability, fungibility, and privacy for the past couple of years. He sees this as a key stage in the troop of Litecoin. Fungibility acquainted the concept that a certain items could be mutually substitutable. For instance, being one EUR = $1. It does not apply to cryptocurrencies, just as historical transactions are all saved on the blockchain. So, funds that are used for sinful activities may be blemished in some way. MimbleWimble solves this problem by making use of extension blocks. These are essentially intertwined adjacent chains that's running next main chain of Litecoin. This feature not necessary, it is optional for users that need additional privacy and fungibility for their litecoin transactions.
### Conclusion.
There is nothing with advantage that doesn't have disadvantage, but it's useful if the advantages is more than the disadvantages. The advantages of Mimblewimble protocol makes it useful. Privacy is very vital in some cases, not everything need to be knowing to everyone and this is why Mimblewimble protocol is useful.
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*Thank you for your time.*
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*Still me*,
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