Oddbean new post about | logout
 📅 Original date posted:2023-09-03
🗒️ Summary of this message: People may be more open to a smaller blocksize to address concerns about blockchain size and push more activity to the lightning network. Another approach called cut-through could remove inscriptions while keeping the payment intact.
📝 Original message:
> Given the current concerns with blockchain size increases due to inscriptions, and now that the lightning network is starting to gain more traction, perhaps people are now more willing to consider a smaller blocksize in favor of pushing more activity to lightning?
 
People will not agree to shrink the maximum block size. However, if you want to kill inscriptions, there is another approach, that could be used to force them into second layers: it is called cut-through, and was described in this topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=281848.0
 
Then, if you have "Alice -> Bob -> ... -> Zack" transaction chain, and for example some inscriptions were created in "Alice -> Bob" transaction, then cut-through could remove those inscriptions, while leaving the payment unaffected, because the proper amount of coins will be received by Zack, as it should be.
 
On 2023-08-25 10:44:41 user GamedevAlice via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
As I understand it, protecting against this is exactly the reason why a blocksize limit exists. Perhaps it should never have been increased in the first place.
Given the current concerns with blockchain size increases due to inscriptions, and now that the lightning network is starting to gain more traction, perhaps people are now more willing to consider a smaller blocksize in favor of pushing more activity to lightning?
 
 
 
On Tue, Aug 22, 2023, 8:00 AM , <bitcoin-dev-request at lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
Send bitcoin-dev mailing list submissions to
        bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
        https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
        bitcoin-dev-request at lists.linuxfoundation.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
        bitcoin-dev-owner at lists.linuxfoundation.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of bitcoin-dev digest..."
Today's Topics:
   1. Re: Concern about "Inscriptions" (symphonicbtc)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2023 22:34:03 +0000
From: symphonicbtc <symphonicbtc at proton.me>
To: John Tromp <john.tromp at gmail.com>
Cc: Bitcoin Protocol Discussion
        <bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Concern about "Inscriptions"
Message-ID:
        <UMOgM6dqQHqgxIoeyCE1ZzBDbU1c2H6oyUCVs4eTgUwozDphZwFdfO4qvnXUMZwYhfShzcaYqmLGN-XrfzyhYKWD8Q8IOD7EJAtdgbqMLe8=@proton.me>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
It is important to also note that proof of secret key schemes are highly data inefficient and likely would have a higher cost for users than simply allowing arbitrary data to continue. In ECDSA, purposely re-using k values allows you to encode data in both k and the entire secret key, as both become computable. Or, one could bruteforce a k value to encode data in a sig, as is done in some compromised hardware key exfiltration attacks. Additionally, one can bruteforce keys in order to encode data in the public key.
It is very difficult and expensive to attempt to limit the storage of arbitrary data in a system where the security comes from secret keys being arbitrary data.
Symphonic
------- Original Message -------
On Monday, August 21st, 2023 at 4:28 PM, John Tromp via bitcoin-dev <bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> > If we ban "arbitrary data", however you want to define it, then actors will
> > simply respond by encoding their data within sets of public keys. Public
> > key data is indistinguishable from random data, and, unless we are willing
> > to pad the blockchain with proof of knowledge of secret keys, there will be
> > no way to tell a priori whether a given public key is really a public key
> > or whether it is encoding an inscription or some other data.
>
>
> Note that in the Mimblewimble protocol, range proofs already prove
> knowledge of blinding factor in Pedersen commitments, and thus no
> additional padding is needed there to prevent the encoding of spam
> into cryptographic material. This makes pure MW blockchains the most
> inscription/spam resistant [1].
>
> [1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5437464.msg61980991#msg61980991
> _______________________________________________
> bitcoin-dev mailing list
> bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
------------------------------
Subject: Digest Footer
_______________________________________________
bitcoin-dev mailing list
bitcoin-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-dev
------------------------------
End of bitcoin-dev Digest, Vol 99, Issue 43
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/attachments/20230903/26efb381/attachment.html> 
 📅 Original date posted:2023-09-05
🗒️ Summary of this message: Cut-through transactions will not eliminate inscriptions in the blockchain. Full archival nodes will still have access to the transaction data.
📝 Original message:
On Sun, Sep 03, 2023 at 06:01:02PM +0200, vjudeu via bitcoin-dev wrote:
> > Given the current concerns with blockchain size increases due to inscriptions, and now that the lightning network is starting to gain more traction, perhaps people are now more willing to consider a smaller blocksize in favor of pushing more activity to lightning?
>  
> People will not agree to shrink the maximum block size. However, if you want to kill inscriptions, there is another approach, that could be used to force them into second layers: it is called cut-through, and was described in this topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=281848.0
>  
> Then, if you have "Alice -> Bob -> ... -> Zack" transaction chain, and for example some inscriptions were created in "Alice -> Bob" transaction, then cut-through could remove those inscriptions, while leaving the payment unaffected, because the proper amount of coins will be received by Zack, as it should be.

You are incorrect: cut-through transactions will not meaningfully affect
inscriptions. While it is true that with fancy cryptography we can prove the
Alice -> ... -> Zack chain, that does not change the fact that Alice -> Bob ->
Zack was mined in the blockchain, and those transactions exist. Anyone running
a full archival node will still have those transactions, and can provide them
(and all their inscription data) to anyone who needs it.

This is not unlike how in Bitcoin right now many people run pruned nodes that
do not have any archival inscription data. Them running those nodes does not
prevent others from running full archival nodes that do make that data
available.

-- 
https://petertodd.org 'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 833 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/attachments/20230905/d69e604b/attachment.sig> 
 📅 Original date posted:2023-09-06
🗒️ Summary of this message: Cut-through transactions will not affect inscriptions, as the original transactions still exist in the blockchain and can be accessed by full archival nodes.
📝 Original message:
> that does not change the fact that Alice -> Bob -> Zack was mined in the blockchain, and those transactions exist
 
If you use it in that way, then cut-through is pointless. The whole point of using it is scaling. If you have only "Alice -> Zack" transaction, that is included in some block, then cut-through is really useful. In other cases, if you include all transactions anyway, and create only a proof for some nodes, then it doesn't scale, because you have to always process those transactions in the middle, while there is no need to do so. It is needed only during batching, to prevent double-spending, but if it is deeply confirmed, then who needs something that doesn't scale?
 
Also, going in that direction is a natural consequence of enabling full-RBF: transactions will be replaced, which means mempool-level-batching (ideally non-interactive, done automatically by nodes) will be next, sooner or later.
 
On 2023-09-05 19:49:51 user Peter Todd <pete at petertodd.org> wrote:
On Sun, Sep 03, 2023 at 06:01:02PM +0200, vjudeu via bitcoin-dev wrote: > > Given the current concerns with blockchain size increases due to inscriptions, and now that the lightning network is starting to gain more traction, perhaps people are now more willing to consider a smaller blocksize in favor of pushing more activity to lightning? >   > People will not agree to shrink the maximum block size. However, if you want to kill inscriptions, there is another approach, that could be used to force them into second layers: it is called cut-through, and was described in this topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=281848.0 >   > Then, if you have "Alice -> Bob -> ... -> Zack" transaction chain, and for example some inscriptions were created in "Alice -> Bob" transaction, then cut-through could remove those inscriptions, while leaving the payment unaffected, because the proper amount of coins will be received by Zack, as it should be. You are incorrect: cut-through transactions will not meaningfully affect inscriptions. While it is true that with fancy cryptography we can prove the Alice -> ... -> Zack chain, that does not change the fact that Alice -> Bob -> Zack was mined in the blockchain, and those transactions exist. Anyone running a full archival node will still have those transactions, and can provide them (and all their inscription data) to anyone who needs it. This is not unlike how in Bitcoin right now many people run pruned nodes that do not have any archival inscription data. Them running those nodes does not prevent others from running full archival nodes that do make that data available. -- https://petertodd.org 'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/attachments/20230906/8b4c08ec/attachment-0001.html>