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Consensus in distributed systems

November 16, 2020 in Bitcoin | No comments

1. Introduction

In the physical realm, paper fiat currencies are almost impossible to duplicate. As a result, a spent US Dollar bill cannot be concurrently used by the same payor in a different transaction. In digital space, one could also rule out double spending occurrences by setting up a central arbiter. In this case, the central authority (e.g., a bank) would decide on the fate of a transaction and enforce consensus. However, such central arbiters do not exist in decentralized structures. Up until Bitcoin, all decentralized attempts suffered from the possibility of duplicating digital units and spending them more than once.

Any decentralized solution to the double spending problem requires the relevant participants to reach consensus and agree on the ordering of transactions. This will ensure the recording of when digital unit(s) of money were spent and invalidate any attempt by their previous owner to reuse them. Bitcoin’s innovation lies in its ability to offer such a solution even when a minority of participants may act maliciously. The elements of the Bitcoin Consensus (also known as the Nakamoto Consensus) span transactions, blocks and the blockchain. We will discuss them in a subsequent post. In this chapter, we introduce the problem of reaching consensus in distributed systems, of which the Bitcoin network is an instance.

In section 2, we provide a brief introduction to these systems and highlight the intimate bond between a consensus problem and the underlying system parameters. The set of relevant parameters typically includes the network topology, the nodes configuration, the reliability of the communication channel, the synchronicity model, the types of messages exchanged, the failure regime of nodes, and whether consensus is achieved in a deterministic or a randomized way.

In section 3, we discuss the classical Byzantine Generals Problem (BGP) introduced by Lamport et al. [5], [6]. The classical BGP result is easy to state but its proof is not necessarily straightforward. Given its importance and historical value, we revisit the proof in the hope of making it easier to follow. The Byzantine Generals Problem became an allegorical representation of that of reaching consensus in distributed systems. It is commonly stated that “Bitcoin solves the BGP”. However, Bitcoin’s consensus problem is defined on a system whose parameters differ from those of the classical BGP. We will revisit this in a subsequent post.

In section 4, we look at a different class of system models which includes fully asynchronous distributed systems over which consensus must be achieved deterministically. We state and prove the seminal result that such a consensus is impossible to achieve in the presence of even a single faulty node. This is known as the FLP impossibility result in reference to its authors Michael J. Fischer, Nancy Lynch, and Mike Paterson.

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Bitcoin Transaction (pre-Segwit)

February 20, 2020 in Bitcoin | No comments

1. Introduction

Part of philosophy’s oddity lies in its unwavering fueling of the desire of each and every one of its practitioners to put an end to it. The path to fulfillment ends in the revelation of a version of the truth that reigns supreme over any version that preceded it and any that would otherwise follow it.

Against this backdrop, many philosophers thoroughly investigated and debated the nature of the universe. In doing so, different truths emerged on a spectrum bounded by two extremes that were vehemently defended by some of humanity’s brightest. On one end, a Parmenidean view of a static universe and its absolutely eternal reality. On the other, a Heraclitean representation of a changing universe in an eternal state of flux.

It is not my intent nor is it within the extent of my capabilities to resolve this dichotomy. However, there seems to be substantial empirical evidence that movement is inherently linked to existence. Be it microscopic or macroscopic, a certain notion of change appears to be intimately tied to the very fabric of reality. This flow is particularly noticeable at the level of the various interactions that happen among individuals or groups.

A significant part of these exchanges is succinctly encapsulated in what we refer to as a transaction. In its most general setting, a transaction refers to that which is “driven through”, “accomplished” or “settled”. It is derived from the pairing of the Latin words trans and agere which respectively mean “through” and “driving forward”. Implicit to this etymology is the notion of a movement, the subject of which could be a physical good or an intangible (e.g., a service, a right, a piece of information) originating at one or multiple sources and destined to one or multiple recipients.

A Bitcoin transaction is no exception as it fundamentally consists of transferring spending control from one entity to another. In this context, control refers to the authority that a given entity benefits from in order to unlock a certain value. As such, a Bitcoin transaction of Satoshi 1,000,000 from Alice to Bob is an activity that ensures that the control over spending these Satoshis has moved from Alice to Bob who can now spend them (or a portion of them) at will. A Satoshi is the smallest transact-able unit of a bitcoin (the currency, also denoted BTC) and is equal to BTC 10^{-8}. In light of this description, one can define a Bitcoin transaction as a data structure that essentially includes:

  • A set of unspent previous Bitcoin transaction outputs commonly known as UTXOs. Each one of them contains a specific amount of Satoshis, the control over which has been transferred from a previous entity to the one initiating the current Bitcoin transaction. UTXOs become inputs to the current Bitcoin transaction.
  • One or more recipients who will be given spending control over UTXOs.
  • An amount specifying the value of Satoshis to be transferred to each recipient.
  • Cryptographic signatures and relevant scripts used to verify the authenticity of the sender(s) as well as to codify and observe any spending rule(s) imposed by them.
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Bitcoin – ECDSA signature

December 24, 2018 in Bitcoin | No comments

Download pdf here: Bitcoin ECDSA

1. Introduction

Simply stated, a bitcoin transaction is a transfer of spending control between different parties over a pre-specified amount of satoshis. A satoshi is the smallest fraction of a bitcoin and is equivalent to BTC 10^{-8}. In order to successfuly complete said transfer, the sender must demonstrate that she is the rightful owner of the satoshis she wishes to spend. Such a proof is imperative as it allows the different nodes on the network to reach an agreement regarding the validity of the transaction and as a result, facilitate its inclusion in the blockchain.

At the time of writing, bitcoin’s proof of ownership is encapsulated in a particular type of digital signature known as the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA). It is a variant of the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) that relies on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC).

In the first section, we introduce the DSA scheme, prove its correctness, and discuss some of its security properties. In particular, we point out that as of the time of writing, and despite its prevalence in various cryptographic settings, we do not know of any valid security proof of DSA in the random oracle (RO) model. However, we highlight that slight variations of it can be proven to be secure.

In the second section, we introduce the ECDSA scheme and prove its correctness. Later on, we present a python-based implementation to further elucidate its building blocks. We also describe how an ECDSA signature gets typically encoded within a bitcoin transaction. Finally, we highlight some of the scheme’s potential shortcomings including the absence to-date of a security proof in the RO model, its susceptibility to being malleable, and its non-linear design that hinders an efficient implementation of multisignature transactions.

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Blockchain – Fork analysis

September 5, 2018 in Bitcoin, Blockchain | No comments

Download pdf here: Blockchain fork analysis

1. Introduction

In this post we analyze two sources of divergence on the blockchain caused respectively by a natural fork and a malicious fork. The revolution that has been brought about by Bitcoin’s blockchain is a direct result of its open nature. Indeed, anyone can be part of it, suggest changes to it, mine new blocks in it, or simply conduct routine validations on it. It is in many respects, the epitome of decentralization and censorship-resistance. Its appealing nature is in large part rooted in its rich interdisciplinary foundation that spans across philosophy, mathematics and economics.

But beyond the elegance of its theoretical underpinning, the blockchain’s seamless implementation rests on an inherent agreement between its different participants. Without agreement, this harmonious apparatus would likely decay into chaos. The rather flawless operation of the system is the result of a particular consensus protocol known as Proof of Work (or PoW for short).

The consensus is meant to be amongst all of the miners on the network. It stipulates that any miner always extend the chain of blocks with the highest amount of cumulative work. In this context, work is a measure of the expected computational effort that a miner exerts in order to solve a given cryptographic challenge. In essence, the challenge consists in finding a value that makes the computation emit an output with a mandatory minimum number l of leading 0’s. The work associated with mining a given block corresponds to the value 2^{l}, where l is dynamically adjusted to ensure that the network’s average block rate remains constant at \sim 0.00167 blocks / second (i.e., 1 block per 10 minutes). We discuss PoW as well as other consensus protocols in more details in another post.

In an ideal setting where all miners are honest (i.e., abide by the PoW consensus protocol) and where blocks are propagated instantaneously on the network, all the nodes will always have a unified view of the blockchain — barring the extremely unlikely scenario of two distinct miners generating two valid blocks at the exact same time). However, imperfections do exist:

  • Imperfection #1: The network incurs an information propagation delay. As a result, every new block takes a positive amount of time to reach all the other nodes on the network.
  • Imperfection #2: There exists a subset of dishonest miners that decide to disregard the PoW consensus protocol. As a result, such miners can fork the blokchain and start mining on top of a parallel chain different than the one with the highest amount of cumulative work.

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Bitcoin – Private key, Public key, and Addresses

July 4, 2018 in Bitcoin | No comments

Download pdf here: Bitcoin Key and Addresses

1. Introduction and Bitcoin’s elliptic curve review

The objective of this post is to introduce the reader to Bitcoin’s private and public keys, and to the Bitcoin addresses used in Pay to Public Key Hash transactions (P2PKH) and Pay to Script Hash transactions (P2SH).

As was previously introduced in the Elliptic Curve Groups post, the linkage between Bitcoin’s private and public keys is determined by a specific elliptic curve known as secp256k1. Recall that the curve’s parameters are as follows:

  • p = 2^{256} - 2^{32} - 2^{9} - 2^{8 }- 2^{7} - 2^{6} - 2^{4} - 1. This a very large prime number that serves as the order of the underlying field \mathbb{F}_p.
  • The secp256k1 curve is non-singular and is represented using its short Weierstrass form. We denoted the resulting group by (E(\mathbb{F}_p), \oplus_p), where

    E(\mathbb{F}_p) = \{{(x,y) \in \mathbb{F}_p^2\ |\ y^2 \equiv x^3 + 7 \pmod{p} \}}\ \cup\ \{{\mathcal{O}\}}

    \mathcal{O} denotes the point at infinity and is the identity element of the group. Here is a euclidean representation of this curve when p = 163 (it is not feasible to show it for p = 2^{256} - 2^{32} - 2^{9} - 2^{8 }- 2^{7} - 2^{6} - 2^{4} - 1).

    Bitcoin elliptic curve

  • The base point G has abscissa and ordinate given by

    x_G \equiv 55066263022277343669578718895168534326250603453777594175500187360389116729240
    \pmod{p}

    y_G \equiv 32670510020758816978083085130507043184471273380659243275938904335757337482424
    \pmod{p}

    which in hexadecimal notation are given by:

    x_G = 79BE667E F9DCBBAC 55A06295 CE870B07 029BFCDB 2DCE28D9 59F2815B 16F81798

    y_G = 483ADA77 26A3C465 5DA4FBFC 0E1108A8 FD17B448 A6855419 9C47D08F FB10D4B8

    Bitcoin’s public-key cryptography is hence conducted on the subgroup (\{{G\}}, \oplus_p).

  • The order of G is chosen to be a prime number equal to

    n = 115792089237316195423570985008687907852837564279074904382605163141518161494337
    \pmod{p}

    which in hexadecimal notation is given by

    n = FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFF FFFFFFFE BAAEDCE6 AF48A03B BFD25E8C D0364141

  • Recall that n denotes the order of G, and must divide \#E(\mathbb{F}_p) i.e., the order of E(\mathbb{F}_p). The cofactor h is equal to \frac{\#E(\mathbb{F}_p)}{n}, which in this case is equal to 1. That means that the order of G is equal to that of E(\mathbb{F}_p), i.e., n = \#E(\mathbb{F}_p). Since n is prime, the order of E(\mathbb{F}_p) is also prime. As a result, (E(\mathbb{F}_p), \oplus_p) is a cyclic group and any of its elements could serve as a generator.

We also saw that Bitcoin’s private and public keys obey the following architecture:

  • A private key m is a 256-bit long scalar chosen from the set

    \mathbb{F}_n^* \equiv \mathbb{F}_n - \{{0\}}.

  • A public key M is an element of the subgroup \{{G\}}. M is derived from m by adding G to itself a total of m times. Addition refers to the elliptic curve group binary operation \oplus_p. More specifically,

    M = m \otimes_p G \equiv G \oplus_p G\ ...\ \oplus_p G (m times)

    It is a 512-bit long string denoting the elliptic curve point (x,y). It is an element of the set \{{G\}} which in this case is equivalent to E(\mathbb{F}_p). Both x and y are 256-bit long.

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Elliptic Curve Groups – Crypto Theoretical Minimum

June 18, 2018 in Bitcoin, Monero, Prerequisites | No comments

Download pdf here: Elliptic Curve Groups

1. Introduction and motivation

The sempiternel question of how to gain and maintain power has haunted the minds of humanity’s brightest and darkest since the dawn of civilization. Be it physical (e.g., military) or economical (e.g., wealth), power’s very existence relied in part on access to information. Asymmetric information that is. Numerous are history’s examples that demonstrate how entities that knew what others didn’t and that were able to act on it, benefited from an unfair advantage. The quest for sustainable power motivates the protection of one’s proprietary information and the attempt at breaching that of the others.

Although significant in its own right, the pursuit of power is not the only motivator to conceal information. Privacy, in so far as the individual’s well-being is concerned, is another. In that respect, two areas stand out. The first is concerned with the unique nature of a human persona. As a matter of observation, and at the risk of irritating adherents of monism, the attributes of a human personality are so varied. Each attribute exists on a wide spectrum, making it unlikely that any two individuals have the same profile so to speak. The privacy spectrum is no exception, and while some live their lives as an open book, others might not even be comfortable sharing their half title page. The second area is concerned with the safety of a certain subset of individuals, e.g., whistle-blowers. They may hold sensitive information destined to be shared with a specific party. Should this information fall in the wrong hands, it could jeopardize the safety of the source.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that not every piece of information is meant to be common knowledge. One could certainly debate the merits of such a claim and in the process, revisit the very foundation of power, privacy and safety. The fact remains however, that information can be a source of influence, discomfort, and danger. One way of protecting specific content and limiting its access to intended parties only, is through the use of encryption and decryption algorithms.

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Groups and Finite Fields – Crypto Theoretical Minimum

May 24, 2018 in Bitcoin, Monero, Prerequisites | No comments

Download pdf here: Groups and Finite Fields

1. Introduction

Group, field and elliptic curve theories make a regular appearance in the study of crypto-assets including but not limited to cryptocurrencies. For example, the security strength of a number of crypto-specific primitives relies on the math of elliptic curve groups over finite fields. These groups constitute a robust infrastructure to generate adequate public keys from private ones.

Groups and fields are foundational pillars of modern algebra. While in elementary algebra we rely on common arithmetic operations (e.g., addition and multiplication of real numbers), in modern algebra we raise further the level of abstraction. In particular, we introduce more general counterparts to real number addition and multiplication and define them over more general sets. An important objective is to study the common properties of all sets on which a fixed number of operations are defined. These operations tend to be interrelated in some definite way (e.g., distributivity of multiplication over addition).

In this post, we provide a concise (but by no means comprehensive) introduction to group and finite-field theory at the level needed to better appreciate the mathematical foundation of crypto assets. In a subequent post we build on this material to introduce elliptic curve groups defined over finite fields. The interested reader could consult e.g., [1] for a deeper dive on the theory of finite fields and its applications.

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The Stealth Address System

May 17, 2018 in Bitcoin, Monero | No comments

Download pdf here: The Stealth Address System

1. Introduction

The previous nine parts introduced Monero’s privacy and confidentiality attributes in so far as senders’ identities and transaction amounts were concerned. This part focuses on privacy with respect to the recipients of funds. To that end, we introduce the stealth address system [8] to ensure that any two transactions remain unlinkable, i.e., can not be proven to be destined to the same entity.

We divide this part into two sections. The first is an overview of some of the anonymity limitations of Bitcoin. The second introduces Cryptonote’s stealth address system which when coupled with ringCT, ensures a highly anonymous and confidential environment.

Anonymity over the blockchain

2. On Bitcoin’s anonymity … or lack thereof

In what follows, we describe two avenues that can be used separately or jointly to conduct a deanonymization attack on Bitcoin users. The first has to do with the propagation mechanisms of Bitcoin transactions over the network, and the second with the structure of a transaction. In addition, we describe some common practices that help an attacker link a Bitcoin address to a real-world identity.

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Digital Signature and Other Prerequisites

April 5, 2018 in Bitcoin, Monero, Prerequisites | No comments

1. Introduction

We divide this post into 6 sections. Section 2 is a qualitative description of digital signature schemes. Section 3 motivates the introduction of hash functions along with some of their desired properties. Section 4 describes a hypothetical ideal random function known as a Random Oracle. Section 5 briefly introduces the notion of Probabilistic Turing Machines that will be needed when studying the security of digital signature schemes. Sections 6 and 7 describe 2 pillars introduced by Poitncheval & Stern to prove the resilience of some digital signature schemes against a forgery attack in the Random Oracle model. In particular, Setion 6 describes a reduction model to facilitate the security analysis of signature schemes. Section 7 states and proves an important lemma known as the splitting lemma.

There is one caveat: I assume that the reader is familiar with basic probability theory, modulo arithmetic, as well as some group theoretic concepts including the notions of cyclic groups and finite fields. A concise introduction to group and field theory can be found in this post. For a more detailed treatment, the reader can refer to e.g., [3].

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