Super Testnet

Freelance dev w/ bitcoin focus | supertestnet.org

bc1qefhunyf8rsq77f38k07hn2e5njp0acxhlheksn

Public Key

npub1yxp7j36cfqws7yj0hkfu2mx25308u4zua6ud22zglxp98ayhh96s8c399s

NIP-57 Address

supertestnet@stacker.news

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszrqlfgavys8g0zf8mmy79dn92ghn723wwawx49py0nqjn7jtmjagpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqppamhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5n272hn

Publishing to

nos.lol

nostr.mom

relay.damus.io

Author Public Key

npub1yxp7j36cfqws7yj0hkfu2mx25308u4zua6ud22zglxp98ayhh96s8c399s

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Last Notes

2024-11-05 15:01:36

https://image.nostr.build/0dc650c20548f5c43424a33973c06a72e30e5aeb8e3fd69e6ea1e35f484d5d2a.jpg

2024-10-22 00:03:12

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Ecash mints are programs for running a mini central bank where people can deposit bitcoin, redeem it whenever they want, and in the meantime they get fast and cheap transactions with other users of that mint. They are pretty neat, especislly their privacy properties, but they come with most of the tradeoffs of custodial systems: the mint can steal anyone's money whenever they feel like it and can dmstart KYC'ing its users at any moment

2024-10-21 20:14:39

https://i.ibb.co/q5Sq5hV/not-in-the-mint-meme.png

2024-10-16 17:40:36

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Coming soon, hopefully. It's based on an observation about phoenix: their version of splice-in transactions atomically swap an inbound lightning payment for a fresh deposit of bitcoin into your channel. This form of atomic swap is better than a submarine swap in this respect: it uses only one single bitcoin transaction instead of two. So I came up with a generalized version that can be used outside of lightning wallets and I called it papa swap. I was about to implement it too (hence the repo) but I got delayed by the need to prepare workshops for upcoming conferences. When things settle down I hope to implement it.

2024-10-14 11:58:22

A lesson in there for all of us
#nevent1q…vakc

2024-10-07 23:14:16

My approach to programming:
You don't have to reinvent the wheel
You "get" to

2024-10-04 23:03:32

My latest tool is NWC Tester, which you can use to test Nostr Wallet Connect connection strings:
https://stacker.news/items/711076
hey npub19hg5pj5qmd3teumh6ld7drfz49d65sw3n3d5jud8sgz27avkq5dqm7yv9p you should check it out, and npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm you might like it too. They made a similar tool (https://getalby.github.io/nwc-tester/), but mine is more fully featured

2024-09-22 21:46:27

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> Is also possible to snapshot individual wallet balances, addresses, transactions?
Unless the wallet is a routing node I don't think this is feasible for third parties to do. But all wallets are connected to at least one routing node, and each of those routing nodes know the balance of your channel with them. Some, like Binance's routing node, also proactively state in their privacy policy that they log this data and share it with law enforcement, including info about any transactions that flow through their node. So be careful who you open channels with.
> So not an unsolved problem anymore?
I'm not sure. The solution is known but I am not sure node devs will upgrade to versions that don't support payment probing. It's a popular feature with native commands for it in LND and Eclair, and they would have to disable that popular feature that many wallets rely on to assess the likelihood of a successful payment before attempting one. It seems unlikely that LND and Eclair will upgrade to a version that disables this. Maybe a new, privacy focused lightning network subnet is what's needed, where participating nodes all announce that they won't allow payment probing.

2024-09-22 17:25:50

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I am aware of the first problem and I note that Rene Pickhardt tried to perform this attack in 2019 with little success. He tried to take a snapshot of the balances of all routing nodes on testnet, and while he did manage to do it, it took him over 9 hours to do so. It would be an even harder task on mainnet due to the larger number of routing nodes.
Since lightning has high volume, I think you wouldn't get good days about the history of transfers on LN unless you could get snapshots of routing node balances every few seconds, rather than once per day or so.
Nonetheless, Rene did find that while it takes a long time to probe the balances of*every node,* each *individual* node only takes about 20 seconds to probe. So if you looked your attack to a single largr routing node you could probably get reasonably good data about what traffic it routes across the network.
Also, the Blinded Paths upgrade mitigates this attack. Part of the plan for Blinded Paths is to remove the distinct error messages revealed by nodes depending on whether the payment made it to its destination or had a routing failure part of the way through. With Blinded Paths, the same error message is displayed for every payment failure, which means Balance Probing as performed by Rene won't work anymore. His technique involved sending multiple fake payments through a routing node and logging whether they failed due to the routing node not having enough capacity or the recipient being unable to finalize the payment. If the latter, it meant the routing node *did* have enough capacity to forward that payment, so Rene would try again and again with larger and larger fake payments until the routing node reported an inability to forward the money, then record the prior amount of the fake payment as their latest balance. This method relies on does not work if all payment failures look the same, so the Blinded Paths upgrade should fix this.

2024-09-21 16:37:10

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The costs seem to me to outweigh the benefits

2024-09-21 16:35:33

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Ew yuck no

2024-09-21 16:10:20

"No thanks, I don't like coffee," I explained
"Oh, I do!" she gasped. "My favorite place is __________. Their coffee is so good, lots of cream and sugar. I can barely even taste the coffee!"
I didn't say anything but I don't think she likes coffee

2024-09-18 17:42:34

This bitcoin parody from 11 years ago is still fire
https://youtu.be/WdrSP0V-KLg

2024-09-13 17:04:39

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If you withdraw your funds from a CEX to any wallet, I think the CEX will mark it as sent to you, and would probably testify that, as far as their records can tell, you still have it. I would not be surprised if a judge said that's enough data to conclude you *do* still have it. If you claimed to sell, spend, or lose all of it, I would not be surprised if a judge said that's an unlikely story and consequently "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't apply. If that happened you might need to show evidence to probe your case, and might be considered to at least own whatever amount you can't show convincing evidence of selling/spending/losing.
If you used a standard bolt11 invoice to withdraw the funds, they would have full route info from themselves to your LN wallet and could trace the funds that far. You could use tools like lnproxy.org to throw them off, but they might subpoena or purchase your "real" routing info info from lnproxy.org or whatever competitor(s) you use.
If your wallet is connected to a routing node like Amboss or Phoenix, and you're not using tor, those guys have your IP address and can also see when you close your channel and send your funds to cold storage. They might act as informants against you if their routing nodes showed up as the "last hop" on the path from the CEX to you.
All that said, I don't think they would be unable to *deterministically* trace the funds if you use tor + route blinding (e.g. through lnproxy plus a few of their competitors, or bolt12) but they probably don't need to -- if they are confident you withdrew the money *somewhere* then you will be marked in their books as having whatever amount of money you withdrew, regardless of where you sent it afterwards.

2024-09-13 05:06:56

Brick Wallet is now slightly prettier, slightly snappier, and supports two new sending methods: it can send money to lnurl paycodes and lightning addresses
https://video.nostr.build/af4f920fcc7b909675060d77b29223bb47018c01b28d7d009d9834d12aeb695a.mp4

2024-09-12 15:31:21

Kraken drops support for Lightning Network in Germany
They don't want you using encrypted money
https://stacker.news/items/681879

2024-09-12 07:19:00

Video: first look at brick wallet
https://video.nostr.build/cf0b94894c073b594d130fa42e7c630cf56e3281bcf0640f33093e89e40db1b1.mp4
#nevent1q…qecj

2024-09-11 23:48:30

My latest project is Brick Wallet: a web frontend for NWC (Nostr Wallet Connect)
Learn more here:
https://stacker.news/items/681344

2024-09-11 02:49:03

Demoing nostr

2024-09-10 17:25:18

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I've seen replyguy but I didn't know it was spam

2024-09-09 03:01:21

Bitcoin's average TPS count in the last 2 https://image.nostr.build/721aacdf5e82208d71d9604f6432f989015ce86b3903f974a3cb42e4ae955ab5.jpg 4 hours was 8.99
Neat
Source: https://supertestnet.github.io/tps-counter/

2024-09-07 20:43:19

My latest single is CTV - it's a little high for me, but I make it through ok imo, and this song tells why I want the OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY soft fork
Song:
https://supertestnet.github.io/songs/Super%20Testnet%20-%20CTV.mp3
Lyrics on Stacker News:
https://stacker.news/items/676377

2024-09-02 18:28:57

Tomorrow I am presenting my Bitcoin Script workshop in Spanish:
https://lu.ma/higrep2x
Learn to make your first bitcoin smart contract, a ballgame contract where an oracle says who won a ballgame, and anyone can bet on the outcome and take their winnings if they win

2024-09-01 08:06:46

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> Rights are something you earn and defend
How is this any different from Might Makes Right? You can't lay the foundation for tyranny and then act shocked and horrified when tyrants start to trample. In a society that teaches rights are created by a strong arm, the guy with the biggest gun will run amok

2024-09-01 00:45:46

It is irrational to think human rights are a social construct *and* must be respected
There's a cadre of atheist libertarians out there who get up in arms when governments disrespect their rights, but they themselves argue their "rights" are just something they made up

2024-08-31 20:20:02

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I'm down too and simplex works for me

2024-08-27 19:04:03

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if you just can't wait for more, try Zhou Tong'd "Holding for the Longest Time" which is also in this style (and he recorded it 11 years ago!!!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG1qooBzE2w

2024-08-27 18:27:42

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speaking of my discography...I released a new song today! It's not about nostr though
https://stacker.news/items/663764

2024-08-27 18:21:30

My latest single is "No More Crypto" - a parody of "One More Minute" by Weird Al
Link to song:
https://supertestnet.github.io/songs/Super%20Testnet%20-%20No%20More%20Crypto.mp3
Lyrics on stacker news:
https://stacker.news/items/663764

2024-08-26 16:07:34

My Bitcoin Script workshop is now available in Portuguese
Thank you Scalar School (x.com/scalarschool) for translating and assisting!
https://youtu.be/2qgnIwNVNUY

2024-08-25 17:24:13

My Cashu workshop is later today at 7 pm NYC time and you still have time to sign up! Purchase your ticket here:
https://shopstr.store/listing/ec99989d0af62f7dc385afd1eb1dde4cc1c3a0c14007f9772509603062df3008

2024-08-24 17:32:13

Reminder: tomorrow is my livestreamed Cashu Workshop! Get your ticket today to learn how chaumian ecash works and create a toy implementation of a cashu enabled wallet. For only $20.
Tickets available here: https://supertestnet.org/workshops.html

2024-08-22 20:15:25

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Figured it out, testing it now.
I downloaded amber and set that up, then logged out of my account on amethyst. Then on the login screen there was an option to log in with amber. So far it works great!

2024-08-21 17:41:25

I'm back in Mexico and away from PlebLab so I'm producing my own singles again. That's why this one isn't as good as the others. That said...
My latest single is:
Why Do Fools Buy Altcoins
Check it out:
https://stacker.news/items/657196

2024-08-21 03:44:03

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How do I set up amethyst to use amber as a signer? I don't see an option for that in Settings

2024-08-21 03:42:09

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Why not? Right now I have my nsec in app A. You want me to download another app (app B) and put my nsec in there. Doesn't it make sense for me to object and say I just want to keep it in app A alone? If not, why not?

2024-08-21 00:08:20

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People helpfully provided links to Amber for me. But I'm confused. Why should I put my privkey in amber when I already have it in amethyst? Can you make *amethyst* an nsecbunker backend?

2024-08-20 23:14:03

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But I don't want to put my nsec in another app. Sign-via-dm should be a standard feature of nostr phone clients

2024-08-20 23:10:52

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I don't see it in my app store search results. Do I have to sideload the app? Where can I get it? https://image.nostr.build/f895780f42952ff15fb75d8c5c6cd5d55d8c3d80aafb655fb2511ca9615d6ae9.jpg

2024-08-20 22:29:01

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The secure bunker is *IN* the phone

2024-08-20 22:18:55

I want to rebrand nsecbunker as "sign-via-dm"
Nostr clients like amethyst by @nprofile…pyug and damus by @nprofile…tlun should implement it so that I can use desktop nostr apps without importing my privkey to a new app or extension. The desktop clients just "dm" my phone client with an event to sign and I approve it on my phone.
Let's make it happen!

2024-08-19 22:13:29

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Tickets also available for purchase on clearnet:
https://shopstr.store/listing/ec99989d0af62f7dc385afd1eb1dde4cc1c3a0c14007f9772509603062df3008

2024-08-19 21:59:30

Become a user of darknet markets! Pay with lightning!
Buy a ticket to my upcoming Cashu workshop from my stall on the Shopstr DNM and learn how to make *your own* Cashu wallet for only $20
Available for purchase on the dark web here:
http://iftfujvg3tv6v5fcilgswbkkntdfd7bphyuth6zfyghqrwj3kowxwbad.onion/listing/ec99989d0af62f7dc385afd1eb1dde4cc1c3a0c14007f9772509603062df3008

2024-08-19 20:02:25

Only 6 days til my workshop on Cashu!
https://supertestnet.org/workshops.html
Sign up and learn how to develop your own Cashu wallet (as well as how cashu works) for only $20

2024-08-19 16:40:07

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> I would still call those (peer to peer) exchanges
Stuff can be two things
I like wikipedia's definition of the dark net:
"A dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol."
Tor and i2p hidden services certainly qualify in my book. And if the hidden service lets people list items for sale, it's a martetplace on the darknet. A DNM.

2024-08-19 05:21:51

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Bisq and robosats are DNMs because they are marketplaces on the darknet. They compete directly with other DNMs on products such as cash parcels, gift cards, and currency swaps.
I doubt any of the commonly used silk road descendants (good term!) support LN yet but I suspect they are looking since their competitors are doing it and seeing millions in volume. Their incentive is to attract those users to their platforms.

2024-08-19 02:38:01

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Three that I know of so far: Bisq, Robosats, and Shopstr
Link for Robosats: http://robodexarjwtfryec556cjdz3dfa7u47saek6lkftnkgshvgg2kcumqd.onion/
Link for Shopstr: http://iftfujvg3tv6v5fcilgswbkkntdfd7bphyuth6zfyghqrwj3kowxwbad.onion/

2024-08-19 00:52:51

Monero bros down bad as *yet another* DNM adds lightning
LN has better privacy than monero
Standard caveat: do not use either one for serious privacy needs without also adopting additional defense in depth strategies
#nevent1q…nch3

2024-08-18 05:15:40

Is Bankify the first app I've made with an actual user? https://image.nostr.build/3c965cb4adc16449552586c13cea67a040dac6185f3fd650e2b6b0df9ebef920.jpg

2024-08-17 18:38:08

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For more details, I encourage readers to listen to this debate I had with Luke Parker (monero dev):
https://x.com/super_testnet/status/1824431745443279044

2024-08-16 17:22:48

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I have no idea but for a stab in the dark I would guess under 20% is using bolt12

2024-08-16 10:38:42

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Re: #3, the last hop doesn't know the amount being sent because of multipath, etc., and he does not know the recipient because he does not know he is the last hop. Onions are padded at each step so that they are always 1300 bytes. So the last hop thinks he might be the first hop with up to 19 more to go.
Re: "by default," lightning nodes don't expose your IP address to the public by default because the only way that happens is if you (1) configure your node to route payments (it doesn't do it by default) and (2) choose clearnet instead of tor.
Re: the podcast, we recorded it a few days ago and I am excited for its presumably looming release. I made this chart in part based on things I learned while preparing for the de ate, like the fact that monero does not encrypt peer to peer traffic. Dandelion++ is nice but if several of your peers are fednodes logging all of your IP traffic they can learn a lot.

2024-08-16 06:53:46

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(1) Regarding the left side of your charts, you write that monero does not (red x) publish all transactions by default, but it does. Here they are: https://localmonero.co/blocks/
(2) Still on the left side, you write that monero encrypts the sender and the recipient, but it does not. If it did, you could name the encryption standard it uses for that. But it doesn't, so you can't. (Lightning uses the Sphinx encryption standard for that.)
(3) On the right side of your chart, you write that lightning does not (red x) encrypt the recipient or the amount from all nodes. It does. It uses the Sphinx encryption standard for that. Not even the last node in the route knows who the recipient is or what amount the sender sent.
(4) Still on the right side, you write that lightning does not (red x) hide your ip address by default. It does. Lightning wallets and nodes do not reveal their ip addresses by default. To reveal your ip address, you first have to set up port forwarding on the standard lightning port (or pick a different one), and then you have to make a choice: do you want to reveal your *real* ip address or use tor? Most people choose to use tor which is why over 70% of lightning nodes are on tor:
https://i.ibb.co/ggYyDy5/list-of-tor-nodes-on-ln.png
source: https://bitcoin.clarkmoody.com/dashboard/

2024-08-16 03:02:33

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Found another transparency chain shill! Have fun staying public bro. Maybe someday people will use your useless altcoin and pump your bags

2024-08-16 03:00:07

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It is for bolt11 and bolt12

2024-08-16 02:13:06

https://i.ibb.co/CMQx4b2/monero-lightning-comparison-chart.png

2024-08-14 21:21:42

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https://cdn3.emoji.gg/emojis/6413_depression.png

2024-08-14 17:03:10

I made it into NOBS this week! Mission accomplished
#nevent1q…9a69

2024-08-14 00:07:34

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Too memorable?

2024-08-13 21:38:55

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reminds me of Nostr Terminal:
https://github.com/cmdruid/nostr-terminal

2024-08-13 20:47:12

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I feel like Sean Parker would tell me "drop the 'un' -- it's cleaner that way"

2024-08-13 20:23:58

My latest invention is Bankify: turn any cashu mint into a lightning wallet with NWC support
https://stacker.news/items/647681

2024-08-09 18:34:31

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Maybe robot A has a chicken and robot B wants it. But robot B has wheat and robot A wants that. If robot A and robot B can trade with one another right then and there, great, but what if robot A doesn't want wheat *right now*? He won't trade. And maybe when he *does* want wheat, robot B won't want a chicken anymore. With money (i.e. bitcoin) that both robots accept for all goods, robot B can trade *money* for the chicken and robot A can *save* it, and when he wants wheat later he knows robot B wants money (because you can buy *anything* with it) so he has confidence he can buy the wheat with it.

2024-08-08 23:54:17

"Brooklyn bathhouse heats water with Bitcoin mining"
Source: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/brooklyn-bathhouse-heats-water-with-bitcoin-mining/
Alternative headline: "Brooklyn bathhouse cools bitcoin miner with human bodies"
There's only one way this goes...
https://image.nostr.build/95dee423d862903c7d7f554cd192ca8f2d2981a672d779edbe34a19871eb0e6e.jpg

2024-08-08 01:45:04

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I don't know what you featureset is so it's hard to say
I suspect if more services add support for login-via-dm then it will be easier to add sign-via-dm next, send then I can just use one client to interact with all supporting services. Sign-via-dm also needs clients to support it though. But I nag client devs and server devs equally so let's get to it!

2024-08-06 18:34:54

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yes, let them hear me croon!

2024-08-06 18:22:25

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not yet afaik, that's an nsecbunker feature though. I would love to see support for that added to, including in more clients. I should be able to give a website on the desktop my public key and when it wants me to sign a message with my *private* key, it asks the client I use on my phone, which then prompts me to approve the signature request. In the background the two devices can talk over nostr to share the signature requests and signature approvals and such.

2024-08-06 18:16:18

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it's good. It is also an available login method in the library I linked in my feature request for wavlake

2024-08-06 18:10:38

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(1) It doesn't work well on mobile
(2) I already have my private key in an app that supports DMs, so if I can log in with that, I'd rather not put my private key in another app
(3) your tool looks very neat, good job!

2024-08-06 18:08:45

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I'm glad nip07 is available for those who like it
the curse is the "only" part

2024-08-06 17:30:03

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yeah but I want to use this opportunity to help curb the spread of the nip07-only virus

2024-08-06 16:53:29

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I reached out to them about fixing their login issues (they only support nip07 login which I don't like) so we'll see what happens. If they add login-via-DM, I will upload my music there.
njump.me/nevent1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qg7waehxw309ahx7um5wgkhqatz9emk2mrvdaexgetj9ehx2ap0qywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnzd96xxmmfdejhytnnda3kjctv9uq3yamnwvaz7tmwdaehgun4v5hxxmmd9uq32amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wdau8gu3wv3jhvtcpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qg4waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucn89uqzqq9es2p9nmunmqu4aggmynwdfgnyc6d2ukzl5pw9k576pstt39tgz55w8r

2024-08-06 16:51:47

hey @nprofile…hjhd can you add the ability to log into wavlake by means of a DM'd login code? Support for this method was recently added to https://github.com/nostrband/nostr-login and it makes it a lot easier for mobile users. You just enter your nprofile, get a login code in your regular nostr client, and paste it into the website you're logging into.
It also makes it so I don't have to install a browser extension whose code I don't want to review and trust. Thanks! Holding off on uploading my music to your site for now but please let me know if it's feasible or if there's anything I can help with to *make it* feasible.

2024-08-06 15:06:35

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Thank you https://x.com/PlebLab for producing!

2024-08-06 15:02:17

My latest single goes out to all the bitcoin ladies
https://x.com/actuallyCarlaKC https://x.com/amizi https://x.com/ClaraShik https://x.com/D_plus__plus https://x.com/Dulce_xyz https://x.com/glowzow https://x.com/hazelbiologist https://x.com/niftynei https://x.com/NinjaGrannyHodl https://x.com/plebpoet https://x.com/starkness and so many more!
(Alphabetized to hide my crushes)
https://supertestnet.github.io/songs/Super%20Testnet%20-%20Who%20Wrote%20the%20Code.mp3

2024-08-05 21:09:21

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> You didn't trace anything
I did. I identified this pubkey as the sender: 23396ea4b0ab93e3417c3650d47b1c8414bb593d7fc9cdb1b27244e139645302
The rest are the decoys. My tool uses on-chain data and two heuristics to identify the true spend. The two heuristics are explained on my github:
https://github.com/supertestnet/examiner/
Someone told you monero can't be traced by they were wrong. Ciphertrace has a tool for tracing them and now I've released a free and open source alternative.

2024-08-05 20:24:08

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My monero tracing tool automatically identifies the sender of this transaction: c97d96fe61b2aee18a04fdb0975594c7e6d3334036e0e57e70666b9e5fe309b3
Try it here: https://supertestnet.github.io/examiner/
It seems to only be able to identify the sender in about 1 out of 15 transactions, but that's not nothing. I suspect tools with more data (like Ciphertrace's monero tracing tool, linked on my examinr github repo) do a better job of this, but it's silly to claim monero can't be traced in the face of two tools that at least sometimes trace it

2024-08-05 19:10:22

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"they are traceable" and "I personally have the resources to trace them" are different things

2024-08-05 19:09:06

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thank you, that (final paragraph) is excellent feedback and a very good idea

2024-08-05 17:17:57

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> it's impossible to know which is the true spend
Not impossible. My tool *automatically* detects the true spend 1 in 15 times. Better tools (like ciphertrace's) do better.
Lightning is superior.

2024-08-05 17:16:31

Why do people prefer LN to XMR?
- better privacy
- doesn't leak info about sender/recipient/amount
- better merchant experience
- no hassle with consolidating outputs and warnings this will ruin your privacy
- better user experience
- wider acceptance and doesn't keep you poor

2024-08-05 16:51:18

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> in the context of a cryptocurrency a "transaction tracing tool" would be able to identify the source, destination and amount of transactions
I don't think it has to automatically do that. A tracing tool is good if it helps automate some parts of the tracing task even if other parts remain manual.
> random chance identifies the sender in "about 1 of 15 cases"
But random guessing uses no data. This tool uses *data* to identify the sender. A random guess would not be grounds for doing anything. A statistical analysis is worth a lot more.
> the recipient that is published on-chain is a one time stealth address. not useful for tracing since SAs break the transaction graph.
They do not break the transaction graph. Stealth addresses do not appear just once, they appear again whenever the recipient spends his money and possibly in other transactions as decoys. Filtering out the decoys leaves you with only the true spend tx. You can do that *because* there is a tx graph that stealth addresses appear multiple times in.
> and amounts remain opaque
Except part of the amount is visible (the fee) and gives you info about the amount in the outputs as well as in the inputs
> additionally, if it takes "a considerable amount of off-chain information" to *actually use* NOBODY is tracing monero transactions
Seems like you contradict yourself here. First you say "nobody" and argue that the data doesn't exist, then you admit some people might do it and governments might have that data.
Not a good look.

2024-08-05 16:40:57

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Someone challenged me to trace his transaction to its source yesterday on Bawdy Anarchist's twitter space and I denied the ability to do so. I want to build more automatic decoy eliminators because without them you need lots of off chain data that I don't know how to get or that is expensive to acquire. I am not sure how far you can get using only chain heuristics to identify the true spender; I suspect it's higher than 1 in 15 but lower than 100%.
One monero dev offered a helpful cli tool that detects all instances when a stealth address has appeared in a ring; this is something my tool is currently missing and would greatly help with building taint trees. I hope that through community effort my tool continues to improve in effectivelness. The bad guys shouldn't be the only ones with a tool like this, and before yesterday only ciphertrace had a tool like this (that I know of anyway)

2024-08-05 16:34:42

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I replied to your comment, looks like you misunderstand how monero works. You said stealth addresses are used once and never seen again but in reality they appear on the blockchain multiple times: when the recipient receives money, when he or she spends that money, and possibly multiple other times as decoys

2024-08-05 16:26:58

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Then help me fix it please
I'd like it to be up to par with the ciphertrace tool that inspired me
I'm sure they have a lot more data to work with but I suspect you can get pretty far with on chain heuristics and maybe it's not that hard to source whatever off chain data ciphertrace is using

2024-08-05 02:09:43

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they always have been
but it seems to take a considerable amount of manual work
I only have two automated heuristics right now and they only identify the sender in about 1 in 15 cases
I plan to add about four more automated heuristics but I still think you'll need a considerable amount of off chain data entry to get really good data

2024-08-04 19:35:53

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Which claim doesn't match? A lot of people seem to be assuming, wrongly, that this is a *fully automated* tracing tool. It's not. Most of it is manual.

2024-08-04 19:21:10

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I have a way to manually identify yourself as a decoy but I haven't automated that yet. What I want to do is use known "view keys" to identify decoys, because if you have the view key you know the "true" tx in which you spent your own coin, do if you've been used as a decoy you can automatically filter that out.
Right now it uses two heuristics: merge analysis and recency bias. If you received coins in two very close blocks and then spend them together, your ring, which should contain keys from random blocks, will have two suspiciously close blocks where you held both inputs. So you can identify those as the real spender's coins.
Recency bias takes advantage of the fact that most decoy selection algorithms are biased toward selecting keys from recently created utxos. Ones that are significantly older stick out like a sore thumb.
Other metrics I want to add include bot detection (which is based on identifying txs with many outputs, since these tend to be created by automated software rather than a real person) and taint tree analysis (which creates trees of possible senders fanning out backward in time from a known destination).

2024-08-04 19:14:58

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If you found a false statement, please point it out

2024-08-04 18:23:36

My latest invention is eXaMineR: a free and open source tool for tracing monero transactions
Learn more here: https://stacker.news/items/634963

2024-08-03 20:11:04

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There is evidence that usage of robosats is on the rise: https://supertestnet.github.io/robostats/
It does millions of dollars in volume per year BUT that is still small relative to its bigger DNM competitors
It also has a better user experience than it's competitors so I hope it keeps growing and eventually dominates that part of the economy

2024-08-03 20:07:36

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Yes

2024-08-03 20:07:16

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Not yet. Want to try it with me today?

2024-08-02 19:18:27

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Fedi* not fed

2024-08-02 19:18:06

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Yeah but he probably shouldn't
Having multiple people run the backend independently is a good way of distributing risk but it's not right to call that a federation
They don't "co own" a single robosats "address" like a federation would. They are all independent
Would be interesting if they all ran a fed instance though and custodied all the bitcoins there, then they could truly call it a federation
But I think I prefer the current model

2024-08-01 18:32:01

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he also says they *do* have a probabilistic tool
but you do you
have fun staying public! I really hope you enjoy your transparency chain
meanwhile I'll keep using lightning where we *don't* publish every single one of our transactions for every to analyze

2024-08-01 17:51:20

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It doesn't sound *that* hard to replace. I think fee credits are just a service agreement where Acinq holds custody of your sats until you accumulate enough to do a base layer transaction to open a new channel or enlarge an existing one. You could probably use ecash mints as a drop-in replacement: accumulate sats on an ecash mint until the user has enough to open or enlarge a channel, then do so.

2024-08-01 17:40:58

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He also informed me that this exists: https://news.bitcoin.com/ciphertrace-enhanced-monero-tracing-capabilities-governments/
So when people ask me "Then why does chainalysis have an LN risk assessment tool?" I can answer "For the same reason ciphertrace has one for monero: because exchanges will pay for it even if it doesn't work well"

2024-08-01 17:17:18

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I offer a nostr workshop where you build your own nostr client. It includes a segment where you configure your new self-made client to send/receive money using NWC and zaps. The workshop was recorded and you can purchase a copy here: https://supertestnet.org/workshops.html?option=nostr

2024-08-01 17:15:33

A very sweet XMR user held an intervention today and met me in real life to persuade me that my arguments against monero are "not in good faith." He did not. But he did convince me that this would be very good: a tool as easy to use as phoenixd but that connects to multiple LSPs.