Description
I am only worried that this will not make any sense to most people or persuade anyone that Aeon is a good protocol. They will mostly be intimidated or confused. I know stoffu is a clever cryptographer but I think most who visit this website will have a troubled time understand some of these parts.
I believe we should use this chance to give a more detailed soft "introduction" to aeon.
We still haven't detailed what will make AEON shine in the sky above all other cryptocurrencies are jumping right into how it compares to monero. If people want more technical information, I am sure they will seek it out themselves. Or it is possible to ask stoffu to write a detailed technical exposition about the cryptography involved in Aeon for cryptographic minds to learn about the techinical differences, leaving it as a separate part of the website or external link.
Current status:
How is AEON different from Monero?
Mobile friendliness, the top priority of AEON, led to the following critical differences from Monero:
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1
ASIC-friendly proof-of-work
We believe ASIC resistance is ultimately futile while imposing various forms of undesirable cost. Our ASIC-friendly PoW (KangarooTwelve) allows for faster verification of the blockchain. This also helps stabilize the protocol as the need for PoW-change hard forks is eliminated.
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2
No use of RingCT
Monero's RingCT for encrypting transaction amounts comes with a theoretical risk of catastrophic collapse of the monetary system due to hidden inflation if the discrete log of the second generator is discovered. Favoring supply soundness over privacy, we choose not to use RingCT until cryptographers invent an efficient commitment scheme with unconditional soundness. We believe practical level of privacy can still be achieved without RingCT. Not using RingCT also contributes to faster syncing.
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3
Increased block time
AEON's block time is 4 minutes. This halves the number of blocks produced each day compared to Monero, further reducing the cost of running a node.
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4
Smaller ring size
AEON's ring size is fixed to 3 which is the bare minimum needed to prevent chain reactions (link). Monero's higher ring size means more degree of obfuscation for each transaction, but it also comes at the cost of increased blockchain size and longer verification time. We choose to stick with ring size 3 until a convincing evidence against it is found.
These differences combined result in much lower cost of running a node, smaller blockchain size, and shorter sync time compared to Monero even if the difference in adoption level is factored out. While still drawing from the technical advantages of Monero and CryptoNote, AEON has distinct development goals and an independent community that enable it to thrive as its own currency.
- Why not start with
How is AEON unique?There are thousands of cryptocurrencies.. If you came to learn about Aeon is it is pretty likely they know Bitcoin, they know Dogecoin, maybe a handful of other popular coins. We should make a general comparison. because that is what people are wondering about also. - I like the first section. It is missing an imporant connection to mobile-friendlyness the main thesis of the section. I would emphasize the security and research involved in developing K12 hash function. How it is specifically optimized for mobile ARM processors and academically peer reviewed meeting NIST standards. This is a strong argument not just against monero but all cryptocurrencies. Also I might call it Mobile-friendly Proof-Of-Work. It agrees with the overall mission of the project. Pretend we do not intend to be ASIC friendly that is just a nice side bonus of K12 that we also enjoy. Also mention SHA-3 as it is a popular term many people recognize.
- Part two... Most people will be confused by this: What is RingCT. discrete log of the second generator? I don't think most people who use monero know what that means or involves. I think this could be better phrased as "only implementing the minimal necessary cryptography to ensure transactions are untraceable, and balances are encrypted". This can protect against complete collapse of the monetary system through hidden inflation. Maybe call the section "The same privacy with a smaller footprint". Emphasize that Aeon utilizes only the minimum necessary cryptography to protect the privacy of its users. It keeps transactions small. As far as I know, no privacy is sacrificed by omitting RingCT. Make a point that any additional cryptography is just increased risk in security and blockchain bloat that can never be removed. Since we are talking about privacy, it might be a good time to make a point about the no trusted setup involved as compared to zero coin.
- Difference from monero but bitcoin has block time of 10 minutes and a fixed blocksize limit and it is still massive. I wonder if this is actually showcasing a weakness for Aeon. I would take this point to discuss disinflationary supply + tail-emission. that is what everyone wants to know about and is important detail to explain. Not different from monero but different from most other currencies. You may be able to state that this will keep fees low for all users in the future as miners will not depend on fees.
- Smaller ringsize could be grouped with number 2 or left seperate. i think this one is a little easier to understand but still a little too technical for a first introduction to aeon. It is is also basically the same point as number 2. Maybe just highlight 3 big factors.
I will write up a draft some time to see what anybody thinks. Comments and discussion are welcome for this critique.