I want to take a moment to give everyone an update on where we are with STEALTH.
The hardfork today will allow us to transfer the STEALTH asset to
@onceuponatime and the blockchain will be fully functional from that perspective.
The GUI release here:
https://github.com/bitshares/bitshares-2/releases/tag/2.0.160323-stealth-beta implements an interface and set of functionality that we outlined in the proposal.
The server-side wallet storage was not part of the proposal, but something we felt was necessary to backup/secure user funds. We do not yet have confidence in the reliability of server-side storage to enable this feature. There is a significant about of liability associated in offering to host/backup user wallets. We don't want to be responsible for the loss of funds.
With todays hardfork and enabling of the fee-backed-asset along with the windows binaries we will release the STEALTH worker will technically be completed to spec. We were late and over budget so have actually lost money on this worker.
That said, I am not happy with the resulting product and user experience. It is still too hard to use for most people and therefore, it is reasonable to expect few will use it.
In an effort to make things right for everyone, especially
@onceuponatime, we intend to implement an alternative in the months ahead:
Blind Transfers with Public AccountsIn this mode everyone will be able to tell which accounts are transacting with each other, but be unable to know the amounts involved. The impact is that you would be able to tell if someone sent money to an exchange, but would be unable to know how much. Furthemore, your
account balance would be completely private.
With this mode of operation it is possible to make blind transfers the default mode of operation while maintaining the same interface we have for normal transactions. A simple checkbox can be used to enable public/free transfers.
This interface will generate many more STEALTH transfers and improve everyone's privacy while at the same time enabling the holders of the STEALTH asset to make more revenue.
We cannot promise a particular schedule for this enhancement, but will state that we intend to work toward it. We want to make sure that people can actually use privacy enhancing features and that
@onceuponatime has a reasonable chance to recoup his investment.