In its pursuance to deliver the most secure, private and untraceable transaction system, team Cloakcoin has announced the upgradation of its wallet service.
Phoenix, as the new wallet version is titled, is built in response to the prevailing instability of the older wallet version. As Cloak itself quoted, the latest version solves many of the problems that were associated with its predecessor, mainly related to stability, speed and ease-of-use.
The latest Phoenix wallet will feature a quick and easy wallet setup. Unlike the wallet software whose sync process takes a lifetime to finish, the Cloakcoin blockchain downloader will lightening fast, and will take only a couple of minutes to get synced.
In addition to the blockchain downloader, the new wallet upgrade will also include the following features: an automatic wallet backup system, faster block loading, enhanced PoS validation, refactoring of the CloakShield code to reduce traffic and increase reliability, improved input selection for Enigma and an Enigma message system, a new UI option to copy transaction IDs from the history page, and a switch to LevelDB database format.
In order to come more transparent on their claims, the team showed NewsBTC a demo video of the Phoenix wallet. The initial setup, as shown in the video, looks pretty smooth and eventually brings us to the inside of the Cloakcoin Wallet. The software appeared neat and user-friendly, going by its easily navigable and tidy user-interface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP4PwuvPG7w&feature=youtu.be
The demonstration, as can be seen in the video above, also introduces users with the successful working of Cloakcoin’s anonymous payment module Enigma. As the name suggests, this new protocol is a riddle, but only for those onlookers who have intentions to trace Cloakcoin users’ transactions. While for the users themselves, this one feature is a blessing in disguise as it allows them to make private transactions without needing reveal their – or their recipients’ identity.
To quote: Enigma is a new private and secure transaction obfuscation system which, with the help of CloakShield, a private onion routing network like TOR, allows Cloakcoins to be sent anonymously for a nominal 1.8% fee, while attending to issues like fungibility and more.
How Does it Work?
In the demonstration, the user can be seen sending two anonymous transactions successfully: one of 1000 CLOAK and the other of 100 CLOAK. We will try to explain the working of Enigma by the following example:
Imagine a pot in which many people need to put and take 1000 CLOAK each. One of these people is Sender, a person which only put 1000 CLOAK into the pot but doesn’t take it out. Also among the people is Receiver, a person which does not put 1000 CLOAK into the pot but only takes it out. The other participants, however, take these 1000 CLOAK anonymously out. These participants are called ‘CLOAKERS’, while their wallets are called ‘Enigma Nodes’.
Cloakshield, on the other hand, provides the much-needed shield to these transaction obfuscation process for the exchange of encrypted messages between all Enigma Nodes. It uses ECDH/RSA encryption, the technique which is also used by Tor’s onion routing model.
Enigma and Cloakshield are fully decentralised, which also makes Cloakcoin a fully decentralised private finance network.
Fast Transactions
In contrast to Zcash, another privacy-centric cryptocurrency system, the transactions performed on Cloakcoin network turned out to be way faster and more user-friendly. The test transaction we conducted were broadcasted among 25 Cloakers almost instantly, and was completely executed within about 4-5 minutes.
The transaction obfuscation feature though is not a new thing. Dash (aka Darkcoin), another cryptocurrency offering private transactions, has already introduced an in-built transaction mixing mechanism. But the feature remains prone to Sybil attacks, considering how the Dash masternodes could be concentrated on the servers of hosting providers whose registers could be accessed by hackers, as well as finance watchdogs.
However, with Cloak, the chances of a Sybil attack are NIL. The mechanism of this cryptocurrency is created in a way that it always bring more participators to the coin obfuscation process. So anybody with a Cloak wallet can participate in the obfuscation process and earn a portion of the reward. Users can always set the percentage of balance they want to make available for the anonymization, and broadcast their will to the Cloak network.
Furthermore, the PoS consensus used in Cloak allows users to earn 6% interest rate for holding Cloakcoins. This ensures that there will never be a shortage for Cloakers while, at the same time, improves upon the network’s liquidity.
Cloak’s Phoenix wallet will be available to download from Cloakcoin’s official website on 18th February 2017.
