A protocol was suggested by a Solidity technologist earlier this year, employing zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs and transaction conduits to facilitate a Secret Santa-esque functionality on Ethereum.
Methods are being refined by Ethereum investigators to implement a protocol that was initially unveiled earlier this year, which possesses the capacity to intensify transactional confidentiality with zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs.
Research was disseminated by Ethereum technologist Artem Chystiakov on the Ethereum community forum on Monday, entitled “Zero Knowledge Secret Santa (ZKSS),” which posits a three-phase “Secret Santa” protocol. The documentation was first unveiled in January on arXiv.
Secret Santa constitutes a customary present-exchange diversion enacted around the Christmas season, where a collective of individuals anonymously transfer tokens. A present is procured by each participant for another individual as their “Secret Santa,” and a gift is likewise obtained from their “Secret Santa.”
The identity of their Secret Santa is never ascertained by the individuals who receive the presents.
The Challenges of Building on Ethereum
Three principal impediments to enacting Secret Santa on Ethereum were cited by Chystiakov, which could be resolved by this protocol.
All data residing on Ethereum is observable by every entity, so a mechanism is necessitated to obscure which party is transferring assets to which, and to preserve transactional confidentiality.
Authentic unpredictability is absent from blockchains, so contributions of unique stochastic selections must be made by participants, and the diversion must be engineered to avert any individual from engaging twice or presenting a token to themselves.
Emerging Use Cases for Ethereum
Distributed ledger confidentiality has been transformed into a prominent subject lately as digital assets are progressively incorporated into conventional financing.
Confidentiality protocols could be utilized in circumstances such as unidentified balloting and administration, comprising Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) or institutions, where participants are required to validate their affiliation and register one ballot, but maintain their selection as secret.
The application could also be extended to informant mechanisms, where individuals must validate their designation as an approved associate while submitting data anonymously, or to confidential token distributions or assignments, where digital assets are required to be disbursed without disclosing which party obtained which amount.
Inquiries regarding open-source deployments or live execution were met with the assertion, “Work is currently being undertaken on it,” by Chystiakov.
How ZK Secret Santa Works
The Solidity proof-of-concept protocol utilizes zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs to institute correspondent and recipient affinities for the present, while the sender’s anonymity and confidentiality are sustained.
Zero-knowledge cryptographic proofs (ZK-proofs) constitute a methodology for demonstrating awareness without divulging the exact specifics. The ZKSS protocol also employs a transaction intermediary, which functions as a middle agent that submits transactions, consequently ensuring the sender’s identity is concealed.
To engage, Ethereum addresses are registered in a smart contract by participants, thereby generating a roster of all entrants. Subsequently, a specific digital endorsement is pledged to be employed by each participant.
This maneuver averts a deceptive encroachment where participation by an individual multiple times could be executed through the creation of diverse digital endorsements.
Subsequently, their unique stochastic integer is covertly appended to a communal inventory by each participant utilizing the intermediary, thereby ensuring that the contributor of each entry is obscured. This methodology permits recipients to encode their delivery destination, so only their designated “Santa” can decipher it.
Ultimately, a random integer belonging to someone else is chosen from the communal inventory by each participant, subsequent to which the receiver’s identity is disclosed.
