By: Dan Gay, CMO

 

Vitalik Buterin Shares “Stealth Address for Privacy” for Ethereum – Discover the Solution to His Main Roadblock

One of the brightest (and wealthiest) blockchain network developers in the world sees a simple way for his Ethereum to protect privacy. It’s simple he says, except there’s one BIG HURDLE.

Vitalik Buterin posted an idea of how he can bring more security and authentication into Ethereum via Sealth Addresses. Vitalik is the founder of Ethereum and is ever concerned with developing new layers of privacy and protection for Ethereum users.

In a recent blog post he reviews how a stealth address would better protect users’ privacy. In essence, a new wallet address is tied cryptically to a person’s public address and only viewed by the parties that are a part of a transaction.

Buterin stated, “stealth addresses give the same privacy properties as… generating a fresh address for each transaction, but without requiring any interaction.” He stated that the technology is simple and could be implemented fairly easily, if not for a couple of details.

There’s only one problem, “Gas Fees”

Because a new stealth address would contain zero ETH, there would be no way of forwarding NFTs or crypto to it. If a user were to send ETH to a stealth address, that address exposure eliminates the benefit of a stealth address.

There are other solutions within the Ethereum arrow quiver, but those would cost a lot of additional gas fees. “Quite simple” actually becomes quite costly. The issue that Ethereum has had since its inception is the linkage of the amount of network traffic, supply of validators, and demand for transaction verification. Anytime gas is used, the transaction cost is so variable that it could cost more for the transaction than the actual item in the transaction. Statista’s recent report shows this varied cost, with costs rising. For almost two years, the average gas price was around $40, which hit an all-time high of $196.63 in May of 2022.

Obviously, there is still some work to do for Stealth Addresses to be a viable solution for Privacy.

A New Solution Resolves Everything

The real solution is uncoupling the relationship between Gas and Demand. For Ethereum, the Ethereum Merge laid the groundwork for the “future” of gas fee optimization. It did not bring relief to lower gas fees or uncouple the relationship at this time.

The creation of the BlockCerts Blockchain Network solved that issue removing the relationship between the network costs called “Ink” and the daily demand of transactions. BlockCerts also “embedded” authentication into every wallet and every transaction, therefore there is no need for “stealth addresses”. The Private Key embeds the authentication through the VaultCERTin and IDCERTin process for everyone.

From buying and selling NFTs, to new digital domains, collaborating on-line, hosting web calls, sending or storing files, and accessing new applications where your data is safe, access is secure, and transactions are a fraction of the cost, the BlockCerts platform has you covered.

While the Ethereum Gas fees averaged $40 for a transaction, BlockCerts is about 800x less! BlockCerts bases transactions based on current network costs, which is pennies vs dollars. For any individual or any business, you can now plan on the network costs and you don’t need a crazy tracking tool to decide when to best send a smart contract.

Streaming Fees Eliminate High Gas Fees and App Seat Fees!

Because these fees are quite low, they are fixed and transaction-based, BlockCerts eliminated the need for traditional SaaS apps fee costs like Zoom, Dropbox, DocuSign, and others. By “Streaming Software”, an individual or a company can save an incredible amount of money over the past (at least 50% or more) by streaming what they need, when they need it.

Ethereum remains a developer network, requiring a deep background in blockchain technology and development to create smart contracts and run business applications. BlockCerts is a platform that allows users to access decentralized tools that they can start using in minutes. App developers and integration companies can build using the platform to expand into numerous other apps and industries.

If you’re an individual or business, get started by downloading the free ORBITi app and free BCERTin wallet. Get authenticated and start using the decentralized tools available!