this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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[–] Broadfern@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (8 children)

I fully admit in advance I know very little about crypto, so please someone correct me if I’m wrong.

Isn’t part of crypto a detailed log of transactions?

[–] Voyajer@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Monero obfuscates transactions. Parties and amount are private.

[–] green_copper@kbin.earth 8 points 3 days ago

It depends on the project. Many cryptocurrencies (Like Bitcoin, Etherium, Litecoin) have a public ledger. So every transaction (participants + amount) is visible.
Other Projects (where Monero is the most well known) use special cryptographic systems to hide all that. So the only thing which can be observed by 3th parties is that some transaction was successful somewhere. There are also projects which are private but prioritize efficiency (all the cryptographic hiding has a notable computation-cost) by sacrificing hidden amount or hidden participants.

[–] lena@gregtech.eu 7 points 3 days ago

Crypts currencies like Monero even hide that

[–] kartoffelsaft@programming.dev 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes.

But also, how can you make digital payment work without one? Not a rhetorical question by the way, legitimately don't know. llmost seems impossible.

My thought process:

  • You need to verify transactions aren't fraudulent
    • source of trust on this can't be centralized, thats what visa/mastercard are
  • You need to be able to calculate a balance
    • traditional currency does this by physically possessing things
      • you can't "own" data; it's fungible i.e. it can be copied trivially. If I copy my wallet onto your computer, who owns it?
    • digital currency gets around this with a ledger
      • that's the detailed log of transactions
    • ???
[–] InnerScientist@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
  • You need to verify transactions aren't fraudulent
    • source of trust on this can't be centralized, thats what visa/mastercard are
  • You need to be able to calculate a balance
    • traditional currency does this by physically possessing things
      • you can't "own" data; it's fungible i.e. it can be copied trivially. If I copy my wallet onto your computer, who owns it?
    • digital currency gets around this with a ledger
      • that's the detailed log of transactions
      • the transactions in the log are signed with cryptographic keys, the validity of the signature can be verified with the corresponding public keys. The owner of the private key (which never leaves your PC) is the owner of that wallet and is the only one who can generate the signature - the wallet has a 1:1 mapping to the public and private keys

(This is also why you don't need accounts, your PC generates a random Private key, generates the corresponding Public key and that's your wallet. Everyone accepts that it is your wallet because you have its private key)

This is just the very basic system that is traceable and there are newer schemes that are better.

Edit:
RingCT
Stealth Addresses
ring signatures
Transactions over Tor/I2P
Dandelion++

[–] blackstampede@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

Actually, you can think of all crypto as a log of transactions plus the infrastructure to create, manage, and provide information about those transactions. It is public, but the "accounts" are basically just blobs of numbers, so they can be hard to trace, depending on the platform.

[–] HalfSalesman@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

My understanding is that even if that is the case purchases are still not easily trackable/traceable if that is your concern. I myself don't know specifically why though.

[–] tlekiteki@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

Encrypting That is the difference between Zcash and original Bitcoin.

[–] BrokenGlepnir@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Arguably it's all crypto is physically speaking. A log that details this money it's referencing.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

It is, but there is little or no detail of who exactly it was that made the transaction. Some cryptocurrencies are better than others about keeping that information hidden.