In mid-January, Bitcoin Core developers released a document describing the benefits of using Schnoor's multi-signature technology. This technology should solve the problems of Bitcoin blockchain scaling, improve the privacy system, and better prevent spam attacks.
How Schnorrer multipods work
All transactions in the blockchain are accompanied by digital signatures that allow you to prove ownership and ownership. At the moment, The bitcoin blockchain operates an algorithm with a public key to create a digital signature ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm). As part of this algorithm, the digital signature is used to work two interconnected keys: private and public. The public key identifies the recipient and the sender, while the private key is used in conjunction with the public key to create a non-private signature to the transaction and is kept secret. Each transaction uses a new digital signature that takes up a lot of space on the blockchain. As a result, not only transaction size requirements are increased, but also transaction fees are increased.
Schnorrer multi-signature technology offers a fairly simple and elegant solution-to organize digital signatures and combine keys. According to one of the leading developers of Peter Welle's technology, this scheme is a combination of signature and verification algorithm, when several signatories, each with its own public and private key, sign one message. As a result, instead of the existing scheme of generating individual signatures for each new transaction, subscribers can use only one. This single signature can be verified by anyone who also knows the message and public keys of the signatories.
Thus, the developers plan to save the space used on the blockchain. This, in turn, will solve the problems of low network bandwidth and high fees. According to the developers, due to the Snorr scheme, the network bandwidth will increase by 25% -30%, and the size of the data in the blockchain will be reduced by a quarter.
About the technology and the team
Developers of Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell, Andrew Poelstra, Yannick Seyrin and Peter Welle are working on the introduction of multi-signature technology Schnoor, which is in the process of creation since 2012.
Despite the obvious advantages of the technology, earlier implementation was impossible for two reasons: firstly, there were not many developers in the crypto community who would be well enough versed in Bitcoin blockchain and cryptography to provide a large-scale implementation of the Schnorr scheme. Secondly, this technique involves making a major change in the $100-billion Bitcoin network, which requires expert evaluation and pre-testing of the technology.
Also activated only in the last year the Protocol Segregated Witness (SegWit), helped to implement a new authentication scheme Snorra in a backward-compatible softforce, and no hard forks, as previously assumed. Moreover, SegWit Protocol allows technologies to increase the level of privacy in some transactions, as well as helps in the fight against spam.
Yannick Seyrin, cryptographer of the French Agency for cryptographic security ANSSI and part-time one of the leading developers of cryptography in the Schnoor scheme, in an interview with CoinDesk said:
"Schnoor's multi-signature and the possible use of This technology in related applications offer great hope. As recent debates about the importance of network scalability have shown, any increase in efficiency will give a lot of advantages to bitcoin."
The development of the Bitcoin blockchain
Shnorr technology is one of the many possible directions of the current development of Bitcoin blockchain. In addition to activated in the last year of the Protocol SegWit, this year launched a Lighting Network add — in for the blockchain, which will give users the ability to conduct an unlimited number of micropayments, which are not recorded in the blockchain: there misses information on the interim payments, but only the final balance.
However, given that at stake is a multibillion-dollar network whose renewal may disrupt the ecosystem, it will take a lot of effort to convince the majority of stakeholders. One of the contributors to Bitcoin Core, Nicholas Dorier, suggested that it might take several years to fully implement the Schnoor technology. This was announced by one of the leading technology developers Peter Welle during the presentation:
"Of course, I want to see the results of our work in the Bitcoin network, but this process takes a long time."