The giant Dutch bank, ING, has called upon the cryptographic skills of Stanford University in California, University College London, and start-up Blockstream, to offer greater privacy when transferring Bitcoin, by hiding certain transaction details. ING are calling this new method ‘Bulletproof”, and claim it is 300 times more efficient than some other methods of sending Digital currencies. Interestingly, this new method may be extremely helpful as a way to record data using Blockchain technology and still comply with GDPR regulations across Europe.Keeping user-information and data private has been a real challenge for exponents of Blockchain technology, and has led to some organisations turning to private or permissioned Blockchains.
Bulletproof Blockchains could also be ideal for security tokens, especially where the underlying asset is a publicly quote equity or may contain price-sensitive information. It would appear that, as it is now possible using ING’s bulletproof system, it could be possible to carry out transactions using a Blockchain, but not disclose the price of the asset, who is the buyer or seller, or how much is being transacted.
This would be a real breakthrough and would help to allay compliance officers’ concerns within asset managers and banks about having price-sensitive information in the public domain.
Enthusiasts of Digital Assets believe that if user's transactions can be made private and not available to prying eyes, it might help minimise scams and frauds, and attract more investors.
