Meet 'Cash Shuffle', the Privacy-Centric Protocol for Bitcoin Cash

This week a new bitcoin cash (BCH) based protocol has been released that aims to add privacy capabilities to BCH transactions. The software, called Cash Shuffle, enables BCH users to obfuscate their transactions by combining funds with other Cash Shuffle users.

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Cash Shuffle Obscures Bitcoin Cash Transactions

Privacy is a big deal for many cryptocurrency advocates as anonymity projects and confidentiality is a very hot subject. Now bitcoin cash supporters will be pleased to hear about a new BCH shuffling protocol called Cash Shuffle. The program is different from basic cryptocurrency mixing services where users have to trust the operator while also paying a substantial fee.

Cash Shuffle claims there are no additional fees and no counterparty risks involved. The Cash Shuffle server is open source and written in the codebase Go. Further, there is an actual implementation that runs today and it’s available for review on Github. Although the server has no knowledge of inputs, the software still needs users to aggregate together to be more efficient.

“Coin Shuffle is an excellent protocol once the participants for a joined transaction have already been chosen,” explains Coin Shuffle’s website. “However, it provides no means for establishing such groupings. Cash Shuffle builds upon CoinShuffle and adds a matching service. As such, it is a more complete and usable protocol.”

The server, like the individual participants, also has no knowledge of which input corresponds to which output — The server cannot steal money in a proper Cash Shuffle implementation because the transactions are only signed on the client side if they are valid.

‘Privacy and Fungibility Are Vital for Cryptocurrencies’

The well-known bitcoin cash wallet Electron Cash has been made operable with the CoinShuffle protocol in the form of a plugin. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with the Electron Cash lead developer, Jonald Fyookball, who told us that Electron Cash is unaffiliated with Cash Shuffle, but that the code appears safe for users upon initial review.

“I’m glad to see privacy-centric protocols being developed. Privacy and fungibility go hand in hand and are vital for cryptocurrency — free people living in a free society should have a right to privacy without fearing the state peering into their personal finances,” he said.

Just as important: Governments and other institutions should not be given room to start blacklisting coins, as this threatens the foundation of the currency. Each coin should be the same as another (fungible) — Cash Shuffle and protocols like it will increase ambiguity and “coin-taint” across the spectrum of transactions so that all coins will be more similar to each other.

Across forums and social media, the bitcoin cash community seems pleased with the project that adds privacy to the BCH economy. Alongside the website, bitcoin cash supporters can also follow the Cash Shuffle team’s development progress via a Twitter page created this past October.

What do you think about the Cash Shuffle project? Let us know in the comments below.

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Images via Shutterstock, Cash Shuffle, and Pixabay.

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