BEAM: Privacy on the blockchain

INTRODUCTION
Sometimes, we have information we wish to share with a single person, other times it is with a group of people, and in other cases, the general public.

With the creation of blockchain technology in 2009, it was thought that this will be the case, but it has been proven many times, that users information and data have been leaked via OTC solutions, exchanges and merchants. This is a major problem, and it shows how porous the blockchain is, and how it is inept with regards to privacy.

This basically ensures that the needs of a larger group are not met, seeing this is the primary reason many of them make use of blockchain technology.

Being able to choose different levels of privacy ensures that users can easily apply privacy levels to different solutions as they arise, seeing different transactions might warrant different settings.

BEAM is a solution that is ahead of its time, and it is a confidentiality cryptocurrency that ensures that the privacy of users is maintained, and only these users can determine what transaction and transaction details can be viewed. By default, it sets every users transaction to private mode.

THE UNIQUENESS OF BEAM

Users have total control over their privacy, and they decide who can view their transaction details.
BEAM ensures that making transactions private does not affect the computing power of the blockchain. Scalability isn’t affected either.
Does not require a trusted setup.
Mines block with the use of an Equihash Proof of Work algorithm.
Has limited emissions, which it is able to achieve by periodic halving.
BEAM does not store addresses on the blockchain.
It is super scalable, when compared to leading solutions, due to its compact size.
It supports escrow, time based transactions and atomic swaps.
Has no premine or ICO
Built using C++

BEAM is created using MimbleWimble. A preference for MimbleWimble stems from the fact that it is primarily concerned about scalability and privacy.

A CLOSER LOOK AT MIMBLEWIMBLE
MimbleWimble was published in August 2016, as a suitable approach to efficient confidential blockchain. Its premise is built on two concepts that were proposed by Greg Maxwell:

Confidential Transactions
Transaction Cut.

Confidential Transactions: This is implemented by the use of cryptographic commitment scheme that has two main properties, which are binding and hiding.
Binding has to do with both parties being aware of the content of a transaction. Only the sender knows the key that will make the information known to the sender, after the information has been sent (binding). At the right time, the sender will provide the key with which the receiver will use in accessing information sent. (hiding)

The commitment script MimbleWimble makes use of is known as Pederson Commitment, and it can be achieved using Elliptic Curve Cryptography.

Every input and output is a result of linear combination of two factors: actual value of a transaction and a blinding factor.

Blocks are a list of transactions, which have their own inputs and outputs. If we view a block as one huge transaction, we can merge intermediate outputs within a block, and also across many blocks. This essentially ensures that only current UTXO state needs to be stored, rather than the data in its entirety.
As a result of this, users information is not stored on the blockchain, and is better protected.
Bulletproofs are also made use of, to ensure that transaction value is positive, without revealing the actual figure.

Smaller blocks make sure that the system is more efficient, ensuring that MimbleWimble is much faster than the industries leaders.

BEAM makes use of Equihash, because it does not require a lot of resources like SHA256. Compact blockchain doesn’t mean that information is deleted off the blockchain, because this is not possible. It essentially means that it uses less information to validate information.

USE CASE
Jared is an avid crypto investor, and he has been looking for an adequate solution to help him store value anonymously, away from the eyes of everyone.
Unable to find the ideal solution, Jared has been unable to invest as much as he wishes, because he will not like to be the focus of hackers and scammers.
He read about BEAM on BitcoinTalk, and decides to give it a shot. The results are outstanding, because he can decide who sees what, and when that individual sees it.
BEAM ensures that Jared injects more funds into the decentralized economy, and he also spreads the word, ensuring that the industry continues to thrive.

CONCLUSION
BEAM ensures that users that have been worried about their privacy and protection are not lost. The creation of the blockchain was a dream for many, and BEAM ensures that the dream lives on. Knowing that their privacy is maintained ensures that they will be happy to invest more in cryptos. It will also ensure that the cryptocurrency industry will see a lot of returning users, and mainstream users who wish to store value discreetly will be happy to be part of the decentralized economy.
Having privacy when users need to store value is important, because when privacy is not maintained, many users will shy away from using it to meet their needs, seeing it is not worth the hassle.

This will also help in reducing the chances of such users from being targeted by scam artists that prow on the blockchain.

TEAM

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MORE INFORMATION & RESOURCES:Beam
Beam Position Paper
Mimblewimble Paper
Beam YouTube
Beam Telegram
Beam Facebook
Beam Github
Beam Bitcointalk
Beam Medium
Beam Twitter

This article is writing with regards to the @originalworks contest that can be seen here

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