Understanding RingCT (Confidential Transactions)
Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) is a privacy-enhancing technology used in Monero to hide transaction amounts while maintaining the ability to verify the integrity of the transaction.
Unlike regular confidential transactions, which only hide the transaction amounts, RingCT in Monero ensures that the transaction amounts are also hidden.
It achieves this by including cryptographic proof that the sum of input amounts is equal to the sum of output amounts without revealing the specific amounts involved.
Enhancing Transaction Privacy
With RingCT, the privacy of transactions extends beyond the transaction amounts.
Monero utilizes other features like ring signatures and stealth addresses to make transactions untraceable and obscure the destination of funds.
The implementation of RingCT in Monero occurred in block #1220516 in January 2017, and it became mandatory for all transactions on the network in September of the same year.
Ring Confidential Transactions
RingCT introduces an improved version of ring signatures called multi-layered linkable spontaneous anonymous group signatures.
This enables efficient hiding of transaction amounts, origins, and destinations, providing high privacy while maintaining verifiability and trustlessness in coin generation.
Overall, RingCT enhances privacy in Monero transactions by hiding transaction amounts and other transaction details, making it difficult to link transactions to specific individuals or addresses.