FAQ#
Why is this better than Tornado Cash?#
| Aspect | TornadoCash | ErgoMixer |
|---|---|---|
| Blockchain | Ethereum | Ergo |
| Supported Cryptocurrencies | ETH, DAI, USDC, USDT, WBTC | ERG and all Ergo native tokens |
| Privacy Mechanisms | zk-SNARKs | Ring Signatures and a proof of knowledge for a Diffie-Hellman tuple (ZeroJoin) |
| Additional Features | Covert Addresses, Stealth Addresses, SigmaUSD minting, Tor support (and much more possible) | |
| Ceremony Setup / MPC | Requires multi-party computation (MPC) setup for zk-SNARKs parameter generation. Potential risks if participants collaborate to generate fake proofs. | No "ceremony" setup required. Avoids risks associated with MPC setup. |
| Decentralization | Operates on Ethereum; potential for centralization due to congestion, centralsied block production. | Focuses on decentralization to enhance privacy, discourages centralization tendencies. Incorporates innovative design for programmable money which enables a programmable mixer |
| Blacklisting/Tracking | Vulnerable to blacklisting/tracking due to Proof-of-Stake. | Implements measures to prevent blacklisting/tracking, encourages node decentralization. |
| Hosting and Developer | Developed by a known team. | Self-hosted and created by an anonymous developer. Adds an additional layer of privacy and security. |
Tornado.Cash uses zk-SNARKs, which requires a "ceremony" to generate parameters required by the zk-SNARKs algorithm itself. This Multi-party-computation means if only one participant of the MPC setup was honest, all others could try to cheat, and it would be secure.
However, if all participants cheated and cooperated, they would have the ability to generate fake proofs later, and nobody will know about it.
In the specific case of tornado cash, it would mean that if all of the 1114 ceremony setup participants cheated, they could generate fake proofs and drain money from the tornado.cash smart contract.
However, if only one of them were honest, it would be secure for people to use.
ErgoMixer doesn't require this "ceremony" setup.
The computer where the MPC ceremony holds place should also be secure and destroyed after the ceremony. Otherwise, it could leak keys that a malicious attack can use to construct fake proofs. There's a really strong game theoric incentive to integrate some backdoor to the software or even hardware of MPC computer.
Showing as 'corrupted' on Mac#
This can happen due to security preferences on Mac. Please run the following command.
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/ergoMixer.app