I2P: network reliability is on the radar of the academic community

We continue our series on I2P anonymous Internet technology. The first interview was devoted to the specifics of the technology and the current state of the global community.

Today our guest is an academic researcher and cybersecurity specialist from Switzerland, Philipp. In his scientific work, he explores the specifics of anonymization of the I2P test network, and the application of the technology to create an exchange network diva.exchange. What results Philipp came to in his research and why “darknet” is not evil in itself – read in our new interview.

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FOSDEM 2024: diva.exchange’s innovative approach to I2P networking

In digital networking, the principle of distribution has become a beacon of progress, promising freedom from centralized control and enhanced security through distributed architectures. Prominent among such networks is I2P, an overlay network known for its reliability and anonymity. Recent developments in diva.exchange, presented at the FOSDEM 2024 conference, suggests a paradigm shift in how I2P is perceived and utilized.

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FOSDEM 2024: why it is essential to take a close look

FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting) is an annual conference that brings together open-source software enthusiasts, developers, and industry professionals worldwide. FOSDEM 2024 promises to be another exciting event with a wide range of topics and presentations covering the latest innovations in open-source software. One particularly intriguing presentation is titled “DNS for I2P – Distributed Networking without Central Authority” from diva.exchange, offering a look at a distributed approach to networking.

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Diva.Exchange 2023 Results: A Year of Growth and Innovation

In the rapidly evolving world of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, diva.exchange is one of the scientific cornerstones offering users know-how, critical thinking, and a compass within the areas of “privacy”, “crypto and blockchain”, “trading” and “decentralized finance”. As we look ahead to 2024, let’s take a look at the significant achievements and results that have defined diva.exchange over the past year.

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Ethereum’s Home Staking: A Closer Look at the Elitist Efficiency

In this article, we continue our review of existing cryptocurrency mining technologies – Ethereum is next in line.

As the world of blockchain technology continues to evolve, Ethereum (ETH) stands at the forefront with its innovative consensus mechanism known as “home staking.” This concept, exclusive to Ethereum among staking options, involves users locking in a portion of their own ETH assets, transforming their nodes into validators. While celebrated for its energy efficiency, this system raises questions about elitism, akin to corporate workplace dynamics, and introduces potential security and maintenance challenges due to the integration of executable computer code, or smart contracts.

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Energy-to-Coins: miners providing computer power to solve cryptographic puzzles

Back in the 2010s, miners of Bitcoin were the pioneers of the new financial world. Now cryptocurrency mining is a business with its associated costs and projected profits. Let’s see if Bitcoin mining is profitable now or if more profitable alternatives have emerged.

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Diva.exchange at the HackThePromise conference: a new perspective

In a world of constant technological development and advancement, the HackThePromise conference stands as a beacon of innovation, collaboration, and the pursuit of a brighter future. The meetup brings together some of today’s brightest minds in technology, entrepreneurship, and social change to explore, discuss, and predict tomorrow. The diva.exchange association also participated in the conference.

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In anticipation of the HackThePromise conference

With the ever-evolving field of technology and cybersecurity, public events play a key role in bringing together professionals, enthusiasts, and experts to share ideas, showcase innovations, and work together to create a more secure digital future. One such event, meeting for the first time on September 15-17, 2023 in Basel, Switzerland, is the “HackThePromise” conference. This gathering promises to be a center of cutting-edge discussions on cybersecurity, ethical hacking, and the prospects for a safer digital space.

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Benefits of diva.exchange: the technological aspect

Centralized crypto exchanges have long dominated the market, offering users a convenient way to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. However, the traditional centralized model has a number of drawbacks, including security vulnerabilities, the potential for manipulation, and dependence on a single entity. To address these issues, a new wave of crypto exchanges, known as distributed crypto exchanges, have emerged to introduce decentralization and create a more secure and transparent trading environment.

In past articles, we wrote about the innovative nature of the product that diva.exchange is developing – a fully distributed exchange for exchanging any digital assets. How diva.exchange’s project differs from other similar digital asset exchange service providers, where its innovation lies, and what prospects diva.exchange has in the growing and evolving digital asset market.

How diva.exchange solves the problems of centralized crypto exchanges

DIVA is software that each user runs on their local system. There are no DIVA software functions in the cloud. All users together form the DIVA software, creating a fully distributed system.

A brief summary of the key objectives that diva.exchange is working on:

a) uncompromising privacy protection for all users;

b) complete distribution of the system for optimal protection against technical abuse (e.g. asset theft, unauthorized user access);

c) maintenance of trust between system participants only on the basis of proven algorithms;

d) system participants generate revenue through the operation of system components;

e) outstanding user experience due to the user interface, allowing people to achieve their goals conveniently and quickly.

Let’s see what it looks like in practice: concrete steps

1. Protecting the privacy of DIVA-network members and establishing trust within the network

    To ensure that user data and activities in the network cannot be misused, private user data does not leave the local system. The individual local DIVA nodes are linked together by the network and exchange data through the network. The network is fully anonymized, and the traffic is fully and repeatedly encrypted. This network has been given the common name “I2P” (see articles here and here ).

    When a user wants to access the Internet anonymously through I2P, their traffic is routed through a series of intermediate nodes before it reaches its destination.

    Each node in an I2P network knows only the previous and next nodes on the route, ensuring that no node can link the source and destination of the traffic.

    The I2P network uses end-to-end encryption: data sent over the network is encrypted multiple times at the source and finally decrypted only at the destination. As data passes through each node along the route, each node strips off one layer of encryption and only the final node can decrypt the data sent by the source.

    2. Distributed nature of diva.exchange network

    The main and most important advantage of DIVA is that it is a distributed network without a single center.

    The DIVA software uses the specialized blockchain “divachain” which is publicly available. This blockchain uses a variant of the so-called “Byzantine Fault Tolerance” as a consensus algorithm. This consensus algorithm is reliable and energy efficient, but it does not scale very well (in concrete and simplified terms, this means that as the number of participants increases, the performance or speed of the system as a whole decreases). We wrote about this in detail in our last article.

    In addition, the “stake” algorithm was implemented specifically to address trust issues in “divachain”. “Stake” can be translated as “interest in something”. Participants in the system gain a “stake” through active participation in the whole system. The more constructive technical effort an individual system participant contributes (e.g., by keeping its own node online), the greater the “stake” they receive. The “stake” algorithm is part of the “divachain” source code, and of course, every change to the “stake” is stored in the blockchain.

    3. Income opportunity in the diva.exchange network

    When digital assets are exchanged on the diva.exchange network, there may be transaction fees. For example, two users exchange Bitcoin for Tether. To do this, the two users use the DIVA ring infrastructure for the most cost-effective pricing (called “order book” and “order processing” in technical jargon). Thus, both users must be members of the same ring and have a “stake” greater than zero. Using the infrastructure, both users a very small commission will be deducted from their assets during the exchange, and this commission is received by other ring members. Thus, “stake” sooner or later leads to income from the commission of completed transactions within a ring.

    DIVA’s near future

    What the future holds for DIVA and whether it will be able to offer the best solutions to meet the needs of its members. The answer lies in diva.exchange’s ability to solve the problems of existing crypto exchanges, both centralized and decentralized.

    For example, DIVA solves one of the key problems of decentralized exchanges – the scalability problem. To solve the scalability problem, DIVA has implemented a so-called ring structure. Simply put, the participants of the system form ring with a smaller number of participants, let’s say 23 participants. Each of these rings now functions as an independent high-performance network. In general, the network consists of any number of rings that are loosely connected. This could also be understood as a fully distributed system backed with federation technology to improve scalability.

    Participants in the system can simultaneously participate in multiple rings, and join and leave other rings at any time. This mutual penetration, including ”stake” transfer and verification between rings, greatly enhances the competitiveness and resilience of the entire DIVA software.

    Conclusion

    The future of distributed exchanges promises to transform the financial landscape, democratizing finance and giving users unprecedented control over their assets. As technology advances and the DiFi ecosystem grows, exchanges will continue to improve, offering increased security, improved scalability, and seamless cross-chain trading. Diva.exchange has been one of the pioneers in the development and proliferation of distributed exchange technology.

    THIS IS DIVA.EXCHANGE

    The non-profit association diva.exchange, Switzerland, uses a barrier-free and collaborative approach to create free banking technology for everyone. Open source technology ensures the privacy of all participants in the financial system of the future. The blockchain-based system is fully distributed. Everyone can participate in diva.exchange.

    Diva.exchange is committed to the belief that only commercially free technology can reliably protect user privacy.

    Collaboration with the scientific community plays an important role in the development of diva.exchange. The results of diva.exchange research is constantly being validated by academic institutions and publicly presented at specialized conferences.

    LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WORK

    All technical information is available at: https://github.com/diva-exchange/

    I2P beginner’s guide and installation guide:https://www.diva.exchange/en/privacy/introduction-to-i2p-your-own-internet-secure-private-and-free/

    All videos are here: https://odysee.com/@diva.exchange:d/

    Introduction to I2P: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P

    Testnet of diva.exchange: https://testnet.diva.exchange

    CONTACT US

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DigitalValueX

    Mastodon: https://social.diva.exchange/@social

    If you still have questions you can always find us on Telegram: https://t.me/diva_exchange_chat_de (in English, German or Russian)

    Look, the time of distributed assets and tools is coming!

    The cryptocurrency market has been in turmoil for at least a year: hacks and attacks, the theft of colossal sums, incredible spikes in the value of key cryptocurrencies, and scandals, over and over again. Right now, we are watching the rush of the crypto industry giant, the centralized cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

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    What are Centralized Cryptocurrencies Exchanges?

    Cryptocurrencies and digital assets have become part of our lives. They allow us to make fast purchases and payments, invest and save personal finances, choose convenient and privacy-respecting instruments and platforms for transactions. But, like everyone else in our world, cryptocurrencies have a downside. Before starting to use digital currencies, every user is faced with the choice of a stable digital asset, a reliable crypto exchange, and a secure electronic wallet. In our article cycle of active and planned crypto exchanges, we will consider these issues in more detail. 

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    What technologies does diva.exchange use

    Modern people are surrounded by a huge number of technologies. It is not an exaggeration to say that technology is used in every sphere of our life. Of course, technological progress has made everyday life more comfortable. However, despite assurances from manufacturers, not all technological innovations are safe and optimal (or, for example, energy efficient) for use.

    In this article, we will try to explain why diva.exchange uses various developments to create the first of its kind free digital asset exchange technology.

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    FOSDEM’23 – results and new challenges!

    The largest free software conference FOSDEM 2023 is over. FOSDEM is always a good opportunity to discover new things and make new friends by talking with people from the open source community.

    So, now is the time to take stock and assess how the latest diva.exchange developments are in line with modern free software development trends.

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    Working on Continous Improvements of Free Banking Technology

    Now, at the end of 2022, security and privacy issues regarding personal finances have become very actual. Especially when it comes to digital space: banking transactions, electronic payments, the use of cryptocurrencies and their storage – all these attributes of modern life need to be securely protected.

    Digital finance today has a centralized structure, even if we’re talking about crypto exchanges – and that’s the problem. Huge losses of digital assets in 2022 occurred due to the hacking of centralized exchanges or the transfer of assets from one centralized structure to another (for example, when sharing values between different blockchain platforms).

    Research Driven

    The non-commercial research association diva.exchange is supporting open source development. Diva.exchange’s approach to the solution is to support and improve research to better understand the privacy and security issues associated with centralization. Association’s scientific cooperation is ongoing with the University of Applied Science and Arts, Lucerne. Research results are presented at conferences like MoneroKon or FOSDEM.

    Fundamentally Diva is an open source project with free technology. It’s a software solution developed by independent people from around the world. DIVA consists of several technical parts: I2P, divachain, user interface. Divachain is using a “Democratic Byzantine Fault Tolerance” algorithm for consensus.

    DIVA banking technology

    Today, new banking technologies are enabling banks to provide modern technological services. Despite this, banks, like other financial institutions (such as exchanges), will remain centralized structures and are constantly exposed to the risks of hacking or the actions of their unscrupulous employees. DIVA uses I2P as basic technology. The key features of the I2P network are the following:

    • independent network, peer-to-peer connections. All messages travel over several independent nodes;
    • garlic routing protects identities and uses end-to-end encryption;
    • anonymity is part of I2P – without any compromises;
    • no dependence on a centralized structure;
    • open source project.

    The above features of the I2P network make it an excellent tool for secure banking technology. 

    Combining several technologies, namely peer-to-peer networking, democratic byzantine fault tolerance and garlic routing, enables the exchange of any digital (and also financial) value between untrusted peers.

    The basic idea of diva.exchange is that each user creates their own flow of digital assets, which they can allocate at their discretion. The slogan of diva.exchange may well become such – «everyone is his own bank». In such a scheme, the bank is simply an intermediary (for example, in payments, trade or credit). 

    Why is that good? Each user forms its own node and, in fact, its own bank, where the user can also save a fee for transactions that are processed on its node. Each user retains their own transaction fee in the amount of the digital value they choose, that is, charges for digital services (or does not charge). As a result, a decentralized (self-organized) space is created, which is not administered by anyone to exchange values on terms that are determined by the participants themselves. 

    Conclusion

    Diva.exchange is a non-profit research project that aims to create technology for the secure and anonymous exchange of digital values. Through a combination of technologies used and the participation of the scientific community and professional developers from around the world, diva.exchange is developing an open and secure distributed system. The DIVA software solution is based on divachain, which in turn uses I2P technology. DIVA consists of several technical parts: I2P, divachain and the user interface. DIVA works to ensure that end-users are able to make qualified decisions about the level of privacy that is acceptable to them. Of course, without compromising privacy on the network.

    Such a network could create a viable alternative to centralised and highly insecure banking institutions. Follow the updates of diva.exchange, there’s a lot to look forward to!

    This is diva.exchange

    The non-profit association diva.exchange, Switzerland, uses a barrier-free and collaborative approach to create free banking technology for everyone. The open source technology ensures the privacy of all participants in the financial system of the future. The blockchain-based system is fully distributed. Everyone can participate in diva.exchange.

    Diva.exchange is committed to the belief that only commercially free technology can reliably protect user privacy.

    Collaboration with the scientific community plays an important role in the development of diva.exchange. The results of diva.exchange research are constantly being validated by academic institutions and publicly presented at specialized conferences.

    Learn more about our work

    All technical information is available at: https://github.com/diva-exchange/

    I2P beginner’s guide and installation guide: https://www.diva.exchange/en/privacy/introduction-to-i2p-your-own-internet-secure-private-and-free/

    All videos are here: https://odysee.com/@diva.exchange:d/

    Introduction to I2P: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P

    Testnet of diva.exchange: https://testnet.diva.exchange

    Contact us

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DigitalValueX

    Mastodon: https://social.diva.exchange/@social

    If you still have questions you can always find us on Telegram: https://t.me/diva_exchange_chat_de (in English, German or Russian)

    Research results as video: I2P, De-Anonymisation and DIVA

    The research results on “De-anonymisation of I2P network participants” were published at MoneroKon2022 in Lisbon.

    The researchers, Brian Boss and Marco Purtschert, worked together with DIVA.EXCHANGE and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts on the design of attacks on the I2P network. Specifically, this involved the de-anonymisation of participants in the I2P network. The research results of this important study are now being made available to everyone as a video.

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    I2P and the Blockchain with DIVA

    In the past months, DIVA has been continuously and significantly developed: the network layer, based on I2P, and the blockchain (“divachain”) have been improved.

    The external download numbers of the I2P library of DIVA.EXCHANGE as well as the modern and general-purpose blockchain solution “divachain” have increased significantly.

    Recently, a guest lecture by DIVA.EXCHANGE on the topics “Darknet”, “I2P”, “Blockchain” and “Privacy” took place at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

    Free Banking Technology for Everyone

    Developing “free banking technology for everyone” requires continuous research and development. As an association, DIVA.EXCHANGE is making these efforts and developing open systems, software and processes for all. This means that all research and development work is freely accessible to all interested parties.

    Guest lectures and conferences

    DIVA.EXCHANGE is always present at conferences and gives guest lectures. Depending on the topic, also together with researchers or students. Here is an example of a guest lecture (slide set in German) at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in the field of forensics on the topic of “I2P” and “Darknet”.

    State of research and development

    Software development is made available to all in public “repositories”. For DIVA, these are Github and as a mirror also Codeberg. The DIVA.EXCHANGE team is also always particularly happy to receive feedback, tests and of course “stars” or favourites on Github and Codeberg.

    In these “repositories” you will always find the latest versions for download – including technical documentation.

    Weekly download figures of the DIVA packages can be found here or here.

    Where can I ask questions?

    It is best to ask all questions publicly in the Telegram chat of DIVA.EXCHANGE – German or English.

    Further links

    Slide set, guest lecture DIVA.EXCHANGE HSLU, May 20th, 2022 (in German): https://www.diva.exchange/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/hslu-forensic-20220520.html

    Public chat of the DIVA.EXCHANGE community, German and English: https://t.me/diva_exchange_chat_de

    Privacy, simply explained: https://www.diva.exchange/en/privacy/privacy-simply-explained/

    Instructions for beginners in I2P, English: https://github.com/diva-exchange/i2p

    Video channel: https://lbry.tv/@diva.exchange:d

    Introduction in I2P, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P

    DIVA.EXCHANGE Testnet: https://testnet.diva.exchange

    DIVA.EXCHANGE on Github: https://github.com/diva-exchange

    An Introduction to DIVA.EXCHANGE: Transcript of the Lightning Talk at FOSDEM 2021

    Konrad, the lead architect of DIVA, held a 20 minutes lecture at FOSDEM 2021. The lecture gives an overview of the I2P based, fully distributed bank DIVA. More than four times as many participants as usual, namely 33’000, followed this year’s open source conference FOSDEM – exclusively virtual. It was great to be part of this awesome event. It was great to meet people from all over the world and to get feedback and questions that drive DIVA forward. If you are interested in the lecture, read the transcript of the talk here:

    Hello, this talk is about an I2P based, fully distributed bank. So it’s about free banking technology for everyone.

    At DIVA.EXCHANGE we are creating technology enabling storing, transferring and trading any existing or future digital values.

    All we are doing at DIVA.EXCHANGE is licenced under AGPLv3 or Creative Commons. So it’s a truly open source and free technology project.

    Clarity, transparency and openness, that’s really and truly important to DIVA.EXCHANGE.

    The idea of DIVA.EXCHANGE “everyone is his own bank”, leads in theory to complete self-determination over the allocation of all your own digital values. A bank is simply an intermediary (e.g. of payments, trading or loans). So if everyone were their own bank, the network would be the market.

    DIVA.EXCHANGE is an association and a research project, that enables the development of the free banking-, network- and software-technology DIVA.

    With DIVA everyone can become his own bank.

    Weiteresen

    The distributed ledger technology of DIVA.EXCHANGE is Iroha

    For data storage DIVA.EXCHANGE builds on the distributed ledger technology Iroha. Iroha is a blockchain under the roof of the established Hyperledger Foundation. Iroha is very slim and is suitable for small and weak devices (mobile, raspberry, TV) as well as for large server farms. The slim architecture is a huge advantage: because DIVA.EXCHANGE should use as little energy as possible. In fact, Iroha knows no “mining” in the usual, energy-wasting sense. Consensus on the validity of data is created very efficiently. Thus, within the framework of the DIVA.EXCHANGE project, Iroha also contributes to the fact that everyone can be their own bank.

    Weiteresen

    DIVA.EXCHANGE in a nutshell: the Iroha Blockchain

    Any kind of blockchain is just a simple distributed and redundant data storage. No matter how much complexity is imposed on the data memory (e.g. when programs, “smart contracts”, are stored on the blockchain) – it remains data memory. The sensible thing about a blockchain is its distributed data storage and – only with sufficient distribution – the integrity of the data over time (“fallibility”). Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.

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