Litecoin releases long-awaited MWEB upgrade

After almost 2 years of R&D, Litecoin has finally launched the MimbleWimble protocol. This protocol will greatly improve network interchangeability and scalability. The highly anticipated pre-trial “MWEB” is live on Litecoin’s Github. This is the most significant upgrade in the 10-year development of the project as MWEB improves scalability and provides an alternative to Litecoin.

What is MWEB and what does it offer?

Mimblewimble is a privacy-focused decentralized protocol that uses a new way of structuring and storing blockchain transactions. Complete anonymity of transactions on Mimblewimble, unlike the pseudonyms of other cryptocurrencies, which often reveal three confidential information such as the sender’s address, the amount of cryptocurrency sent and the address of the recipients. Mimblewimble does not reveal any of the above three secrets or information. By allowing users to secure their transaction funds, MWEB enhances Litecoin’s fungibility and privacy.

David Burkett, lead developer at MWEB, believes the upgrade will make Litecoin one of the top performing currencies in the world.

“MWEB is an important next step in Litecoin development. The optional security that MWEB offers provides users with remarkable and essential protection for small everyday transactions, salaries or even home purchases,” said Burkett.

Litecoin creator Charlie Lee added:

“The planning, development and activation of MWEB is now a true community effort, beginning with years of donations from Litecoin supporters around the world and culminating in dedication and attention to detail from project lead David Burkett. In addition, key contributors such as Andrew Yang helped provide the original Litecoin improvement proposal, essential code reviews from Hector Chu, and countless others who reviewed, advised, and ran testnet nodes. This project is a true testament to the resilience and ever-evolving Litecoin community.”

Once implemented, users can expect improved interchangeability with unparalleled protection of user information. It will also improve scalability and minimize the amount of data stored on the blockchain ledger.

How does MWEB help protect user data?

On the vast majority of blockchains, the amount sent between wallets is publicly visible, so anyone can see how much is being sent, received, and held. This poses a problem for the currency, especially when confidentiality is required. For example, if a company decides to pay some of its employees in cryptocurrency or an individual wants to get paid in crypto. If the user checks the address of the company or the individual, he will know exactly the income. This raises issues of employee confidentiality and potential ethical issues for the organization. In addition, the alternative function of MWEB also provides a level of security to protect user information or cryptocurrency depositors.

So far, cryptocurrencies lack these basic security measures. Meanwhile, traditional banking systems have long offered them and largely grant individuals privacy regarding their finances. Litecoin’s MWEB upgrade solves that. MWEB is optional for all users who wish to “opt-in” at their own discretion as needed.

Mimblewimble (MW) is a protocol created by the anonymous “Tom Elvis Judesor” and named after a spell in Harry Potter. The upgrade includes various technologies, including but not limited to “Secure Transactions” (transaction amounts are not disclosed) and “CoinJoin” (“coin shuffler”). Some of these concepts were developed and conceived by Bitcoin contributors such as Gregory Maxwell, Adam Back, and Andrew Poelstra. On the other hand, the “EB” in “MWEB” stands for Extension Blocks, a 2013 proposal by Bitcoin developer Johnson Lau. Extension Blocks can be viewed as “contiguous chains” that run alongside the main chain of Litecoin. The throughput on both chains is exactly the same and there are bridges back and forth.

With MWEB, LTC becomes the most cash-like exchangeable cryptocurrency in the space – and secures its place as one of the most widely used digital payment instruments. First of all, it’s anonymous. Unlike most other blockchain systems, which are largely pseudonymous in that they have public addresses that can identify the sender and recipient of a transaction, Mimblewimble does not have the ability to track transaction history. Thanks to the protocol design, once enabled, user anonymity is difficult to remove. In the battle for supremacy, Litecoin is positioning itself as a frontrunner in the areas of privacy, exchangeability, and scalability.

The Litecoin network continues to grow at an impressive rate with over 1,000,000 addresses in the last week.

At the time of writing, LTC is trading at $110, up more than 4% in the last 24 hours and almost flat in 7 days.

LTC 4 hour price chart | Source: Trade View

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