chap01-base.tex

% !TEX root = ../zeth-protocol-specification.tex

\chapter{Preliminaries}\label{chap:preliminaries}

\zeth~is a protocol which enables private transactions on \ethereum~\cite{ethyellowpaper}. It is a modification of the Decentralized Anonymous Payment (DAP) system \zerocash~\cite{sasson2014zerocash}. The design described in~\cite{zethpaper} presents the mechanisms by which \zerocash~can be used on \ethereum, and argues that the information leakages of the solution are well defined and controlled. This document, however, serves as a specification of the protocol and provides security fixes and optimizations from the first proof of concept release of the protocol~\cite{zethsproken}.

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This document assumes familiarity with blockchain and \ethereum~in particular. It does not, in any way, aim at replacing the Ethereum yellow paper~\cite{ethyellowpaper}. The reader is strongly advised to read about \ethereum~before delving into this specification document.

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The key words \MUST, \MUSTNOT, \SHOULD, \SHOULDNOT, \MAY, and \RECOMMENDED~in this document are to be interpreted as described in~\cite{rfc2119} when they appear in \ALLCAPS{}. These words may also appear in this document in lower case as plain English words, absent their normative meanings.

\input{./chapters/chap01-sec01.tex} % Data types
\input{./chapters/chap01-sec02.tex} % Ethereum
\input{./chapters/chap01-sec03.tex} % zk-SNARKs
\input{./chapters/chap01-sec04.tex} % DAP
\input{./chapters/chap01-sec05.tex} % Security Assumptions and Defs