The Distributed Ledger Technology used by Lethean is called CryptoNote, created by the CryptoNote Foundation; It enables confidential distributed ledgers.

This technology is a battle-tested codebase in production by many projects. The main project many will know is Monero.

Monero is a project that aims to provide “Privacy”; however, this is a misleading sentiment in regards to the code; for that community, it is an apt sentiment, one not shared with Lethean as we are a Confidentiality project; I imagine Monero started this as a marketing effort from developers not in tune with the nuances of the English language.

This post explains why this enterprise-friendly technology is not a Privacy technology and is a Confidentiality technology, a sentiment agreed upon by the original CryptoNote inventors.

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Users act in private, using CryptoNote Confidentiality. They do not work in Private using non-existent intrinsic Privacy.

When you analyse the code, the results and thus, core qualities of CryptoNote, the system always requires Private keys to transact, encrypt and obfuscate the data held on the DLT; this creates a fingerprint on the DLT, and all transactions and users are known cryptographically.

In a CryptoNote system, when a transaction is submitted to the network’s memory pool for minting onto the DLT, the system uses the user’s private key to limit access to this transactional data, unlike Bitcoin and other public ledgers; this enables access only to the users that have the rights over that data and stops chain analysis dead in its tracks.

The simple fact is that CryptoNote is a Confidential ledger and, in my opinion, one of the only DLT technologies worth Enterprise attention; using this DLT, we can create secure networking typologies and more; Much more, think of our network as the foundation of a much larger system that will revolutionise B2B operations.

Now, let’s delve into some word definition’s so you can see precisely why CryptoNote is not a privacy chain and never has been.

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Privacy – the state of being alone and not watched or interrupted by other people – Oxford Dictionary Definition

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Confidentiality – meant to be kept secret and not told to or shared with other people – Oxford Dictionary Definition

For CryptoNote to be Private, there needs to exist a state where one’s actions are forever hidden from the public record; for this to live in the CryptoNote ecosystem, there MUST be no private key; However, like all cryptocurrencies, each user is given a unique key (a series of words) to seed the cryptographic functionality of an encrypted wallet file; if a user loses this file at any point they can reinstate the same wallet with the seed key; making CryptoNote a confidential network.

Suppose the key is found or “guessed” in the future with Quantum computing; very likely. In that case, the entire history is exposed, meaning a CryptoNote wallet, while encrypted and obfuscated in the public record, can be observed failing the definition of Privacy, falling back to Confidentiality.

Encryption keys provide entropy for complex obscurity, otherwise known as “encryption” in reality, encryption is only mathematically VERY hard and unlikely to be decoded to today’s computational prowess… a modern example of encryption being broken because of computing power exceeding the expected abilities is DES and Triple DES.

Hopefully, as a reader, you can see why this is not being pedantic with words but highlighting a gross misrepresentation of blockchain technology with massive potential for interpersonal and enterprise-grade usage.

With a Confidential chain and a team who understand how to implement this to enhance today’s computational systems, CryptoNote is the technology enterprise should and will gravitate towards. With Lethean, a business can operate co-operatively without leaking any business Intelligence to rivals. With this foundation of Confidentiality, we will build upon this a system that no Public ledger can and will deliver.