The Dangers of Removing tx_extra in Monero
Advocating for the complete removal of tx_extra in Monero could be dangerous. Learn why it's better to limit tx_extra to 255 bytes and why it's not recommended to encode data in outputs instead.
Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈
VP Operations @CakeWallet. r/CryptoCurrency mod @CCMOD_. Board @MAGICGrants. Personal acct. Threema EWS4TXW7; Matrix sgp:https://t.co/d9JyrAfd7a
-
If you advocate for the complete removal of tx_extra in #Monero, be careful what you wish for.
— Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈 (@JEhrenhofer) March 21, 2023
Doing so completely would either 1) kill DEXs like @THORChain and @SeraiDEX as we understand them today, or 2) force those DEXs to encode data using a method that is burdensome. -
I don't want unnecessary data on the Monero blockchain, but it's sensible to allow a small external identifier string so that Monero transactions can play nicely with other systems. Allowing this opens up huge opportunities at very little cost.
— Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈 (@JEhrenhofer) March 21, 2023 -
Further, I don't want these DEXs to encode data in outputs instead of tx_extra. This makes things worse for those devs, for the DEX users, and for everyone who runs a Monero node. It also results in worse privacy for normal Monero users than if tx_extra was used instead.
— Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈 (@JEhrenhofer) March 21, 2023 -
My recommendation is to limit tx_extra to ~255 bytes. I don't have a strong opinion on whether to encrypt it right now.
— Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈 (@JEhrenhofer) March 21, 2023 -
You'll hear a lot of reactionary language on tx_extra because people are heated about NFTs right now.
— Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈 (@JEhrenhofer) March 21, 2023
Don't fall for it.
I want to limit tx_extra like anyone, but I don't want to kill Monero's interoperability in the process. -
Limiting tx_extra by consensus in the next network upgrade to a small ~255 byte string is the best proposal I have seen so far.
— Justin Ehrenhofer 🏳️🌈 (@JEhrenhofer) March 21, 2023