Litecoin's MimbleWimble privacy upgrade is ready to roll on March 15

The Litecoin MimbleWimble (MW) lead developer, David Burkett, has given a progress update on the project. He mentioned improvements to do with stealth addresses, as well as enhancements to the wallet interface.

But crucially, Burkett puts a date of March 15 for when he can hand it over to the community for review.

January Progress:

Improved how we handle stealth addresses thanks to the "MingleJingle" proposal (https://t.co/m4iBLZsJg9)

Cleaned up tx history UI and other wallet improvements.

Initial code will be complete and ready for review March 15th!🚀

Details: https://t.co/MZdvpCGhrL

— @[email protected] (@DavidBurkett38) February 2, 2021

Litecoin founder Charlie Lee first mentioned the MW upgrade back in early 2019. He argued that MW is needed for Litecoin to become sound money, which was always the use case he was aiming for.

“Litecoin (LTC) is decentralised money, free from censorship and open to all. Send low cost private, secure, borderless payments to anyone, anytime, anywhere.”

What is MimbleWimble?

MimbleWimble is a blockchain design that allows for more privacy and better network scalability. The design differences center on a compact history, making data easier and quicker to process and verify.

However, what sets MW apart is the encryption of the amounts of inputs and outputs on a block. The block can still be verified and confirmed. But, to an outsider, it looks like one large transaction, as opposed to a combination of several.

The result is that there are no identifiable or reusable addresses, as individual inputs cannot be linked with their respective outputs. Meaning only the transacting parties can view the transaction data.

Litecoin as sound money

Even though Litecoin is a Bitcoin fork, it differentiates itself by being a faster and cheaper version. Some would argue that Litecoin is a truer version of Bitcoin, per a literal interpretation of Satoshi Nakamoto’s electronic money concept.

All the same, Lee points out that most cryptocurrencies, Litecoin included, lack the full yardstick of what sound money constitutes. His chief concern is a lack of fungibility. This refers to the interchangeability of tokens, as fungibility implies equal value across the board.

“In January of last year [2019], I tweeted something saying fungibility is the only property of sound money that is missing from Bitcoin and Litecoin. And now that the scaling debate is behind us, the next paragon will be on fungibility and privacy. And I really believe that. “

But the problem is, most cryptocurrency tokens are not indistinguishable from one another. Every Litecoin has a sequence of history transactions unique to that Litecoin. This could potentially affect its value, for example, by having an illicit history.

For Litecoin to become the payment system it strives to be, fungibility is the next step, and that reality is fast approaching.