Monero Ring Attack: Recreating Zero Mixin Transaction Effect

Abstract

Monero is one of the privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies employing CryptoNote protocol. The privacy features in Monero are provided by cryptographic techniques such as linkable ring signature and one-time public key. Recent studies show that the majority of Monero inputs are traceable prior to mandatory RingCT transaction. After the RingCT was implemented, the problems were mitigated. We propose a novel attack to reduce the anonymity of Monero transactions or even to fully deanonymise the inputs. The proposed protocol can be launched in RingCT protocol and enables multiple attackers to collaborate without trusting each other. The attack scheme can be planted in the existing Monero services without extra fees and without putting the users' money at risk.