Why is zether needed in Quorum if transactions are private between nodes?

Question

As you may know JPMorgan has released zether which allows to make anonymous transactions in Quorum using zkp technology.

But I have a question regarding why Quorum needs it.

Since transactions between nodes can only be seen by the sender and the addresses specified using privateFor why does Quorum even need zkp ?

Is there anything I am missing ?

Rob Hitchens · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-02 18:02:22Z

1

Private transactions update private states. If Alice sent Eth to Bob privately and Bob tried to spend it, how would anyone know Bob received it?

If no one can see what is happening with private transactions, how can private transactions work with Ether?

Hope it helps.

answered Jun 2, 2019 at 18:02

Rob Hitchens

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I am asking about the difference in using private transactions VS using the anonymous zether released bt JPMorgan's Quorum. The payload is not visible to other participants of the network using private transactions so why should someone use zero-knowledge proof?
– strangethingspy
Jun 2, 2019 at 18:49
"Private, anonymous transactions" are not compatible with public, transparent Ether. Quorum's implementation is based on geth. It's not a way to embue the public network with features that are unique to Quorum. Zether tackles this challenge.
– Rob Hitchens
Jun 2, 2019 at 21:42

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