One of the coolest upcoming feature on Bitshares is STEALTH transactions. At the moment the Bitshares blockchain is fully transparent and works with a named account that is easy to use. The blockchain as well as individual accounts can be explored using one of many Bitshares explorers such as CryptoFresh.com, or Bitshares built in explorer or the upcoming Bitshares-explorer.
All this is great but Bitshares is going one step ahead and adding the capability of blind and stealth trasnactions.
Confidential Transactions
Bitshares already supports blinded accounts and confidential transactions. They have implemented this ability in the CLI wallet. You can start a CLI wallet and start sending transfers to and from blind accounts. Ok, so that means I need to run a full node? Well, no. You can always connect to a public node like the ones that you connect to using your light wallet or online wallet. But the cli wallet by definition means you will need to run your Linux shell or Windows command prompt. That requires a bit of techi-ness, and frankly people don't want to experiment when it involves money.
The good news is, STEALTH transactions might be coming to your online/light wallet so you can use it with a Graphical User Interface (GUI). @kencode and the @agorise team is working hard to make this happen.
What are STEALTH transactions
So what are STEALTH transactions? @kencode describes STEALTH transactions as "zero-knowledge super-secure transactions on the Bitshares platform ('unknown' sent 'n' 'unknown' to 'unknown')". That means you can send transfers from your account to a secret account that cannot be viewed on Cryptofresh or any explorer. Then you can do a couple of secret transactions that are completely invisible and take out the money in some completely new account without anyone knowing what has happened. Isn't that super cool?! You don't know whose sending, who its going to, nor the amount or which coin was sent.
This is going to be one powerful feature of Bitshares. With features like this, Bitshares will be leading with the best technology and capabilities out there. It already had the fastest blockchain, with transaction capacity and low fees, it will now also allow complete privacy without having to use a separate slower blockchain. All this with the same awesome capabilities of the existing lightening fast BTS blockchain.
What has the STEALTH token got to do with this?
You will not need the STEALTH token to make any STEALTH transactions, however, these transactions will have a separate additional fee for each STEALTH transaction. This fee will probably be decided later. The STEALTH token has its value in that its a Fee Backed Asset (FBA). 60% fees from all STEALTH transactions will be distributed to STEALTH holders, and there are only 1 million STEALTH token in circulation. So if you hold STEALTH tokens, you will be constantly getting returns based on how much you hold. Since transaction fees are in BTS, you will get paid in BTS as well. Double benefits if BTS goes to the moon.
Remember, there are only 1 million STEALTH tokens!
US citizens, please note you might want to consider if the SEC will categorize this as a security. Do your own research! Do the Howey Test
But can I buy STEALTH now?
Yup! Its going at about $5 in the STEALTH/BTS market (at about 90 BTS). Remember it isn't official yet. Development is going on, and once it completes it will have to get voted it. Who knows where the price will go once its voted in and becomes official!
Also @kencode has been generously doing giveaways of the STEALTH token, so kudos to you @kencode
Edit: @agorise just posted The Agorise Report
Spread the word, vote up and reSTEEM!
Please note there might be inaccuracies in this article. Do your own research and do not use any of this as financial advice.