The Mynth network operates using validators known as Lizards, which are responsible for verifying the truthfulness of statements submitted to the network. These verified statements are referred to as fact statements for network operations. Each Lizard maintains a public-private key pair, enabling secure operations within the network.

Key ConceptsCopied!

Intents

Mynth allows users to submit intents to blockchains. An intent represents a desire coupled with specific instructions for an action, such as:

• Swapping BTC on Bitcoin to ETH on Ethereum at a specified exchange rate.

• Transferring 100 USDC on Solana to another wallet on BNB Smart Chain.

Each intent is serialized in Protobuf format and encoded using Base64. The resulting text serves as an identifier for the intent and can be converted into a blockchain address by leveraging Lizard factions.

What Are Lizard Factions?

A Lizard faction is a group of x Lizards that work collaboratively as a collective validator. These factions are formed through cryptographic random selection and provide redundancy, ensuring that the network operates smoothly, even if some members are unavailable.

Formation of Lizard FactionsCopied!

1. Faction Key Generation:

   • A Lizard faction generates a unique public-private key pair, referred to as the faction key.

   • A faction identifier is derived by XOR-ing the public keys of all x Lizards in the faction.

   • Each Lizard combines their individual private key with the faction identifier, hashing the result using BLAKE3 to produce their individual faction private key.

   • This private key is never shared with other faction members, remaining confidential to the individual Lizard.

2. Private Key Sharing:

   • Sharding Individual Keys: Each Lizard divides their individual faction private key into smaller pieces, called shards. These shards are distributed among faction members, ensuring that no single member receives enough shards to reconstruct the original key.

   • Collaborative Computation: Using the distributed shards, the faction collaboratively computes a combined faction private key without any member needing to reveal their full private key.

   • Secure Storage: Once computed, the combined faction private key is securely stored by each Lizard in their private storage. This key is critical for faction operations and must remain protected.

3. Faction Public Key Storage:

   • A faction public key is derived from the combined faction private key and recorded on-chain on the Cardano blockchain.

Minting a Lizard Faction Token

To officially record a faction public key on-chain, a Lizard faction token must be minted. Minting requires:

• Signatures from all x Lizards in the faction.

• Verification of Lizard eligibility through a cryptographic selection process:

  1. The first UTXO in the transaction is identified.

  2. Its transaction ID and index are hashed using BLAKE2b to generate a seed.

  3. The Lizard’s public key hash is concatenated with the seed to derive a pseudo-random number.

  4. If the number falls below a set threshold, the Lizard is accepted into the faction.

This threshold is designed to select, on average, x Lizards out of every 400 participants. By relying on cryptographic random selection, the process ensures that factions are formed without any human or Lizard influence. This prevents operators from intentionally selecting their faction members, which could lead to collusion or centralization. For example, if a human controlled multiple Lizards, they might attempt to group only their own Lizards into a single faction. The randomization mechanism effectively thwarts such attempts, ensuring that factions remain distributed and independent to preserve the network's decentralization and integrity.

Role of Lizard Factions in ValidationCopied!

The primary purpose of Lizard factions is to provide redundancy during the validation of intents. This redundancy enhances the network’s reliability and ensures seamless operation:

• If one Lizard in the faction is unavailable, any of the remaining four can step in to validate on behalf of the group.

• For an intent to be validated, at least one Lizard from each of x randomly selected factions must confirm that the intent’s conditions are met.

This decentralized, collective approach ensures robustness by allowing the network to maintain functionality even when individual Lizards experience downtime. Redundancy improves overall efficiency by distributing the workload across multiple members, reducing the risk of bottlenecks. Moreover, it enhances scalability by enabling the system to handle larger numbers of intents without compromising reliability, as tasks can be seamlessly picked up by other members within a faction or across the network.

Lizards and Faction MembershipCopied!

Lizards can join multiple factions at the same time. Being a member of more factions increases the likelihood of being selected during the verification process, which can lead to more rewards. This incentivizes Lizards to actively participate in as many factions as possible.

Each faction operates with a fixed term limit of 7 days, starting from when its faction token is minted. After this term expires, the faction becomes ineligible for random selection in intent creation. This term limit ensures that factions dependent on potentially decommissioned or inactive Lizards are regularly phased out, maintaining an active and efficient network.

Dissolving Faction MembershipCopied!

Lizards within the faction can decide to prematurely expire the faction. For example, Lizard operators within the faction may decide to do this to exile a particular misbehaving Lizard. Or if a Lizard is retiring or scheduling maintenance, they may close all the factions they’re part of. To dissolve a faction, any of the Lizards part of the faction must approve the burning of the faction token. Lizards also have the ability to blacklist particular Lizards, preventing them from joining factions with Lizards in the blacklist. Because Lizards are rewarded higher for having wide co-operation – the more factions a Lizard is in, the greater reward potential they have – Lizard operators are encouraged to have a very short blacklist. Lizard operators may only consider blacklisting other Lizards if that Lizard has proven to misbehave; this is because a misbehaving Lizard results in the whole faction being punished by missing reward slots.

Security and IndependenceCopied!

The formation and operation of Lizard factions are designed to maximize security and uphold the network’s integrity:

• Cryptographic Randomness: Factions are formed through a random selection process, ensuring that no entity can influence the grouping of Lizards.

• Mathematical Improbability of Collusion: The probability of any malicious actors successfully colluding within a faction is exceedingly low, thanks to the randomization mechanism and the large pool of Lizards.

The Mynth network ensures security and scalability by harnessing the combined efforts of randomly selected, independent Lizards. This approach prevents the centralization of power and safeguards against collusion, maintaining a robust and trustworthy decentralized system. By emphasizing cryptographic randomness and redundancy, Mynth creates a framework where intents are resilient to downtime and resistant to malicious interference, thereby preserving the integrity and reliability of intent validation across the network.