168 karma · joined October 31, 2023
Personally I don't really get their multi hop when you connect on a predefined port on an ingress server to get redirected to egress in a different region. Easy guessable for a powerful observer.
Anyway any VPN is only an encryption tool, not an anonymizer.
It is definitely possible to make each side of transaction a different record, but you have to link them, so there would be another ID for a transaction to group later. It is always there in any case, but you are either joining while getting a balance or grouping while reconstructing transactions for reports. So, it depends on the primary load: lots of transactions to register or lots of reports to provide. Both are used.
In a bank ledger when a loan appears on a checking account, both increased. Loan on the left, checking on the right. DT Loan → CT Checking. Loan is an asset for a bank, Clients money is a liability.
On a client's balance sheet everything is mirrored. Checking is an asset, Loan is a liability.
Queries are quite simple. Volumes are problematic. In a big institution you would find several ledgers included in the general ledger by totals. You just don't need all the details in one place.
Destination is the key. You can't just arbitrarily change an account balance using a transaction in a ledger. There should be a destination and this the second record.
This what GAAP, IFRS and even all the Basels for banks describe in strict detail. But every accounting system and practice is based on double entry and not just keeps the balance sheet consistent but adds a meaning to every transaction using predefined types of accounts.
In the end of the day you provide a full stack or just do UI/marketing. This is a good old vertical integration dilemma.
This is not an e2e battle, this is the hunt for channel owners. Frankly it is too easy to make a "local chat" and sell stuff. Durov has the data and this is his weakness and strength. Platform is viral but there are too much for one hands.