RESEARCH ARTICLE
RingCT and GHOST: How Confidential Transactions Work
Ring Confidential Transactions, Pedersen Commitments, and range proofs.
Editorial metadata · E-E-A-T
Author
The GHOST Archive Editorial Team
Editor
The GHOST Archive Editorial Team
Published
2024-01-01
Updated
2026-10-08
Last verified
2026-10-08
Direct answer
RingCT (Ring Confidential Transactions) combines ring signatures with hidden amounts so the network can verify a transaction is valid without seeing who sent it or how much was sent.
What RingCT hides
Hides
- ›Sender association
- ›Transaction amount
Does not magically guarantee
- ›Perfect operational anonymity
- ›Network anonymity by itself
- ›Protection from compromised endpoints
- ›Immunity to every statistical attack
How it works
- ›Ring signatures hide which prior output is the real input among decoys.
- ›Pedersen Commitments hide amounts while proving inputs equal outputs.
- ›Bulletproofs prove committed amounts are non-negative without revealing them.
- ›MLSAG signs across the RingCT inputs to authorize spending.
Sources
- S-02Revised GHOST Whitepaper (June 2020)PRIMARY2020-06 · whitepaper · supports: Particl-derived architecture, RingCT, stealth addresses, Bulletproofs, Dandelion++https://github.com/ghost-coin
- S-03Updated GHOST Privacy Whitepaper (December 2024)PRIMARY2024-12 · whitepaper · supports: Current privacy stack, tokenomics, Ghost Veterans, governancehttps://github.com/ghost-coin