LibraryPrivacy2017Design paperCorpus record
Dandelion: Redesigning the Bitcoin Network for Anonymity
Dandelion. Shaileshh Bojja Venkatakrishnan, Giulia Fanti and Pramod Viswanath.
Forward the transaction along a line, in a stem phase, and only then broadcast it, in a fluff phase, so the first flood is not centred on the sender.
A reading of the public document. Not a copy of it, and not a claim about a later network that reused the name.
A wallet that claims network privacy should say whether the first hop is a flood or a stem.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 3
Code
Source, repository, and what is actually hosted
- arXiv:1701.04439https://arxiv.org/pdf/1701.04439
- The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
- Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
- Add to a reading list
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
First-announcement of a transaction is a strong hint about who sent it, because the sender's neighbours see it first.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The rule
Forward the transaction along a line, in a stem phase, and only then broadcast it, in a fluff phase, so the first flood is not centred on the sender.
Claim 03 · Paper model
How it is put together
The stem is a path, not a flood. The fluff is the ordinary gossip. Anonymity is about the shape of the first hop, not about hiding amounts.
Claim 04 · Paper model
Where the claim stops
Dandelion is not a mixnet and not a hidden amount.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
Observation
What the study says
First-announcement of a transaction is a strong hint about who sent it, because the sender's neighbours see it first.
Model
What has to hold
Dandelion is not a mixnet and not a hidden amount.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Is the first relay a flood?
02 The rule
Observation
What the study says
Forward the transaction along a line, in a stem phase, and only then broadcast it, in a fluff phase, so the first flood is not centred on the sender.
Model
What has to hold
Later Dandelion++ changes the details. Cite which one.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Is the first relay a flood?
03 How it is put together
Observation
What the study says
The stem is a path, not a flood. The fluff is the ordinary gossip. Anonymity is about the shape of the first hop, not about hiding amounts.
Model
What has to hold
A spy who runs many nodes still has a statistical advantage.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Is the first relay a flood?
04 Where the claim stops
Observation
What the study says
Dandelion is not a mixnet and not a hidden amount.
Model
What has to hold
Dandelion is not a mixnet and not a hidden amount.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Is the first relay a flood?
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Pick a line of relays.
- 02Pass the transaction along that line without broadcasting.
- 03At a random hop, switch to flood.
- 04Is the first relay a flood?
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
Why it is still on the desk
The cut
A wallet that claims network privacy should say whether the first hop is a flood or a stem.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
After the text
The cut
Bitcoin never adopted it as a consensus rule. Some clients experimented. The paper is about the peer graph, which is not in the block header.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
Later Dandelion++ changes the details. Cite which one.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
Dandelion is not a mixnet and not a hidden amount.
Model · Not re-measured
Later Dandelion++ changes the details. Cite which one.
Model · Not re-measured
A spy who runs many nodes still has a statistical advantage.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
Bitcoin never adopted it as a consensus rule. Some clients experimented. The paper is about the peer graph, which is not in the block header.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
First-announcement of a transaction is a strong hint about who sent it, because the sender's neighbours see it first.
What the design proposes
- The stem is a path, not a flood.
- The fluff is the ordinary gossip.
- Anonymity is about the shape of the first hop, not about hiding amounts.
How the mechanism is specified
- Pick a line of relays.
- Pass the transaction along that line without broadcasting.
- At a random hop, switch to flood.
What this page does not treat as proven
- Dandelion is not a mixnet and not a hidden amount.
- Later Dandelion++ changes the details. Cite which one.
- A spy who runs many nodes still has a statistical advantage.
Why the desk still reads it
A wallet that claims network privacy should say whether the first hop is a flood or a stem.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Stem
- A private line of forwards before any broadcast.
- Fluff
- The later flood that actually spreads the transaction.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.