The largest free software conference FOSDEM 2023 is over. FOSDEM is always a good opportunity to discover new things and make new friends by talking with people from the open source community.

So, now is the time to take stock and assess how the latest diva.exchange developments are in line with modern free software development trends.

I2P – the key to creating open source projects

I2P is one of the basic technologies around which the development of free internet projects is built. The I2P network is a fully encrypted peer-to-peer network. The observer cannot see the content, source, or purpose of a message travelling through the network. No one can see where the traffic is coming from, where it’s going or what the content is. In addition, I2P transports provide resistance to detection and blocking by censors.

Because the network relies on peer-to-peer nodes to route traffic, location-based locking is a problem that grows with the network. Every router on the network is involved in ensuring the anonymity of the network. Except where it would be unsafe, everyone is involved in sending and receiving network traffic.

The network provides an application layer for services, applications and network management.

I2P uses cryptography to achieve the various properties of the tunnels it builds and the communications it transports. I2P tunnels use transports, such as NTCP2 and SSU2, to hide traffic.  Since I2P is addressed cryptographically, I2P network addresses are self-authenticated and belong only to the user who created them.

DNS for I2P: a Distributed Network without Central Authority

The first presentation of diva.exchange was about using DNS for I2P.

I2P is a fully distributed network without a central authority. Today, the I2P network has several «transition services and registries» that act as a kind of DNS. It is obviously a central component and therefore incompatible with the idea of true distribution.

Developments have been tested in the scientific community. Students at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland, showed great interest in creating a prototype: the students used https://github.com/diva-exchange/diva-dockerized to get their test environment up and running.

More about the presentation in the video: DIVA at FOSDEM 2023: DNS for I2P (odysee.com)

Javascript for Privacy-Protecting Peer-to-Peer Applications

The second presentation of diva.exchange focused on the use of Javascript for Privacy-Protecting Peer-to-Peer Applications.

I2P is one of the most reliable, fully private, well researched peer-to-peer networks.  There was no supported or modern JavaScript/TypeScript library for I2P. Divachain (blockchain = a fully and truly distributed level of storage designed for I2P) needs a modern library to access the I2P network. “SAM” is an excellent interface for communicating with a local I2P router to do things like:

• Creating new local destinations
• Sending messages over the I2P network.

More about the presentation in the video: FOSDEM 2023 – Javascript for Privacy-Protecting Peer-to-Peer Applications

I2P: Major Changes of the Peer-to-Peer Network

The third presentation of diva.exchange focused on key changes in the Peer-to-Peer network I2P.

I2P supports TCP and UDP at the transport level. Simplified: TCP is called NTCP2 (2018), UDP is called SSU (2005) and SSU2 (2022):

• UDP/SSU was upgraded and now called SSU2
• All this is based on the noise protocol (noiseprotocol.org) and borrowed from WireGuard VPN and QUIC (RFC 9000, 9001 and 9002)
• Cryptography: Curve25519, RFC 8439.

SSU2 is the next-generation UDP transport protocol within I2P.  UDP has great performance advantages in truly and fully distributed networks. Thus, the main changes concern UDP:

• Update in the field of cryptography
• Increased efficiency: processor, bandwidth, etc.
• Improve censorship of resistance
• DoS-Attack-Resistance Improvement (UDP is vulnerable).

More about the presentation in the video: FOSDEM 2023 – I2P: Major Changes of the Peer-to-Peer Network

Conclusion

Diva.exchange continues its work on creating secure and anonymous digital value sharing technology. Many challenges and discoveries lie ahead.

Connect with diva.exchange today and support free software, networks and applications!

This is diva.exchange

The non-profit association diva.exchange, Switzerland, uses a barrier-free and collaborative approach to create free banking technology for everyone. The open source technology ensures the privacy of all participants in the financial system of the future. The blockchain-based system is fully distributed. Everyone can participate in diva.exchange.

Diva.exchange is committed to the belief that only commercially free technology can reliably protect user privacy.

Collaboration with the scientific community plays an important role in the development of diva.exchange. The results of diva.exchange research are constantly being validated by academic institutions and publicly presented at specialized conferences.

Learn more about our work

All technical information is available at: https://github.com/diva-exchange/

I2P beginner’s guide and installation guide: https://www.diva.exchange/en/privacy/introduction-to-i2p-your-own-internet-secure-private-and-free/

All videos are here: https://odysee.com/@diva.exchange:d/

Introduction to I2P: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P

Testnet of diva.exchange: https://testnet.diva.exchange

Contact us

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DigitalValueX

Mastodon: https://social.diva.exchange/@social

If you still have questions you can always find us on Telegram: https://t.me/diva_exchange_chat_de (in English, German or Russian)