Research note 04
Refreshing old notes
Spending a note into a fresh one of equal value stops age from being a signal.
Old notes form a thin, distinctive tail. A note that has sat untouched for months is easier to single out when it finally moves.
The leak
Most notes are young, because most activity is recent. A note that sat for many months belongs to a thin tail, and when it moves, the set of notes it could be shrinks sharply.
The fix being considered
A wallet can refresh notes now and then: a private transfer to itself that produces a new note of the same value. The new note looks like any recent one.
Refreshes cost a transfer fee and gas, so wallets would do it rarely and at random, ideally through a relayer.
Status
This is research, not a shipped feature. Whether and how it lands in the pool will be written up in the roadmap and the parameters page.
Next note
Counting the real crowd