js-libp2p-biton

biton is a peer-to-peer network built around swarms — groups of peers that store encrypted files and relay requests through one another. biton swarms interconnect in a global network that provides plausible deniability, meaning that adversaries cannot be sure about who originally made a request. In this way, biton can be used for evading information controls and for building community networks around local data and services.

During the hackathon we devised a mixing strategy based on local-first trust relationships; that is connections with friends and with users who are interested in the same content and services. Our aim was to leverage existing long-lived connections (e.g. among nodes that distribute an IPFS website) into an overlay network that provides some anonymity properties. Along those lines we reviewed related work on mix networks over sparse topologies, and identified mechanisms to defend against intersection and other attacks by malicious peers. This project turned out to be mainly research-oriented, but we are planning to release a libp2p transport module in the following months.