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Risks and Tradeoffs

This system is not safe by default. It is safe by design.

Ghost Protocol makes specific choices that increase security at the cost of convenience and recoverability. These are intentional tradeoffs, not oversights.

Permanent Loss Is Possible​

If you lose your secret, your commitment is lost forever.

There is no recovery mechanism. No administrator can help you. No backup exists in the system. The commitment will remain on-chain, permanently unrevealed and permanently inaccessible.

This is by design. If there were a recovery mechanism, that mechanism would be a backdoor. Anyone who could recover your commitment could also access it without your consent.

Mitigation: Back up your secrets securely. Store them offline. Use multiple independent backups. Treat your secrets like physical cash—if you lose them, they are gone.

No Recovery, No Reversals​

Once a reveal happens, it cannot be undone.

If you reveal to the wrong address, the value is gone. If you reveal at the wrong time, you cannot take it back. If you reveal accidentally, there is no undo button.

This is by design. If reveals could be reversed, the finality guarantee would be broken. Someone could always claim a reveal was accidental and demand reversal.

Mitigation: Double-check everything before revealing. Use interfaces that require confirmation. Start with small amounts until you are comfortable with the system.

No Administrators​

There are no administrators who can intervene on your behalf.

No one can freeze a commitment. No one can reverse a transaction. No one can upgrade the protocol to give you special access. The rules are enforced by smart contracts, and the smart contracts do not make exceptions.

This is by design. If administrators could intervene, they could be bribed, coerced, or compromised. The absence of administrators is the absence of a single point of failure.

Mitigation: Understand that you are your own administrator. If you make a mistake, you bear the consequences. This is the price of sovereignty.

User Responsibility Is Required​

Ghost Protocol assumes you know what you are doing.

The system will let you:

  • Lose your secrets
  • Reveal to wrong addresses
  • Commit value you cannot track
  • Make mistakes with no recourse

The system will not:

  • Warn you about every risk
  • Prevent obviously bad actions
  • Hold your hand through complex operations
  • Save you from yourself

This is by design. A system that protects users from themselves must understand what users want. Understanding what users want requires surveillance. Ghost Protocol does not surveil.

Mitigation: Learn how the system works before using it with significant value. Read the documentation. Ask questions. Practice with small amounts.

Cryptographic Assumptions​

Ghost Protocol's security depends on cryptographic assumptions:

  • Hash function security: The Poseidon hash function must be preimage-resistant and collision-resistant.
  • Proof soundness: The zk-SNARK system must be sound—fake proofs should be impossible to generate.
  • Trusted setup: The initial parameters must be generated correctly and the toxic waste must be destroyed.

If any of these assumptions fail, the system's security guarantees may be compromised.

Mitigation: These are standard assumptions used by many cryptographic systems. They have been studied extensively and are considered secure by the cryptographic community. However, cryptography can be broken. Nothing is guaranteed forever.

Smart Contract Risk​

The smart contracts implementing Ghost Protocol may contain bugs.

All contracts are audited and open source, but audits are not guarantees. A subtle bug could allow an attacker to:

  • Forge proofs
  • Double-spend
  • Lock funds
  • Violate privacy

Mitigation: Only use official, audited contracts. Start with small amounts. Wait for battle-testing before committing significant value.

This Is Not for Everyone​

Ghost Protocol is appropriate for people who:

  • Understand the technology
  • Accept responsibility for their own security
  • Value privacy enough to accept the tradeoffs
  • Can manage their own secrets reliably

Ghost Protocol is not appropriate for people who:

  • Need recovery mechanisms
  • Expect customer support
  • Want someone else to fix their mistakes
  • Cannot securely manage cryptographic secrets

This is not a value judgment. Different people have different needs. Ghost Protocol serves a specific need and is honest about what it does not provide.

The risks described here are features, not bugs. They are the cost of the guarantees Ghost Protocol provides. If you are not comfortable with these tradeoffs, this system may not be right for you.