What Is a ‘Decoy’ in the Context of a Ring Signature?
A decoy, also known as a 'mixin,' is a public key belonging to another user on the blockchain that is included in a Ring Signature transaction. The decoy keys are mixed with the true spender's key to form the ring.
Their purpose is to mask the actual spending key, making the transaction appear equally likely to have been signed by any of the ring members. The selection of decoys is typically random from past transaction outputs.
Glossar
Decoy Keys
Key ⎊ Within cryptocurrency derivatives, options trading, and financial engineering, decoy keys represent strategically deployed, seemingly innocuous transaction identifiers or order parameters designed to obfuscate genuine trading activity and mislead market participants regarding underlying intent.
Ring Signature
Anonymity ⎊ Ring signatures, within the context of cryptocurrency and derivatives, enable a participant to sign a transaction on behalf of a group without revealing their individual identity.