<p>Yes, DarkSend is one specific implementation of CoinJoin, and CoinJoin can implemented directly on top of Bitcoin without a modification of the protocol. So no fork is necessary.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.darkcoin.io/downloads/DarkcoinWhitepaper.pdf" rel="nofollow" title="Darkcoin paper">Darkcoin Whitepaper</a> does not 
mention anything that would deviate from the CoinJoin idea and thus require a modification of Bitcoin. (However, the paper is not very detailed and I did not look at the source code, so I cannot provide an answer with 100% certainty.)</p>

<p>CoinJoin has been <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=279249.0" rel="nofollow" title="CoinJoin">originally proposed</a> by Gregory Maxwell. The main advantage of CoinJoin to avoid that coins can be stolen while mixing them with other users. It does not change Bitcoin, it runs on top of it, i.e., it only provides a special way to create perfectly valid Bitcoin transactions that can be submitted to the network. Of course, users need a special client to participate in the protocol. For users with normal clients, the created transaction is just a normal Bitcoin transaction that appears in the blockchain.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-22T16:20:26.497Z
2014-04-22T16:20:26.497Z
real-or-random
<p>Can Darkcoin's Darksend (I think this is called coinjoin, but I am unsure) be implemented on any cryptocurrency (without a fork), or must the feature be present when the coin is first released?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-29T23:38:33.653Z
Can you perhaps explain what "Darksend" is? I looked at http://www.darkcoin.io/ and there is a PDF that explains *how* to enable Darksend, but nothing about *what* it is or what it does.
Greg Hewgill
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-30T00:37:08.417Z
This doesn't directly answer your question, but note that there is [Zerocoin](http://zerocoin.org/), a similar protocol designed for Bitcoin.
Tony
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-30T02:47:50.450Z
Read the darksend documentation http://darkcoin.io/downloads/DarkSendDocumentation.pdf && whitepaper http://darkcoin.io/downloads/DarkcoinWhitepaper.pdf

Note, darksend is in early beta stage, actually beta V5
Aurigae
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-30T18:59:11.320Z
@Tony Would implementing ZeroCoin require a fork of the Bitcoin Blockchain, or could wallets be released that support this protocol while still being compatible with everyone who doesn't upgrade their wallet? I would guess that the answer to my original question is the same.
DJG
<altcoin><coinjoin>
Can Darkcoin's Darksend be implemented on top of Bitcoin?
DJG
# Can Darkcoin's Darksend be implemented on top of Bitcoin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-03-29)

Can Darkcoin's Darksend (I think this is called coinjoin, but I am unsure) be implemented on any cryptocurrency (without a fork), or must the feature be present when the coin is first released?

**Tags:** altcoin, coinjoin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can you perhaps explain what "Darksend" is? I looked at http://www.darkcoin.io/ and there is a PDF that explains *how* to enable Darksend, but nothing about *what* it is or what it does.  
> **username_2**: This doesn't directly answer your question, but note that there is [Zerocoin](http://zerocoin.org/), a similar protocol designed for Bitcoin.  
> **username_3**: Read the darksend documentation http://darkcoin.io/downloads/DarkSendDocumentation.pdf && whitepaper http://darkcoin.io/downloads/DarkcoinWhitepaper.pdf  Note, darksend is in early beta stage, actually beta V5  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Would implementing ZeroCoin require a fork of the Bitcoin Blockchain, or could wallets be released that support this protocol while still being compatible with everyone who doesn't upgrade their wallet? I would guess that the answer to my original question is the same.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-04-22. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Yes, DarkSend is one specific implementation of CoinJoin, and CoinJoin can implemented directly on top of Bitcoin without a modification of the protocol. So no fork is necessary.

The [Darkcoin Whitepaper](http://www.darkcoin.io/downloads/DarkcoinWhitepaper.pdf "Darkcoin paper") does not
mention anything that would deviate from the CoinJoin idea and thus require a modification of Bitcoin. (However, the paper is not very detailed and I did not look at the source code, so I cannot provide an answer with 100% certainty.)

CoinJoin has been [originally proposed](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=279249.0 "CoinJoin") by Gregory Maxwell. The main advantage of CoinJoin to avoid that coins can be stolen while mixing them with other users. It does not change Bitcoin, it runs on top of it, i.e., it only provides a special way to create perfectly valid Bitcoin transactions that can be submitted to the network. Of course, users need a special client to participate in the protocol. For users with normal clients, the created transaction is just a normal Bitcoin transaction that appears in the blockchain.


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