ZK-gossip for lightning channel announcements

Rusty's approach to decentralizing denial-of-service (DOS) protection mechanisms in blockchain technology presents a compelling alternative by distancing these protective measures from the blockchain itself and adopting a more ambiguous stance on capacity declarations. This methodology seems particularly logical within contexts that do not employ Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), as it mandates the disclosure of some unspent transaction output (UTXO) while permitting the specific UTXO associated with a channel to remain undisclosed. This strategy, however, appears to be less effective in environments that utilize ZKPs. In such scenarios, leveraging the actual channel UTXO for staking purposes does not necessitate its revelation, thereby preserving its confidentiality.

Furthermore, this proposal maintains the current trust model predominantly intact. Despite the innovation in how UTXOs are managed and revealed, each channel's security and integrity continue to be underpinned by a solitary UTXO. The significant change lies in the concealment of the exact UTXO being used, rather than in the fundamental structure of trust or how it is established within the system.