Displaying Deterministic Username for a given Token

[Kaz-ookid]

Context

Throughout the app, we visually refer to users by their PoP Token, which is not user experience friendly at all. As a reference, a PoP token looks like this : ZSCjLTAu1HIUA9i6ooaoSIIdN58L8ZI90FAGKzYxAfA=. For example, when trying to send coins to someone we are given a list of all the tokens of the LAO members. It is impractical to find a given token. Other uses are in the chirps feed and other Social tabs, or in the list of attendees of a Roll Call.

At the end of this Issue will be given screenshots of the current app.

The Idea

FE1 and FE2 need to find a more user friendly way of referring to different users, and the main idea would be a username generated from the token itself. The username generation should be deterministic and collision free, to avoid duplicate and remain consistent through every device and systems. We also do not let the users the choice for their username, since it must reflect their given token deterministically, and also this could imply an identity leak if the user chooses an explicit username.

Implementation Ideas and Details

The first step of this implementation should be :

• define the username format
• creating a deterministic generator, replicable in FE1 and FE2
• define the locations where we want the usernames to display, instead of a token hash
• refactor both systems to display the usernames in the wanted locations

The username generator should not be the priority for this first step, however, the found solution is not excluded to be the best and final one. A nicely refactored code enables to change the username generator implementation easily.

A second step could be needed, and would include :

• discuss the username generator (entropy, collision freeness, deterministicness) and implement a better one if needed
• make the username reversible, meaning we can find the token hash from the username deterministically. This means we can enter usernames instead of tokens hash, to refer to public keys that we have never seen. For example, when entering a witness public key, we could just enter the username.

What has already been done

FE1 and FE2 have already implemented a common username generator. The usernames are a concatenation of two mnemonics words, and a 4 digits number. The number corresponds to the 4 first digits in a token's hash, starting from the left

Example:

token : d_xeXEsurEnyWOp04mrrMxC3m4cS-3jK_9_Aw-UYfww=
mnemonics words generated form the hash : spoon, issue
first 4 digits : 0434
final username : spoonissue0434

Annex : Screenshots