On the 12th of July, Status announced the creation of a speedy BLS signature implementation for web3 users. The BLS signature is a digital signature that was created as a result of the combined works of Boneh, Lynn, and Shacham.
With the aid of the BLS signatures, web3 users will be able to unlock integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation. Blockchain transactions and activity require integrity, or proof that transactions have not been tampered with. In the case of Status which serves as a messaging platform, users need to ensure that their messages have not been manipulated.
The BLS Signature
Authentication is another feature that is vital in cryptographic protocols and the BLS signatures help achieve this. Authentication proves that a user is who he/she claims to be. Similarly, non-repudiation guarantees the validity of ownership. Non-repudiation is a key feature of the web3 ecosystem and BLS signatures are integral in helping users achieve this.
BLS signatures have been used by multiple layer two protocols like Algorand, Tezos, Filecoin, and Zcash. Notably, layer one protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum use ECDSA signatures, not BLS.
The major advantage BLS digital signatures have over ECDSA is that they can be aggregated in constant space. This implies that BLS signatures take less space when compiled and provide the same guarantee as original signatures.
Additionally, the constant space characteristic of BLS signatures implies that the protocol takes the same amount of space to verify one vote and ten thousand votes. This is an advantage when the protocol is used for bulk transactions, but it makes validation slower for single transactions.
Status has now devised a solution to scale BLS validations. The web3 protocol has implemented one of the world’s fastest BLS signature implementations, making bulk and unit transactions on the blockchain faster. Protocols using the BLS validation means will probably embrace Status’ innovation in the coming weeks.
