A Survey on Exotic Signatures for Post-Quantum Blockchain: Challenges & Research Directions

Maxime Buser; Rafael Dowsley; Muhammed F. Esgin; Clémentine Gritti; Shabnam Kasra Kermanshahi; Veronika Kuchta; Jason T. LeGrow; Joseph K. Liu; Raphael C.-W. Phan; Amin Sakzad; Ron Steinfeld; Jiangshan Yu

Paper 2022/1151 Original: eprint.iacr.org/2022/1151 ↗

A Survey on Exotic Signatures for Post-Quantum Blockchain: Challenges & Research Directions

Maxime Buser

Rafael Dowsley

Muhammed F. Esgin

Clémentine Gritti

Shabnam Kasra Kermanshahi

Veronika Kuchta

Jason T. LeGrow

Joseph K. Liu

Raphael C.-W. Phan

Amin Sakzad

Ron Steinfeld

Jiangshan Yu

Abstract

Blockchain technology provides efficient and secure solutions to various online activities by utilizing a wide range of cryptographic tools. In this paper, we survey the existing literature on post-quantum secure digital signatures that possess exotic advanced features and which are crucial cryptographic tools used in the blockchain ecosystem for (i) account management, (ii) consensus efficiency, (iii) empowering scriptless blockchain, and (iv) privacy. The exotic signatures that we particularly focus on in this work are the following: multi-/aggregate, threshold, adaptor, blind and ring signatures. Herein the term exotic refers to signatures with properties which are not just beyond the norm for signatures e.g. unforgeability, but also imbue new forms of functionalities. Our treatment of such exotic signatures includes discussions on existing challenges and future research directions in the post-quantum space. We hope that this article will help to foster further research to make post-quantum cryptography more accessible so that blockchain systems can be made ready in advance of the approaching quantum threats.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Public-key cryptography
Publication info: Preprint.
History: 2022-12-06: last updated; 2022-09-05: published
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2022/1151
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2022/1151,
      author = {Maxime Buser and Rafael Dowsley and Muhammed F. Esgin and Clémentine Gritti and Shabnam Kasra Kermanshahi and Veronika Kuchta and Jason T. LeGrow and Joseph K. Liu and Raphael C.-W. Phan and Amin Sakzad and Ron Steinfeld and Jiangshan Yu},
      title = {A Survey on Exotic Signatures for Post-Quantum Blockchain: Challenges & Research Directions},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2022/1151},
      year = {2022},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/1151}
}