Decentralized Accountable Private Threshold Signatures Enhance System Trust ∞ Research

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Briefing

This research addresses the inherent limitations of centralized threshold signature schemes, which typically assume honest participants and static tracing mechanisms. The foundational breakthrough lies in the introduction of DeTAPS, a novel framework for Decentralized, Threshold, dynamically Accountable and Private Signatures. DeTAPS integrates Dynamic Threshold Public-Key Encryption for notarized tracing, non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs for public verifiability, and Key-Aggregate Searchable Encryption to securely activate notaries. This new theory offers a pathway to constructing highly secure, private, and auditable decentralized systems, fundamentally advancing the architecture of trust in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

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Context

Prior to this work, threshold signature schemes like TAPS offered a hybrid of privacy and accountability, allowing a combiner to merge signature shares without revealing the signing quorum. These earlier models were constrained by their centralized structure, reliance on honest combiners and tracers, and static, unnotarized tracing processes. This created a theoretical limitation where the very mechanisms intended to provide accountability could become single points of failure or compromise privacy if the central entities were malicious.

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Analysis

DeTAPS introduces a new cryptographic primitive that fundamentally redefines threshold signatures by decentralizing both the signature combining and tracing processes. It achieves this through a multi-faceted design ∞ Dynamic Threshold Public-Key Encryption (DTPKE) is employed to dynamically notarize the tracing, ensuring the process itself is verifiable and resistant to manipulation. Furthermore, non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs (NIZKPs) are utilized to provide public verifiability of these notaries, allowing anyone to confirm the integrity of the tracing without revealing sensitive information.

The Key-Aggregate Searchable Encryption (KASE) bridges these components, securely activating the notaries. This approach differs from previous methods by moving away from centralized trust assumptions towards a robust, verifiable, and dynamic decentralized model.

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Parameters

Core Concept ∞ Decentralized, Threshold, dynamically Accountable and Private Signature (DeTAPS)
Underlying Cryptography ∞ Dynamic Threshold Public-Key Encryption (DTPKE), Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proofs (NIZKPs), Key-Aggregate Searchable Encryption (KASE)
Key Authors ∞ Meng Li, Mingwei Zhang, Qing Wang, Hanni Ding, Weizhi Meng, Liehuang Zhu, Zijian Zhang, Xiaodong Lin
Previous Work Addressed ∞ TAPS (Threshold Accountable Private Signatures)
Prototyping Environment ∞ SGX2 and Ethereum

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Outlook

The DeTAPS framework opens new avenues for constructing highly resilient and privacy-preserving decentralized applications. Future research could explore optimizing the performance of the non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs within resource-constrained environments or extending DeTAPS to support more complex policy-based accountability structures. This theory has the potential to unlock real-world applications in decentralized finance, secure multi-party computation, and robust blockchain governance, where verifiable accountability and privacy are paramount.

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Verdict

DeTAPS establishes a foundational shift in cryptographic accountability, enabling truly decentralized, privacy-preserving, and auditable operations essential for future blockchain ecosystems.

Signal Acquired from ∞ arXiv.org