Summary

In this Meanwhile at Cryptium Labs article we explore one of the features that our team is exploring: adding support for the pairing-equipped elliptic curve BLS12–381 to Tezos.

First, in order to provide broader context to the Tezos community, we shared a background on zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge (zkPoK) schemes, with particular focus on one of the variants: SNARKs, with examples of technologies that leverage them in live or test networks. Second, we recapitulated the current state of zkPoKs and elliptic curve cryptography on Tezos, which does not currently support any pairing-equipped elliptic curves at the base layer. Third, we navigated through the motivations and background on the specific BLS12–381 pairing-equipped elliptic curve choice. Finally, we described some of the known applications that this curve could enable on Tezos.

In order to facilitate more community involvement in the protocol development process, we would like to use this article and the Meanwhile series as research synthesis and discussion reference, in addition to opening this topic for discussion on multiple platforms. To discuss the topic of adding support for the pairing-equipped elliptic curve BLS12–381 to Tezos, you are encouraged to participate on Tezos Agora

Before engaging in discussion, I recommend reading the full article.