An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application
ZK-SNARKs (Zero Knowledge Succinct Noninteractive ARguments of Knowledge) are one of the most promising new applied cryptography tools: proofs allow anyone to prove a property about some data, without revealing that data. Largely spurred by the adoption of cryptographic primitives in blockchain syst...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/147434 |
| _version_ | 1811078956871319552 |
|---|---|
| author | Gupta, Aayush |
| author2 | Vaikuntanathan, Vinod |
| author_facet | Vaikuntanathan, Vinod Gupta, Aayush |
| author_sort | Gupta, Aayush |
| collection | MIT |
| description | ZK-SNARKs (Zero Knowledge Succinct Noninteractive ARguments of Knowledge) are one of the most promising new applied cryptography tools: proofs allow anyone to prove a property about some data, without revealing that data. Largely spurred by the adoption of cryptographic primitives in blockchain systems, ZK-SNARKs are rapidly becoming computationally practical in real-world settings, shown by i.e. tornado.cash and rollups. These have enabled ideation for new identity applications based on anonymous proof-of-ownership. One of the primary technologies that would enable the jump from existing apps to such systems is the development of deterministic nullifiers.
Nullifiers are used as a public commitment to a specific anonymous account, to forbid actions like double spending, or allow a consistent identity between anonymous actions. We identify a new deterministic algorithm that both uniquely identifies the keypair and keeps the account identity secret. In this work, we will define the full construction, and prove uniqueness, secrecy, and existential unforgeability. We will then demonstrate a proof of concept of the nullifier.
To help further zero knowledge identity systems, we additionally explore a construction for zero knowledge proof of email ownership. We show how relying on existing mail server infrastructure can allow us to bootstrap new anonymity sets and prove subsets of emails in zero knowledge. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:07:54Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/147434 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:07:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1474342023-01-20T03:41:31Z An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application Gupta, Aayush Vaikuntanathan, Vinod Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science ZK-SNARKs (Zero Knowledge Succinct Noninteractive ARguments of Knowledge) are one of the most promising new applied cryptography tools: proofs allow anyone to prove a property about some data, without revealing that data. Largely spurred by the adoption of cryptographic primitives in blockchain systems, ZK-SNARKs are rapidly becoming computationally practical in real-world settings, shown by i.e. tornado.cash and rollups. These have enabled ideation for new identity applications based on anonymous proof-of-ownership. One of the primary technologies that would enable the jump from existing apps to such systems is the development of deterministic nullifiers. Nullifiers are used as a public commitment to a specific anonymous account, to forbid actions like double spending, or allow a consistent identity between anonymous actions. We identify a new deterministic algorithm that both uniquely identifies the keypair and keeps the account identity secret. In this work, we will define the full construction, and prove uniqueness, secrecy, and existential unforgeability. We will then demonstrate a proof of concept of the nullifier. To help further zero knowledge identity systems, we additionally explore a construction for zero knowledge proof of email ownership. We show how relying on existing mail server infrastructure can allow us to bootstrap new anonymity sets and prove subsets of emails in zero knowledge. M.Eng. 2023-01-19T19:50:09Z 2023-01-19T19:50:09Z 2022-09 2022-09-16T20:24:03.792Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/147434 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Gupta, Aayush An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application |
| title | An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application |
| title_full | An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application |
| title_fullStr | An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application |
| title_full_unstemmed | An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application |
| title_short | An ECDSA Nullifier Scheme and a Proof of Identity Application |
| title_sort | ecdsa nullifier scheme and a proof of identity application |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/147434 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT guptaaayush anecdsanullifierschemeandaproofofidentityapplication AT guptaaayush ecdsanullifierschemeandaproofofidentityapplication |