BLS signatures on BLS12-381
Boneh-Lynn-Shacham signatures over the BLS12-381 pairing-friendly curve, used where many signatures must aggregate into one, such as validator attestations. Broken by Shor's algorithm on a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, which recovers the private key from the public key.
- Quantum status
- Broken by Shor's algorithm
- Standard
- draft-irtf-cfrg-bls-signature, draft
- Family
- pairing
- Also known as
- BLS
Rated chains using it
- 0G Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. The genesis file in 0G's official mainnet release, Aristotle v1.0.8 (0g-home/0gchaind-home/config/genesis.json, chain ID 0G-mainnet-aristotle), sets consensus.params.validator.pub_key_types to ["bls12_381"], so validators sign CometBFT consensus votes with BLS12-381 keys. The documentation's 48-byte public keys and 96-byte signatures match. The consensus client's source is not public, and genesis sets initial parameters that an upgrade could change. Source code or release
- Conflux Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Proof-of-stake committee members sign finality votes with BLS keys, through Conflux's fork of the bls-signatures crate, which builds on BLS12-381. Source code or release
- Dash Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Masternode operator keys and long-living masternode quorum threshold signatures, which sign ChainLocks and InstantSend locks. They finalise blocks and lock inputs; they do not authorise spends. Specification or proposal
- Ethereum Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Statement or write-up
- Filecoin Mainnet, opt-in
Account signatures. f3 accounts. The address embeds the BLS public key itself. Specification or proposal
- Filecoin Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. A storage provider's worker key, which must be BLS, signs its blocks and election tickets, and signs F3 finality votes, which are aggregated with BLS. A mainnet node returned a current F3 finality certificate on 22 October 2026. Specification or proposal
- Filecoin Mainnet, mandatory
Randomness. The drand quicknet beacon, a BLS12-381 threshold signature with signatures on G1, supplies Filecoin's randomness. Specification or proposal
- Gnosis Chain Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. The Gnosis Beacon Chain follows Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus specifications with different presets; validators stake GNO through the deposit contract. Specification or proposal
- Internet Computer Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Consensus, response certification and cross-subnet messaging. Specification or proposal
- Internet Computer Mainnet, mandatory
Randomness. Specification or proposal
- Kaia Mainnet, mandatory
Randomness. KIP-114 randomReveal: the proposer signs the block number with its BLS12-381 key from the KIP-113 registry. Active since the Randao hard fork on 4 March 2024. Specification or proposal
- Kite Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Each of Kite's twelve L1 validators is registered on the P-Chain with a BLS public key and proof of possession; ACP-77 uses these keys for the aggregate signatures on Warp messages that change an L1's validator set. Read on-chain
- Monad Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Votes and timeouts, aggregated into certificates. Specification or proposal
- MultiversX Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Block-signing keys are generated on the mcl BLS12-381 suite. Validators sign each block in two rounds and at least two thirds of the shares are aggregated into one signature that makes the block final. Source code or release
- Tezos Mainnet, opt-in
Account signatures. tz4 addresses. Specification or proposal
- Tezos Mainnet, opt-in
Validator consensus. A baker's consensus key may be a tz4 key, used to produce blocks and sign consensus operations. Specification or proposal
- Theta Network Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Guardian nodes seal blocks with BLS signatures on BLS12-381, aggregated into one signature per block. Elite edge node votes are aggregated BLS signatures as well. Source code or release
- Vaulta Mainnet, mandatory
Validator consensus. Savanna finality: the active finalizer policy lists 21 finalizers with BLS12-381 public keys and a threshold of 15. Activated with the SAVANNA protocol feature at block 396,090,329 on 25 September 2024. Read on-chain
Sources
- BLS Signatures (Internet-Draft) , IRTF Crypto Forum Research Group. Accessed 19 October 2026.
Published beside the Hardy Score and not an input to it. How each chain is scored is set out in the methodology.