---
title: "RSA-PSS: which blockchains use it"
url: "https://hardyindex.com/algorithms/rsa-pss"
---

# RSA-PSS

The RSA signature scheme with the Probabilistic Signature Scheme encoding, whose security rests on the difficulty of factoring a large integer. It is specified in RFC 8017, and NIST's FIPS 186-5 also approves RSASSA-PSS for digital signatures. Arweave wallets use it with 4096-bit keys. Broken by Shor's algorithm on a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, which factors the modulus and recovers the private key from the public key, whatever the key size.

- **Quantum status:** Broken by Shor's algorithm on a cryptographically relevant quantum computer.
- **Standard:** RFC 8017 (IETF, final).
- **Family:** integer factorisation.
- **Also known as:** RSA, RSASSA-PSS.

## Rated chains using it

- [Arweave](https://hardyindex.com/chains/arweave.md): account signatures, mainnet, default. RSA-PSS with 4096-bit keys and public exponent 65537: the node sets DEFAULT_KEY_TYPE to RSA with exponent 65537 and RSA_PRIV_KEY_SZ to 4096. It is the default wallet scheme and the one the original wallets use. Every RSA transaction carries the full modulus in its owner field. Source (source code or release): https://github.com/ArweaveTeam/arweave/blob/master/apps/arweave/include/ar.hrl
- [Arweave](https://hardyindex.com/chains/arweave.md): validator consensus, mainnet, default. Blocks are signed with the miner's reward key, which the node verifies as RSA or ECDSA in ar_block.erl; the current block read from arweave.net on 22 October 2026, at height 2,026,624, carried a 512-byte RSA reward key. Source (read on-chain): https://arweave.net/block/current

## Sources

- [RFC 8017: PKCS #1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.2](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8017), IETF. Accessed 22 October 2026.
- [FIPS 186-5: Digital Signature Standard (DSS)](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/FIPS/NIST.FIPS.186-5.pdf), NIST. Accessed 22 October 2026.