x.com/bubbleboi/status/2109751406588751888
1 correction found
Ed25519/secp256k hashing algorithms
Ed25519 and secp256k1 are not hashing algorithms. Ed25519 is a digital-signature scheme, and secp256k1 is an elliptic curve used for signatures and related crypto operations.
Full reasoning
The post labels Ed25519/secp256k as “hashing algorithms,” but standard references describe them differently:
- Ed25519 is an instance of EdDSA, the Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm. RFC 8032’s title and abstract explicitly identify Ed25519 as part of a digital-signature scheme, not a hash algorithm.
- secp256k1 is an elliptic curve, not a hash function. The Bitcoin Core
libsecp256k1project describes itself as a library for digital signatures and other cryptographic primitives on the secp256k1 elliptic curve.
Hash functions are things like SHA-256 or SHA-512. While Ed25519 and secp256k1-based systems may internally use hash functions, the terms themselves do not name hashing algorithms. So calling them “hashing algorithms” is technically incorrect.
2 sources
- RFC 8032: Edwards-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA)
This document describes elliptic curve signature scheme Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA)... This document specifies parameters resulting in the HashEdDSA variants Ed25519ph and Ed448ph and the PureEdDSA variants Ed25519 and Ed448.
- bitcoin-core/secp256k1 README
High-performance high-assurance C library for digital signatures and other cryptographic primitives on the secp256k1 elliptic curve.