Frontier research
for digital asset security
Dfns Labs is a team of cryptographers and security engineers driving research and innovation for digital asset security. We collaborate with academia and we open source most of our work.
The leading research team for applied MPC protocols
Enable developers and users to own digital assets with confidence. We develop security layers, providing error margins and protection against mistakes that would otherwise be irreparable.
Home to the latest innovations in key management and wallet security
MPC Performance
Most MPC protocols are slow because they involve many steps. Latency, scalability, and availability have never been a focus. However, as more apps start requesting both high security and performance, we face a new challenge. Our goal is to enhance MPC protocols to support high-volume, high-speed use without ever breaking.
Key Decentralization
Decentralizing key management is essential for neutral governance and secure digital assets. However, organizations may vary in their approach due to operational and regulatory factors. To meet these needs while ensuring security, we need MPC protocols that are flexible, crypto-agile, and easy to deploy in secure environments.
Trust Minimization
Blockchains try to solve trust issues but often fail because they rely on single points of failure and trusted components like coordinators and authentication systems. We address these key and signature related vulnerabilities by exploring verifiability via remote attestations, tamper-proof logs, and secure hardware among other techniques.
MPC-HSM Compatibility
Running MPC protocols in FIPS 140-2 and 140-3 certified HSM is challenging, especially in resource-limited settings like satellites. Coordination and synchronization issues in MPC add to the complexity. Our goal is to ensure MPC can run safely and efficiently in any secure environment, including HSMs, CloudHSMs, TEEs, and U2F devices.
MPC Standardization
MPC protocols can be hard to differentiate and trust as there are so many of them. We are contributing to NIST to create new standards. We've also donated our open-source libraries to Hyperledger and Linux Foundations for trust and legal clearance. Last, we're developing FIPS-140 certified MPC libraries, audited by external labs.
Post-Quantum TSS
Dfns Labs is developing quantum-resistant threshold signatures to protect elliptic curve signature schemes from foreseeable quantum computing threats. We aim to lead in the emerging Post-Quantum TSS field. Our new protocol is supported by NIST and funded by a €2M research grant from Bpifrance.
Explore and contribute
to ongoing research projects
CGGMP21
Rust implementation of the latest MPC protocol designed by Gennaro, Goldfeder and Canetti.
STARK curve
STARK curve added to CGGMP21 protocol by solving its complex hashing requirements.
Round-optimal fully secure DKG
New, faster DKG protocol that we'll first test in an honest-majority ECDSA setting.
FROST with adaptive security
Adaptive security of a three-round threshold Schnorr signature scheme, called Sparkle.
FROST with key-independent preprocessing
DKG in the discrete-logarithm setting
Independent DKG and TSS standardization for modularity; simulations for clear DKG security.
Threshold EdDSA submissions of FROST and (maybe) Sparkle
Introduction of two threshold signature submissions: FROST and Sparkle schemes.
Standard protocols for threshold ECDSA
Threshold cryptography deployment scenarios, namely for TSS in key management networks.
KU23
TSS accountability
TSS verifiability using tracing keys that allow signers to account for their actions.
TSS parameter determination
AI-based wallet intrusion detection and prevention system (aka “WIDPS”)
SoK on DKG
SoK on TSS
Hardened key derivations with MPC
Formal verification
Key repair and refresh improvements
Satellite-hosted DKG
Satellite-based signing using TSS has be done. Next step is to perform DKG from a satellite.
FIPS 140-2 and -3 compatible MPC
Quantum resistant TSS
Decentralized recovery
Signature thresholdization
The latest posts by Dfns Labs
Lockness Is Alive
Introducing Lockness, a Dfns-led initiative that brings together state-of-the-art public key protocols, digital signatures and data storage technology for the first time under LF Decentralized Trust, formerly known as the Hyperledger Foundation.
What’s So Hard About Hashing Data?
Hashing is a fundamental tool in cryptography. In this article, we'll explore an advanced application: hashing structured data, with practical examples in Rust.
Fully Secure DKG
Our new DKG protocol, developed at Dfns Labs, has been accepted to CRYPTO 2024, the leading conference on cryptography.
Dfns Labs is always looking to build new partnerships
Let's push the limits of web3 wallet security.
Together.
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