Avalanche BLS Keys
What are they, and why does my Minipool need them?
Last updated
What are they, and why does my Minipool need them?
Last updated
BLS, or , is a digital signature scheme that uses keys for secure signing and verification. Unlike traditional signatures, BLS allows combining numerous signatures into a single, compact one, enabling efficient verification of multiple signers simultaneously. This efficient and secure approach makes BLS keys valuable in blockchain systems, decentralized identity solutions, and multi-party computations, where managing numerous signatures or verifications is crucial.
is rolling out a new feature called . This new feature allows cross-chain communication without any additional trust assumptions apart from the existing validator set, making cross-chain transfers more secure. In order to verify these messages, Avalanche is requiring validator nodes to in order to sign Warp messages.
Node providers will be required to provide their BLS public keys in order to continue staking.
If you created your Minipool via the One-Click launcher with ooNodz, then there is nothing you need to do! ooNodz will handle the BLS public keys and provide them to GoGoPool smart contracts, so your node will continue to validate the network with no interruptions.
If you are hosting your node with a node provider, you must ask them for your node’s BLS Public Keys. They should be available somewhere in the provider’s node dashboard.
If you are hosting a node yourself, you can use to get your keys.
It should return something like this.
The publicKey is your BLS Public Key, and proofOfPossession is your BLS Signature. Avalanche uses your public key as the signing message.
If you are a Gnosis Safe user, you must remain on the signing key page until a threshold of signers also signs, then it will complete. If you do not do this, your signature will never be verified, and your keys won't get updated on your Minipool, which will result being kicked off the network, as well as slashing!