LTO Network uses SHA256 to create cryptographic hashes. The BLAKE2b and SHA256 hashing algorithms are used for creating public/secret key pairs.

The ED25519 scheme is applied to create and verify signatures. X25519 with Salsa20 + Poly1305 is used for asymmetric encryption.

Base58 is used to create a string from an array of bytes.

If you want to create an application, you should find the implementation of these algorithms in your programming language.

Encoding

Base58

Arrays of bytes (like strings and hashes) in the project are encoded by Base58 algorithm with Bitcoin alphabet.

When encoding a hash, use the raw bytes and not the hexadecimal notation.

Note that encoding is not encryption. You can decode a base58 encoded message without the need of any type of key.

Examples

• The string hello world is encoded as StV1DL6CwTryKyV.

• SHA256 hash e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 is encoded as

  GKot5hBsd81kMupNCXHaqbhv3huEbxAFMLnpcX2hniwn

Hashing

SHA256

In general Live Contracts uses the 256-bit version of SHA-2 for encoding. SHA-2 is one of the most common hashing algorithms which means it's available for almost all platforms and programming languages.

BLAKE2b + SHA256

When secure hashes are required, a combination of BLAKE2b and SHA256 are used.

Signing

ED25519 is used for all the signatures in the project.

The process is as follows: create the message for signing, then create a signature from this message using the private key.

Validation of signature requires the signature, the message and the public key.

Encryption

There are 3 algorithms involved for asymmetric encryption:

• Key exchange: X25519

• Encryption: XSalsa20 stream cipher

• Authentication: Poly1305 MAC

This is a public key encryption schema, where the public key is used to encrypt data and the private key is used to decrypt data.

X25519 is sometimes referred to as Curve25519.