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2025 Cryptography Roadmap

Team Lit

• 4 min read
2025 Cryptography Roadmap

Unifying The Web, One Signature at a Time

Cryptographic advancements remain at the heart of bridging fragmented networks and platforms across blockchains and the web. Lit Protocol, a decentralized key management and private compute network, equips developers with the tools they need to securely manage secrets and build autonomous agents and applications. Current support for foundational cryptographic primitives—including BLS and ECDSA signatures—Lit has empowered developers to create apps that bridge the gap between web2 and web3. As we close out 2024, this update highlights Lit Protocol’s current cryptographic capabilities and previews the exciting roadmap of signature types and supported curves coming in 2025. 

Supported Signature Types and Curves in 2024

This year, Lit Protocol’s cryptographic capabilities have empowered developers to build applications in a wide range of high-growth categories. With foundational support for BLS (Boneh-Lynn-Shacham) and ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm)—including secp256k1 and other widely adopted curves—developers have leveraged Lit to securely sign, encrypt, and compute across decentralized systems. These primitives have enabled innovation in areas such as:

  • AI Agents: Autonomous agents powered by Lit’s decentralized signing infrastructure have been a key area of growth. These agents operate without manual intervention, managing secrets, and executing actions based on both on-chain and off-chain data.
  • Chain Abstraction: Lit’s programmable signing capabilities have broken down barriers between blockchain ecosystems, enabling seamless cross-chain interactions and unifying siloed networks.
  • User Wallets: Developers have built flexible, non-custodial wallet solutions, enhancing user control and security.
  • Verifiable Web Data: Applications are tapping into off-chain data and verifying its authenticity in Web3 environments.
  • Private and Programmable Privacy: Developers have implemented advanced access control and encryption rules to safeguard sensitive data.

The Lit networks have laid the foundation for developers to create secure and interoperable applications and protocols that unify previously fragmented systems. 

What’s Coming: Expanding Signature Types and Supported Curves in 2025

To further empower developers, Lit Protocol is expanding its cryptographic capabilities to support additional signature schemes and curves. These additions will make Lit interoperable with even more ecosystems and protocols:

1. Performance Improvements for ECDSA Signing

The Lit development team has made several optimizations to the underlying ECDSA signing algorithm being used by the Lit nodes, leading to significant performance improvements. Citing some benchmark tests that were run on the Lit internal dev network, we’re seeing a ~5x improvement in signing speed and an additional ~5x improvement in overall transaction throughput. 

2. ECDSA on NIST Curves

  • New Curves Supported:
    • P-256 and P-384, essential for security protocols such as TLS and Web2.5 integrations.
  • Use Case: Verifiable Web DataLit Protocol will enable developers to fetch data from web sources and provide cryptographic proof that the data was retrieved from a specific source at a particular time. This feature is ideal for oracle-based solutions in decentralized applications, where verifying authenticity and timeliness of data is critical.

3. Schnorr/EdDSA Signatures (FROST Protocol)

Lit Protocol will add support for Schnorr-based signature schemes, leveraging the FROST protocol for efficient and secure threshold Schnorr-based signing. This unlocks compatibility with a wide range of ecosystems, including but not limited to:

  • Ed25519: Commonly used by Solana, Aptos, and many others.
  • Sr25519 (Schnorrkel/Ristretto): Integral to the Polkadot ecosystem for scalable, secure signatures.
  • Taproot for Bitcoin: Supports advanced scripting capabilities for Bitcoin-based DeFi and other applications.
  • Schnorr Variants:
    • Secp256k1, P-256, P-384
  • RedDSA Variants:
    • Jubjub (used in ZCash Sapling, Aztec, and Iden3 protocols).
    • Decaf377 (supported by Penumbra).

By supporting these signature types, Lit will enable developers to build across diverse ecosystems without compromising security or efficiency.

4. Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) Keys

Lit Protocol is also working on introducing FHE keys, which will enable computations on encrypted data while keeping the data itself private. This addition includes:

  • Threshold Decryption Algorithm: Allows threshold keys to be exportable from the Lit network.
  • Use Cases:
    • Privacy-Preserving Analytics: Perform advanced computations on encrypted datasets without compromising privacy.
    • Secure Data Sharing: Enable encrypted data to be shared with cryptographic assurance of user control.
    • Joint Custody: Create digital signatures conjointly between Lit and the client

Network Achievements and Community Impact

The growth of Lit Protocol in 2024 reflects the creativity and dedication of its developer community. Notable achievements include:

  • Total Requests Fulfilled: Over 24 million cryptographic requests.
  • Keys Created: Over 1 million keys, including Programmable Key Pairs (PKPs) and Wrapped Keys.
  • Lit Actions: Hundreds of thousands of executions showcasing the flexibility and power of Lit’s private compute capabilities.

Notable integration partners such as Fox, Genius, and Emblem Vault have demonstrated the versatility of Lit Protocol, building applications that span crypto agents, chain abstracted DeFi and consumer apps, to programmable IP and data management. These partnerships highlight the growing impact of Lit as a key management and compute provider.

Unifying The Web, One Signature at a Time

These advancements reflect Lit Protocol’s commitment to providing developers the best tools to build secure, decentralized, and autonomous applications. By supporting new signature types, Lit becomes more interoperable with even more ecosystems, helping to unify our currently fragmented digital experiences.

The Lit Protocol developer community plays a vital role in this journey, and every new integration and use case is a testament to their innovation and dedication. As we look ahead to 2025, the development team behind Lit is excited to continue this collaboration, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in decentralized cryptography.