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Projects Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography

Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography MPTC

Reference Material Submitted to the NIST Threshold Call

This page organizes documentation related to the NIST First Call for Multi-Party Threshold Schemes [NIST IR 8214C] (2026).

The technical scope is organized across two classes — Class N (NIST-specified primitives) and Class S (Special primitives not specified by NIST) — each with various categories of crypto-systems, as follows:

  Sign PKE Symm KeyGen FHE ZKPoK Gadgets
Class N N1 N2 N3 N4      
Class S S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7

The NIST Threshold Call considers a Previews phase (including three opportunities/rounds) and a Packages phase. Participation in the Previews phase is a requirement for a subsequent participation in the Packages phase.

Template for Preview Writeups (v0.2.2, 2026-07-11): .zip (with latex code) and .pdf (example). Submitted Preview Writeups may be subject to revision recommendations and their full consideration also depends on a corresponding Preview Talk.

Template for Package Writeups: To appear (expected October 2026, after TCPT3), with the structure outlined in the NIST Threshold Call. Will be usable for Technical Specification, Report on Experimental Evaluation, and Notes on Patent Claims.

The first phase of previews gathered 26 Preview Writeups (PW) from 23 distinct teams, as listed in the table below. The union of the teams includes 185 authors. The corresponding Preview Talks (PT) were hosted at MPTS 2026 (NIST Workshop on Multi-Party Threshold Schemes). The Preview Writeups can be updated across time (see date in column "Preview Writeup").

Legend: [PW] = [Preview Writeup (link to file)]; [PT] = [Preview Talk (link to webpage)]. |⁠Team⁠| = Number of team members. # is just an index for reference (alphabetical ordering by team name).

Previews Phase 1
# Team

Categories

 |⁠Team⁠|   Crypto-systems (hint)

Preview
Writeup

Preview
Talk @ MPTS 2026

 Patents *
1 Amber S2 4 Amber (Threshold Lattice-based KEM) [PW] [3b5] Yes
2 BBDL S1 4 tBLS (Threshold BLS Sign) [PW] [1b1]  
3 BDLR N1 4 Gargos (Threshold Schnorr Sign) [PW] [1a4]  
4 BICYCCLIST N1 7

TECLA (2-party Threshold ECDSA)

 [PW] [2a3]  
5 N1 7 THE-CLASH (n-party Threshold ECDSA) [PW]
6 Fireblocks-3MI N1, N4 7 Classic Schnorr (Threshold Schnorr Sign) [PW] [1a3]  
7 N1, N4 7 BAM (2-party ECDSA) [PW] [2a2]  
8 N1, N4, S2, S7 7 CCGMP (n-party ECDSA) and gadgets [PW]
9 FROST N1 12 FROST (Threshold Schnorr Sign) [PW] [1a1]  
10 Haystack N1 3 Haystack (Threshold HBS) [PW] [3a6]  
11 Hermine S1, S4 8 Hermine (Threshold Sign) [Lattice-based] [PW] [3b3]  
12 LEAST S1, S4 9 LEAST (Threshold Sign) [from code-based group-actions] [PW] [4a3]  
13 Mithril N1, N4 6 Mithril (Threshold ML-DSA) [PW] [3b7] Yes
14 MPC MINIons N3, S3, S7 14 MiniMPC (Threshold AES+SHA+MAC) and gadgets (inc. OT and garbling) [PW] [3a2] [3a3]  
15 PANTHERIA S5 26 FHE (RLWE-based) and Threshold FHE [PW] [2b5] Yes
16 PiVer S7 10 PiVer (Verifiable Secret Sharing) [PW] [4b2]  
17 PQarrots S1, S2, S4 31 Macaw (Threshold Signature), Kea (Threhold PKE), Kakapo (SKG) (from Isogeny-based Group Actions) [PW] (Jan-30) [4a1]  
18 Quorus N1, N4 5 Quorus (Threshold ML-DSA) [PW] [3b6]  
19 RedETA N1, N4 6 RedETA signatures (Threshold ECDLP-based Signatures) [PW] [2a4] Yes
20 Schmivitz S6, S7 8 VOLEith-based ZKPoK [PW] [4c1]  
21 SmallWood S6 2 SmallWood (hash-based ZKPoK) [PW] [4c2]  
22 SplitForge N1, S2, N4 10 SplitKey (Server-assisted threshold signatures and PKE) [PW] [2a5]  
23 Symphony N3, S7 4 Maestro (T-AES), SHArp (T-SHA), MACnifico (T-MAC) and gadgets (inc one-hot vectors) [PW] [3a5]  
24 Tanuki S1 12 Tanuki (Threshold Lattice-based Signature) [PW] [3b2] Yes
25 Vinaigrette S1, S4 9 Threshold UOV+MAYO Signatures (Multivariate-based) [PW] [4a4]  
26 Zama S4, S5, S6 13 TFHE (Torus), ZHEnith (ZKP), Nexus (Threshold FHE) [PW] [2b3] Yes

* The column "Patents" shows "Yes" for the "Preview Writeups" that indicated there are patents or pending patents whose claims may apply to the proposed crypto-systems. The upcoming package submission requires a "Notes on Patent Claims" document with more detail.

The second phase of previews gathered 10 Preview Writeups (PW) from 10 distinct teams, as listed in the table below. The union of the teams includes 35 authors. The corresponding Preview Talks (PT) were hosted at TCPT2 (Threshold Call Preview Talks #2 on July 07–08, 2026). The Preview Writeups may be updated across time (see date in column "Preview Writeup").

Legend: [PW] = [Preview Writeup (link to file)]; [PT] = [Preview Talk (link to webpage)]. |⁠Team⁠| = Number of team members. # is just an index for reference (alphabetical ordering by team name).

Previews Phase 2
# Team Categories |⁠Team⁠| Crypto-systems (hint) Preview Writeup Preview Talk @ TCPT2 Patents *
27 Dfns-Coord S7 3 Coordinated Messaging [PW] [1b1]  
28 Dfns-KU N1 4 KU (Threshold ECDSA) [PW] (Jul-27) [1a3] Yes
29 FaFROST N1 6 FaFROST (Threshold Schnorr) [PW] (Jul-24) [1b2]  
30 LaZer S6 4 LaZer (Lattice-based ZKP) [PW] [2b1]  
31 Lemur S1 5 Lemur (Lattice-based Signature) [PW] [2a2]  
32 LoTRS S1 6 LoTRS (Lattice-based Signature) [PW] [2a3]  
33 TALUS N1, N4 2 TALUS (Threshold ML-DSA) [PW] (Aug-11) [2a1] Yes
34 Threshcon N3 2 Threshcon (Threshold Ascon) [PW] [2b2]  
35 Trout N1 3 Trout++ (Threshold ECDSA) [PW] [1a1]  
36 Twig N1 7 Twig (Threshold ECDSA) [PW] (Jul-22) [1a2] Yes

* The column "Patents" shows "Yes" for the "Preview writeups" that indicated there are patents or pending patents whose claims may apply to the proposed crypto-systems. The upcoming package submission requires a "Notes on Patent Claims" document with more detail.

The preview writeups of phase 3 were received in August of 2026. Corresponding preview talks will be hosted at TCPT3 (Threshold Call Preview Talks #3) on Sep 30 and Oct {6,7,13}, 2026. Closer to the each talk, the revised Preview Writeups will be posted and listed in the following table.

Legend: [PW] = [Preview Writeup (link to file)]; [PT] = [Preview Talk (link to webpage)]. |⁠Team⁠| = Number of team members.

Previews Phase 3
# Team Categories |⁠Team⁠| Crypto-systems (hint) Preview Writeup Preview Talk @ TCPT3 Patents *
37 ABCDKLs N1,N4,S7 6 DKLs (DKG, T-ECDSA / VOLE+OT) [PW] [3b1]  
38 ark-pq S6 4 ark-pq (ZKP) [PW] [1a4]  
39 ATMACA N1 4 ATMACA (Threshold FALCON Signature) [PW] [2a1]  
40 CL S7 7 CL and Threshold-CL (Linearly HE based on class groups) [PW] [3a1]  
41 DUOV S1, S4 4 DUOV (T-UOV Signature) [PW] [2a3]  
42 Holocron N2 12 Holocron (PKE via FHE) [PW] [1a3] Yes
43 Kettle S1 8 Kettle (Threshold HAWK Signature) [PW] [2a2]  
44 Kryptallage S5 16 Kryptallage (Threshold FHE) [PW] [1a1]  
45 LaTSEC S1, S7 5 LaTSEC (Threshold Lattice-based Signature / Secret sharing) [PW] [2b2]  
46 LHZZ S2 4 AdpTD (Threshold Lattice-based PKE/decryption) TBA TBA  
47 MOZI S5 6 MOZI (Threshold FHE) [PW] [1a2]  
48

Octopus

 N1 11 Menshen and Octopus-(T)CL (Threshold ECDSA) [PW] [3b2]  
49 S1 11 TalonG and P-DualTS (Threshold Lattice-based Signature) [PW] [2b1] Yes
50 S1 11 Octopus-TapTop and Octopus-Robot (Threshold BBS Signature) [PW] [3b3]  
51 Stoats N1, N4, S7 6 Stoats (2p ECDSA/Schnorr & VOLE) [PW] [3a4]  
52 TALH N1, S1 1 TALH (Hash-based signature) [PW] [2a4]  
53 Thimza S1 2 Thimza (Threshold Lattice-based Signature) [PW] [2b3]  
54 TORTL N4 3 TORTL DKG TBA TBA Yes
55 Trout N1, S7 3 Axolotl (Threshold Schnorr) [PW] [3a2]  
56 TSitH S1 4 TSiTH (Threshold Signature in the Head) [PW] [2b4]  
57 Tulva S5 6 Tulva (Threshold FHE) TBA TBA  
58 TBA       TBA TBA  
59 TBA       TBA TBA  

* The column "Patents" shows "Yes" for the "Preview writeups" that indicated there are patents or pending patents whose claims may apply to the proposed crypto-systems. The upcoming package submission requires a "Notes on Patent Claims" document with more detail.

Each package will include Technical Specification, Open-Source Reference Implementation, Report on Experimental Evaluation, Notes on Patent Claims.

Deadlines for the submission of packages will be confirmed only after TCPT3 (the third phase of preview talks):

  • The packages submission deadline is expected to be set to 2027-Mar-01 (it will not be before).
  • Optionally, throughout December (Dec 01–31, 2026) teams can submit a preliminary package for preliminary editorial feedback by MPTC.

The latex template for Technical Specification, Report on Experimental Evaluation, and Notes in Patent Claims will be made available after the Preview Phase 3, following the structure outlined in the NIST Threshold Call.

 

Contacts

Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography (MPTC) Project
[email protected]

Luís T. A. N. Brandão - NIST/Strativia
[email protected]

Michael Davidson - NIST

René Peralta - NIST

Dustin Moody - NIST

Created July 26, 2018, Updated October 06, 2026