MPT-Crypto: Cryptographic Primitives for Confidential Assets

Overview

MPT-Crypto is a specialized C library implementing the cryptographic building blocks for Confidential Multi-Purpose Tokens (MPT) on the XRP Ledger. It provides implementations of homomorphic encryption, aggregated range proofs, and specialized zero-knowledge proofs. The library is built on top of libsecp256k1 for elliptic curve arithmetic and OpenSSL for hashing and randomness.

Features

1. Confidential Balances (EC-ElGamal)

• Additive Homomorphic Encryption: Enables the ledger to aggregate encrypted balances (e.g., Enc(A) + Enc(B) = Enc(A+B)) without decryption.
• Canonical Zero: Deterministic encryption of zero balances to prevent ledger state bloat and ensure consistency.

2. Range Proofs (Bulletproofs)

• Aggregated Proofs: Supports proving that $m$ values are within the range $[0, 2^{64})$ in a single proof with logarithmic size $\mathcal{O}(\log n)$.
• Inner Product Argument (IPA): Implements the standard Bulletproofs IPA for succinct verification.
• Fiat-Shamir: Secure non-interactive challenge generation with strict domain separation.

3. Zero-Knowledge Proofs (Sigma Protocols)

• Compact AND-Composed Sigma Proofs: Proves ciphertext equality, Pedersen commitment linkage, and balance ownership under a single Fiat-Shamir challenge. Three variants cover the standard send, convert-back, and clawback transaction types.
• Proof of Knowledge (PoK): Proves ownership of the secret key during account registration to prevent rogue key attacks.

Building and Testing

Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have the following installed:

• CMake (version 3.10 or higher)
• C Compiler (GCC, Clang, or AppleClang)

On macOS with Homebrew:

brew install cmake

On Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install cmake build-essential

Dependency Setup

Set up Conan using rippled's BUILD.md.

Dependency revisions are pinned via a Conan lockfile (conan.lock) at the repository root; Conan picks it up implicitly on conan install. To regenerate after editing conanfile.py, run ./conan/lockfile/regenerate.sh from the repo root. The pattern mirrors rippled's conan/lockfile/.

Build Instructions

Run following commands to build the library

1. Create build directory:

   mkdir build && cd build

2. Buld dependencies:

   conan install .. --build=missing -o "&:tests=True"

3. Run CMake:

   cmake .. \
      -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
      -G Ninja \
      -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:FILEPATH=build/generators/conan_toolchain.cmake

4. Build the library and tests:

   ninja

Running Tests

After building, run the test suite using CTest from the build directory:

ctest --output-on-failure

Or run individual tests directly:

./tests/test_elgamal
./tests/test_bulletproof_agg
./tests/test_commitments

Expected Results

The following tests should pass:

• test_bulletproof_agg - Aggregated Bulletproof range proofs
• test_commitments - Pedersen commitments
• test_compact_clawback - Compact sigma proof for clawback
• test_compact_convertback - Compact sigma proof for convert-back
• test_compact_standard - Compact sigma proof for standard send
• test_elgamal - ElGamal encryption/decryption
• test_elgamal_verify - ElGamal verification
• test_ipa - Inner Product Argument (IPA) Core Logic
• test_mpt_utility - End-to-end utility layer (send, convert, convert-back, clawback)
• test_pok_sk - Proof of knowledge of secret key

Documentation

Two public documents cover the design choices and integration details:

• XLS-0096 Standard Specification: XRPL Standards – XLS-0096 The specification covers the protocol design and how it integrates with the XRPL ledger.

• Research Paper: ePrint 2026/602 The paper provides a deeper dive into the cryptographic design choices and security analysis.

• Compact Sigma Proof Specification: paper/cmpt-compact-sigma.pdf Formal specification and security analysis of the compact AND-composed sigma proof for standard EC-ElGamal transfers.