Chain Signatures Adds EdDSA support: Cross-Chain Signing for Solana, TON, Stellar, Sui & Aptos

Expanding Chain Abstraction Capabilities

Last year (on August 8, 2024), NEAR launched Chain Signatures on mainnet to fundamentally transform cross-chain smart contract interactions. Today, we announce a significant advancement in this technology: the implementation of EdDSA support within Chain Signatures, enabling transaction signing for blockchain networks including Solana, TON, Stellar, Sui, and Aptos.

This update represents a crucial step in NEAR’s chain abstraction architecture, broadening interoperability across diverse blockchain ecosystems and fostering a more unified development experience. The addition of EdDSA support is particularly valuable for developers working with high-throughput chains like Solana, TON, Aptos, and Sui.

The Evolution of Chain Signatures

The initial Chain Signatures deployment introduced deterministic key derivation and management from NEAR accounts for external blockchains, allowing users to cryptographically control assets across multiple networks through a single account infrastructure.

This first implementation centered on ECDSA signature schemes, enabling integration with Ethereum, Bitcoin, Cosmos, Polygon, BNB Chain, and other major networks. NEAR smart contracts gained the ability to derive Ethereum addresses, execute cryptographic signing operations for EVM transactions, and perform signature verification across compatible chains.

Chain Signatures created a direct cryptographic relationship between accounts on different networks, minimizing trust assumptions and reducing attack surfaces compared to traditional interoperability solutions. 

Since its launch, Chain Signatures has already been adopted by numerous projects, such as SWEAT, Atlas Protocol, Omnilane, Satoshi Ramp, HERE Wallet, NEAR Intents, and Runemine, to name a few, highlighting its widespread real-world utility. 

EdDSA Support: Technical Overview

The addition of EdDSA support significantly expands the cryptographic capabilities within the Chain Signatures framework. This update enables NEAR accounts and smart contracts to cryptographically sign transactions on networks utilizing EdDSA account key structures, focusing on the widely-adopted Ed25519 curve variant.

EdDSA offers several advantages:

• Computational efficiency in signature verification
• Resilience against certain side-channel attacks
• Batch verification capabilities for enhanced transaction throughput

Private keys never leave the secure context of the NEAR account, with all cryptographic operations occurring within the trustless execution environment of the NEAR protocol.

Transformative Implications for Developers

This expansion creates new possibilities for distributed application architecture, enabling developers to:

• Construct unified application backends that interact with a broader range of blockchains
• Design comprehensive transaction workflows that span multiple execution environments
• Integrate additional chains into Omnibridge implementations without protocol-specific customization
• Develop wallet architectures that unify cryptographic operations across heterogeneous networks
• Implement cross-chain smart contracts capable of triggering execution flows on EdDSA-based systems

For front-end developers, this update simplifies multi-chain application implementation by providing a consistent interface for transaction signing.

Benefits for NEAR Account Holders

NEAR accounts now function as universal cryptographic identities across an expanded ecosystem:

• Native transaction signing for Solana, TON, Stellar, Sui, and Aptos without additional key management
• Simplified authentication across distributed applications spanning multiple environments
• Reduced complexity when operating across blockchain domains
• Enhanced security through elimination of multiple private keys and seed phrases

Users can now interact with Solana applications using their familiar NEAR account, execute TON transactions without managing a separate wallet, and participate in the Aptos ecosystem without navigating complex key management processes.

Broader Ecosystem Impact

This update advances NEAR’s vision of complementary blockchain networks with reduced friction by enhancing interoperability between major execution environments and minimizing complexity for users navigating between ecosystems. The implementation represents a shift toward a more unified blockchain ecosystem where networks can complement each other while maintaining interoperability.

Practical Applications

The EdDSA integration enables several advanced cross-chain architecture patterns, e.g.

• Unified Liquidity: Projects can leverage Ethereum mainnet liquidity with the user-friendliness and speed of NEAR or Solana, enabling products that combine strengths from multiple chains.
  
• Solana Integration for Shade Agents: Developers can access off-chain trustless compute with fewer limitations than EVM or SVM, while leveraging LLM-powered agents across blockchains.
  
• Cross-Chain Governance Systems: A DAO deployed on NEAR can control treasury assets on Solana, manage protocol parameters on Aptos, and execute governance decisions on multiple chains simultaneously.
  
• Cross-chain Prediction Markets: Users can bet with any wallet, on any chain, using preferred assets, and swap directly without wrapping or bridging.
  

Developer Resources and Support

The Chain Signatures framework, including the new EdDSA implementation and other relevant resources, can be found below:

• Chain Signatures Docs 
• Chain Signatures: Getting Started Guide
• Request support for building with Chain Signatures
• Join the Chain Abstraction Dev Group on Telegram

Looking Forward: A New Era of Interoperability

The introduction of EdDSA support marks a significant milestone in NEAR’s chain abstraction journey. By evolving Chain Signatures’ cryptographic foundation, NEAR is removing technical barriers between blockchain ecosystems, unlocking new architectural possibilities for cross-chain interactions.

This approach recognizes specialization’s value while eliminating fragmentation that has hindered industry growth. Rather than forcing choices between incompatible ecosystems, NEAR creates a framework where different blockchain networks function as components of an integrated whole.

As blockchain technology matures, we anticipate a shift from competition between isolated chains to collaboration between specialized networks. The expanded Chain Signatures framework positions NEAR at the forefront of this evolution toward a more cohesive blockchain landscape.

We invite all developers to explore these capabilities, contribute to the implementation, and help shape the future of cross-chain application design.