Mithril certification
This section explains how Mithril certification works for different types of supported data, from computing the message signed by Mithril signers to authenticity verification by Mithril clients.
Under the hood, a certification framework leverages the Mithril protocol to provide a robust foundation for 'pluggable' custom modules that support the certification of specific data types:
- Signers compute messages using a specific module and broadcast them
- Aggregators receive signatures from signers and attempt to aggregate them into a Mithril multi-signature ultimately sealed in a Mithril certificate
- Clients download 'artifacts' and certificates in a trustless way and use them to verify authenticity.
Implementing specific modules:
- Requires significant development effort
- Must be fully deployed on the signers (the majority of SPOs registered in the protocol), aggregators, and clients before end-to-end certification can occur.
📄️ Cardano transactions
The Mithril protocol supports the certification of the full Cardano transactions set (since genesis). This allows users to verify a transaction's authenticity without downloading the entire Cardano blockchain.
📄️ Cardano stake distribution
The Mithril protocol supports the certification of the Cardano stake distribution, allowing users to verify the actual stake held by one or more SPOs at a given Cardano epoch. This is particularly useful for bridges, sidechains, or other types of layer 2 protocols that need to rely on limited committees for their operations.
📄️ Cardano node database
The Mithril protocol supports the certification of the Cardano node internal database, enabling fast bootstrapping of a Cardano node. This is particularly useful for full-node wallets, SPOs, and layer 2 protocols that need to operate full Cardano nodes.
📄️ Cardano node database v2
- This feature is experimental and not yet available on the mainnet