KES Improvements

[vfrsilva]

What

Implement a more efficient representation of KES signatures.

Why

Current implementation is not the most efficient, and we can get a ~30% reduction in KES signatures size. KES go in the block header, so reducing the size of this is of high interest.

Functional requirements

• Implement an improved Haskell KES primitive
• Adapt node/ledger to use these new versions

External dependencies

• Audit from bcryptic
• Consensus/Ledger
• Performance (no regression in testing/block propagation)

Acceptance Criteria

We have a positive audit accepted by CyberSec. The current testing framework sees no effects. No regression in benchmarks.

Risks

Testing fails (low risks)

Definition of Done

The new node version uses the improved KES implementation

Working Assumptions

• Hard fork required
• This change will go together with the VRF improvements

[iquerejeta]

Cardano base code already implemented in #244, but still not in use.