Signature Requirements

Cryptographic Proof of Ownership

Every epoch submission must be signed with the private key corresponding to the public key included in the SHA-1 collision computation, proving the miner controls the claimed identity.

Bitcoin Signatures

OP_NET uses Bitcoin's standard signature schemes, ECDSA and Schnorr, for transaction signing. The same cryptographic security that protects Bitcoin transactions protects epoch submissions.

Signature Verification

When processing submissions, nodes verify the following:

The Bitcoin transaction signature is valid.
The signing key matches the public key in the submission.
The public key was used in the SHA-1 computation.
No tampering occurred between mining and submission.

Invalid Signatures Rejected

Submissions with invalid signatures are immediately rejected regardless of SHA-1 collision quality. The miner forfeits their computational investment.