Merkle Tree Ladder Mode: Reducing the Size Impact of NIST PQC Signature Algorithms in Practice

ePrint Report: Merkle Tree Ladder Mode: Reducing the Size Impact of NIST PQC Signature Algorithms in Practice

Andrew Fregly, Joseph Harvey, Burton S. Kaliski Jr., Swapneel Sheth

We introduce the Merkle Tree Ladder (MTL) mode of operation for signature schemes. MTL mode signs messages using an underlying signature scheme in such a way that the resulting signatures are condensable: a set of MTL mode signatures can be conveyed from a signer to a verifier in fewer bits than if the …

algorithms eprint report impact merkle mode nist pqc practice signature size