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Implement trusted setup ceremony infrastructure for Groth16 circuits#96

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Steake merged 4 commits intomasterfrom
copilot/conduct-trusted-setup-ceremony-again
Dec 11, 2025
Merged

Implement trusted setup ceremony infrastructure for Groth16 circuits#96
Steake merged 4 commits intomasterfrom
copilot/conduct-trusted-setup-ceremony-again

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Copilot AI commented Dec 9, 2025

Implements multi-party computation ceremony infrastructure for generating production Groth16 proving/verification keys. Currently, circuits use setup() which generates insecure test keys. Production requires ceremony-generated keys with proper toxic waste destruction.

Core Infrastructure

  • key_management.rs: Key serialization/deserialization with SHA-256 hashing for verification
  • Circuit key loading: load_proving_key(), load_verification_key(), load_ceremony_keys() on BattleCircuit and StateCircuit
  • Directory structure: keys/{battle,state}/ for keys, ceremony/{tools,attestations,transcripts}/ for ceremony artifacts
// Before (insecure for production)
let (pk, vk) = BattleCircuit::setup()?;

// After (loads ceremony keys)
let (pk, vk) = BattleCircuit::load_ceremony_keys()?;

Ceremony Documentation (2,600+ lines)

  • docs/CEREMONY.md: Security model, timeline, verification procedures
  • ceremony/participant_instructions.md: Entropy generation, contribution workflow, toxic waste destruction
  • ceremony/coordinator_checklist.md: Infrastructure setup, participant sequencing, publication workflow
  • keys/README.md: Verification procedures, distribution channels (GitHub/IPFS/BitTorrent)
  • Supporting READMEs for tools, attestations, transcripts, and circuit-specific keys

Security Model

  • Random beacon: Bitcoin block hash initialization
  • Contribution proofs: Each participant's randomness cryptographically verified
  • Audit trail: Public transcript with all contributions, hashes, attestations
  • 1-of-N trust: Keys secure if ≥1 participant destroys toxic waste

Tool Specifications

Defined architecture for:

  • ceremony-contribute: Entropy collection, parameter mixing, proof generation
  • ceremony-coordinator: Participant sequencing, contribution verification, key finalization
  • ceremony-verify: Contribution validation, transcript verification
  • ceremony-audit: Statistical reports, independence verification

Tool implementation scheduled for pre-ceremony (Q1 2026).

Path Handling

Key loading uses proper error handling instead of .unwrap() chains:

let manifest_dir = std::path::Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"));
let repo_root = manifest_dir
    .parent()
    .and_then(|p| p.parent())
    .ok_or_else(|| crate::Error::KeyManagement(
        "Failed to resolve repository root from crates/bitcell-zkp".to_string()
    ))?;

Expected structure documented in method docstrings.

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Conduct Trusted Setup Ceremony and Verification Key Management</issue_title>
<issue_description>Part of Epic: #72 - RC2: Zero-Knowledge Proof Production


Goal: Set up production ready Groth16 proving and verification keys using multi-party computation ceremony.

Requirements:

  • Conduct multi-party trusted setup for circuits
  • Ensure destruction of toxic waste
  • Publish keys, document ceremony and invite contributors

Acceptance Criteria:

  • Setup completed with audit trail
  • Keys published and verifiable by third-party

See RELEASE_REQUIREMENTS.md</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)


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Copilot AI and others added 3 commits December 9, 2025 03:27
- Add key_management.rs module for key serialization/loading
- Add load_ceremony_keys() methods to BattleCircuit and StateCircuit
- Create comprehensive CEREMONY.md documentation
- Create participant_instructions.md guide
- Create coordinator_checklist.md operational manual
- Create keys/README.md with verification instructions
- Set up keys/ and ceremony/ directory structure

Co-authored-by: Steake <530040+Steake@users.noreply.github.com>
- Create ceremony/tools/README.md with tool specifications
- Create ceremony/attestations/README.md for participant attestations
- Create ceremony/transcripts/README.md for ceremony records
- Create keys/battle/README.md and keys/state/README.md
- Add keys/.gitignore to exclude binary key files

Co-authored-by: Steake <530040+Steake@users.noreply.github.com>
- Replace fragile .unwrap() chains with proper error handling
- Use .ok_or_else() to return clear error messages
- Add Expected Directory Structure doc comments
- Mark doc code blocks as 'text' to prevent compilation

Co-authored-by: Steake <530040+Steake@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Conduct trusted setup ceremony and key management Implement trusted setup ceremony infrastructure for Groth16 circuits Dec 9, 2025
Copilot AI requested a review from Steake December 9, 2025 03:41
@Steake Steake marked this pull request as ready for review December 9, 2025 03:41
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings December 9, 2025 03:41
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Pull request overview

This PR implements a comprehensive trusted setup ceremony infrastructure for generating production-grade Groth16 proving and verification keys. The implementation replaces the insecure setup() method (which uses test randomness) with a multi-party computation (MPC) ceremony framework that ensures cryptographic security through the "1-of-N" trust model - keys remain secure as long as at least one ceremony participant properly destroys their toxic waste.

Key changes:

  • Added key_management.rs module with serialization, deserialization, and SHA-256 hashing for proving/verification keys
  • Extended BattleCircuit and StateCircuit with load_proving_key(), load_verification_key(), and load_ceremony_keys() methods
  • Created 2,600+ lines of comprehensive documentation covering security model, participant instructions, coordinator checklists, and verification procedures
  • Established directory structure: keys/{battle,state}/ for keys, ceremony/{tools,attestations,transcripts}/ for ceremony artifacts

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 14 out of 14 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file
File Description
crates/bitcell-zkp/src/key_management.rs Core key serialization/deserialization module with SHA-256 hashing and comprehensive test coverage
crates/bitcell-zkp/src/battle_circuit.rs Added ceremony key loading methods with proper path resolution and error handling
crates/bitcell-zkp/src/state_circuit.rs Added ceremony key loading methods mirroring BattleCircuit implementation
crates/bitcell-zkp/src/lib.rs Exported key_management module and added KeyManagement error variant
docs/CEREMONY.md 510-line comprehensive guide covering security model, timeline, and verification procedures
ceremony/participant_instructions.md 606-line detailed participant guide with entropy generation, contribution workflow, and toxic waste destruction instructions
ceremony/coordinator_checklist.md 391-line coordinator guide with pre-ceremony, ceremony, and post-ceremony checklists
keys/README.md 365-line key verification and usage guide with distribution channels and security notes
keys/battle/README.md BattleCircuit-specific key documentation with circuit details and verification instructions
keys/state/README.md StateCircuit-specific key documentation with circuit details and verification instructions
ceremony/tools/README.md 307-line tool architecture documentation for ceremony-contribute, ceremony-verify, ceremony-coordinator, and ceremony-audit
ceremony/transcripts/README.md 178-line transcript format specification and verification checklist
ceremony/attestations/README.md 83-line attestation format and verification guide
keys/.gitignore Configures git to ignore large binary key files while preserving documentation

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2. **Run the verification tool:**
```bash
cd ceremony/tools
cargo run --release --bin ceremony-verify-full \
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Inconsistent tool name: this uses ceremony-verify-full but the ceremony tools documentation (ceremony/tools/README.md lines 116-118) shows the tool is simply ceremony-verify with --transcript and --keys arguments. The binary name should be consistent across all documentation.

Suggested fix:

cargo run --release --bin ceremony-verify \
  --transcript ../transcripts/battle_transcript.json \
  --keys ../../keys/battle/
Suggested change
cargo run --release --bin ceremony-verify-full \
cargo run --release --bin ceremony-verify \

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@Steake Steake merged commit 046c978 into master Dec 11, 2025
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Conduct Trusted Setup Ceremony and Verification Key Management

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