Cryptographic Functions In Solidity
In this article, we will explore some of the most commonly used cryptography functions in Solidity and their importance in smart contract development.
We will also discuss how these functions can be used to enhance the security and reliability of smart contracts. So, let’s dive in and take a closer look at Solidity cryptography functions.
Cryptographic functions perform a key role in securing smart contracts. Solidity has a variety of cryptographic functions for you to guarantee that the smart contracts you develop are secure.
What is Hashing in Solidity?
In cryptography, a hash function is an algorithm that produces enciphered text of a fixed size by taking an arbitrary amount of data as input.
The output can be completely different even for the smallest change in the input.
Cryptographic functions provided by Solidity include:
| Function | Properties |
| keccak256(bytes memory) returns (bytes32) | Calculates a Keccak-256 hash from the input |
| sha256(bytes memory) returns (bytes32) | Calculates the input’s SHA-256 hash |
| ripemd160(bytes memory) returns (bytes32) | Provides the RIPEMD-160 hash of the input |
| ecrecover(bytes32 hash, uint8 v, bytes32 r, bytes32 s) returns (address) | Recover the address associated with the public key from Elliptic curve signature used for cryptography or return Zero if an error occurs. The parameters correspond to ECDSA Signature values. |
The most commonly used hash function in Solidity is the SHA-3 (Secure Hash Algorithm 3).
SHA-3 is a cryptographic hash function that generates a fixed-length output from an arbitrary input.
The output generated by SHA-3 is usually represented in hexadecimal format.
Solidity provides the keccak256 function, which is an implementation of SHA-3.
The keccak256 function takes a variable-length input and generates a 256-bit output.
The output generated by keccak256 is deterministic, meaning that the same input always generates the same output.
The following example shows the working of cryptographic functions provided by solidity:
Example:
Digital Signatures
Smart contracts use digital signatures to ensure data authenticity and integrity.
Digital signatures can be created and verified using several Solidity functions.
Solidity uses the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for digital signatures. To create digital signatures, ECDSA is used as a public-key cryptography algorithm.
For verifying digital signatures, Solidity provides the ecrecover function.
Four parameters are passed to the ecrecover function: the hash value of the signed data, the v parameter, the r parameter, and the s parameter of the signature.
The function returns the public key of the signer if the signature is valid, and returns 0x0 otherwise.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that cryptographic functions are an effective way for you to perform a variety of cryptographic operations, including hashing, encrypting, generating digital signatures, and generating random numbers, by means of smart contracts, so that data is secure, private, and authentic.
With cryptography functions, you can develop more sophisticated, complex, and user-friendly applications that are trusted by users by using cryptography functions.
