BIP461 Proposal Would Make ECDSA Signatures Reproducible
A newly flagged Bitcoin Improvement Proposal would let compliant ECDSA signatures be reproduced so deviations can be spotted without proving malicious firmware.
A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal known as BIP461 would make compliant ECDSA signatures reproducible, according to a report from CryptoSlate. The stated goal is to allow signatures produced by a device to be compared against expected output.
That comparability is what gives the proposal its diagnostic value: deviations from compliant signing behaviour could be surfaced through the comparison itself. Notably, the mechanism is described as flagging such deviations without establishing that a device is running malicious firmware.
What the proposal covers
- Compliant ECDSA signatures would be made reproducible under the proposal
- Reproducibility enables comparisons that reveal deviations from expected output
- Detected deviations would be flagged, but would not by themselves prove malicious firmware
The source material does not identify the proposal's author, its review status, or whether it targets Bitcoin Core specifically. As with any BIP, the measure would carry no practical effect unless it advances through review and is taken up by implementers.
Context: reproducible signature checks sit alongside other efforts to make signing hardware more auditable, but no deployment timeline or implementation commitment has been indicated.