The Dual-Curve Design Choice
This is a technical detail that has practical consequences for anyone interacting with Elastos.
Most blockchains (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon) use the secp256k1 cryptographic curve for signing transactions. Elastos made a different choice:
- ELA main chain: Uses NIST P-256 (secp256r1)
- ESC and EID sidechains: Use secp256k1 (the standard Ethereum curve)
NIST P-256 is the curve used in TLS/HTTPS (the protocol that secures web browsing), Apple's Secure Enclave, FIDO security keys, and government security standards. The choice was made for compatibility with enterprise and government environments.
What This Means in Practice
- MetaMask and standard Ethereum wallets work with ESC and EID
- MetaMask and standard Ethereum wallets do not work with the ELA main chain
- You cannot use a Bitcoin library to sign ELA main chain transactions
- You need the Elastos-specific Wallet SDK for main chain operations
- A single 12-word recovery phrase can derive keys for both curves using different derivation paths
If you come from Ethereum and try to use standard secp256k1 tooling to sign main chain transactions, they will fail with invalid signature errors. The main chain uses P-256 (secp256r1); you must use the Elastos Wallet SDK. See the Developer Guide for details.
Further Reading
For a full list of repositories and their status, see the Repository Inventory.