Bandersnatch: a fast elliptic curve built over the BLS12-381 scalar field

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce Bandersnatch, a new elliptic curve built over the BLS12-381 scalar field. The curve is equipped with an efficient endomorphism, allowing a fast scalar multiplication algorithm. Our benchmark shows that the multiplication is 42% faster, 21% reduction in terms of circuit size in the form of rank 1 constraint systems (R1CS), and 10% reduction in terms of Plonk circuit, compared to another curve, called Jubjub, having similar properties. Many zero-knowledge proof systems that rely on the Jubjub curve can benefit from our result.