New Member of Sui Ecosystem: Ika Network: Sub-second MPC Technology Leading the Cross-chain New Era

The Ika network, as an innovative infrastructure based on multi-party secure computing (MPC), has recently disclosed its technical positioning and development direction. The most notable feature of this network is its sub-second response speed, which is a first in MPC solutions. Ika is highly compatible with the underlying design of the Sui blockchain in terms of parallel processing, decentralized architecture, etc., and will be directly integrated into the Sui development ecosystem in the future, providing plug-and-play cross-chain security modules for Move smart contracts.

From a functional positioning perspective, Ika is building a new type of security verification layer: serving both as a dedicated signature protocol for the Sui ecosystem and providing standardized cross-chain solutions for the entire industry. Its layered design balances protocol flexibility and development convenience, and is expected to become an important practical case for the large-scale application of MPC technology in multi-chain scenarios.

Core Technology Analysis of the Ika Network

The technical implementation of the Ika network revolves around high-performance distributed signatures. Its innovation lies in the use of the 2PC-MPC threshold signature protocol in conjunction with Sui's parallel execution and DAG consensus, achieving true sub-second signature capabilities and large-scale decentralized node participation. Ika has created a multi-party signature network that meets both ultra-high performance and strict security requirements through the following core technologies:

1. 2PC-MPC Signature Protocol: An improved two-party MPC scheme is adopted, which decomposes the user private key signing operation into a process involving both the "user" and the "Ika network". By replacing node-to-node communication with a broadcasting mode, the computational communication overhead is significantly reduced.

2. Parallel Processing: By leveraging parallel computing to decompose a single signature operation into multiple concurrent subtasks, combined with Sui's object parallel model, it is possible to handle numerous transactions simultaneously without achieving global sequential consensus for each transaction.

3. Large-scale node network: Supports thousands of nodes participating in signing, with each node holding only a part of the key shards, which enhances the system's security and degree of decentralization.

4. Cross-chain control and chain abstraction: Allow smart contracts on other chains to directly control accounts in the Ika network (dWallet), enabling cross-chain operations by deploying lightweight clients of the corresponding chains.

The Impact of Ika on the Sui Ecosystem

After Ika goes live, it may bring the following enhancements to the Sui blockchain:

1. Cross-chain interoperability: Supports the low-latency and high-security access of on-chain assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to the Sui network, enabling cross-chain DeFi operations.

2. Decentralized Custody Mechanism: Provides a more flexible and secure multi-signature asset management method than traditional centralized custody.

3. Chain abstraction layer: Simplifies the process of Sui smart contracts operating on assets from other chains, without the need for cumbersome bridging or wrapping.

4. AI Application Security: Provide a multi-party verification mechanism for AI automated applications to enhance the security and credibility of transaction execution.

Challenges Facing Ika

Despite the close integration of Ika and Sui, there are still some challenges to becoming a "universal standard" for cross-chain interoperability:

1. Market competition: It is necessary to seek a balance between "decentralization" and "performance" to attract more developers and asset migration.

2. Limitations of MPC technology: Signature permissions are difficult to revoke, and there is a lack of efficient and secure node replacement mechanisms.

3. Dependency: The performance and stability of Ika relies to some extent on the Sui network.

4. Potential Issues with DAG Consensus: While Mysticeti consensus supports high concurrency, it may introduce new problems such as network path complexity and transaction ordering difficulties.

Comparison of Privacy Computing Technologies: FHE, TEE, ZKP, and MPC

FHE( Fully Homomorphic Encryption )

Representative project:

• Zama & Concrete: Adopts a layered Bootstrapping strategy and hybrid encoding, balancing performance and parallelism.
• Fhenix: Optimized for the EVM instruction set, designed cipher virtual registers and off-chain oracle bridge modules.

TEE( Trusted Execution Environment )

Representative project:

• Oasis Network: Introduces the concept of layered trusted roots, enhancing security with the ParaTime interface and durable logging module.

ZKP( Zero-Knowledge Proof )

Representative project:

• Aztec: Integrates incremental recursive technology, uses a parallel depth-first search algorithm to generate proofs, and provides lightweight node mode to optimize bandwidth.

MPC( Multi-Party Computation )

Representative Project:

• Partisia Blockchain: Extended based on the SPDZ protocol, adding a preprocessing module and supporting a parallel sharding mechanism with dynamic load balancing.

Comparison of Various Technical Solutions

1. Performance and Latency:

   • FHE: High latency, but provides the strongest data protection
   • TEE: minimum delay, close to normal execution
   • ZKP: Delay controllable for batch proof
   • MPC: Delay is medium to low, significantly affected by network communication.

2. Trust Assumptions:

   • FHE/ZKP: Based on mathematical problems, no need to trust third parties
   • TEE: relies on hardware and manufacturers
   • MPC: relies on assumptions about participant behavior

3. Scalability:

   • ZKP/MPC: Supports horizontal scaling
   • FHE/TEE: Extending under computational resource and hardware constraints

4. Integration Difficulty:

   • TEE: lowest entry threshold
   • ZKP/FHE: requires specialized circuits and compilation processes
   • MPC: Requires protocol stack integration and cross-node communication

Technical Choices and Future Trends

Different privacy computing technologies have their own advantages, and the choice should be based on specific application needs and performance trade-offs:

• Cross-chain signature: MPC is more practical, TEE can also be considered.
• DeFi multi-signature scenarios: MPC mainstream, TEE has potential, FHE used for upper-layer privacy logic
• AI and data privacy: FHE has obvious advantages, MPC and TEE can serve as assistance.

The future privacy computing ecosystem may lean towards the complementarity and integration of various technologies, such as Nillion integrating MPC, FHE, TEE, and ZKP to build modular solutions. Choosing the right combination of technologies to achieve a balance between security, cost, and performance will become the mainstream trend.