NIST First Call for Multi-Party Threshold Schemes

Published

January 20, 2026

Author(s)

Luis Teixeira D'Aguiar Norton Brandao, Rene Peralta

Abstract

This document calls for public submissions of multi-party threshold schemes, and other related crypto-systems, to support the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in gathering a public body of reference materials on advanced cryptography. In a threshold scheme, an underlying cryptographic primitive (e.g., signature, encryption, decryption, key generation) is computed in a distributed manner, while a private/secret key is or becomes secret shared across various parties. The threshold schemes submitted in reply to this NIST Threshold Call should produce outputs that are interchangeable with a reference conventional (i.e., non-threshold) primitive of interest, from various categories organized into two classes: Class N, for selected NIST-specified primitives; and Class S, for special primitives that are not specified by NIST but are threshold friendlier or have useful functional features. The scope of Class S also includes fully-homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, and auxiliary gadgets. This document specifies submission phases, and the requirements for submitting a package, including a technical specification, a reference implementation, and a report on experimental evaluation. A subsequent phase of public analysis will support the elaboration of a characterization report, which may help assess new interests beyond the cryptographic techniques currently standardized by NIST, and may include recommendations for future processes.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 8214C

Report Number

8214C

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8214C

Local Download

Keywords

Crypto-systems, distributed systems, fully-homomorphic encryption (FHE), post-quantum cryptography (PQC), secure multiparty computation (MPC), threshold cryptography, threshold encryption, threshold schemes, threshold signatures, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP)

Citation

Teixeira D'Aguiar Norton Brandao, L. and Peralta, R. (2026), NIST First Call for Multi-Party Threshold Schemes, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8214C, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=961250 (Accessed January 21, 2026)