Cryptographic Architecture for Decentralized Messaging Platforms

Abstract

This paper describes the cryptographic architecture of ZKIM, a decentralized messaging platform that implements a comprehensive cryptographic stack using classical cryptography with libsodium-wrappers-sumo integration, BLAKE3 as the standard hash algorithm, and comprehensive key management strategies. The architecture provides 256-bit security level across all cryptographic operations, implements zero-knowledge key management, and maintains strict security standards through automated enforcement. We describe the algorithm suite, library integration, key management strategies, and security properties of the cryptographic architecture. The system achieves strong security guarantees through XChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption, Ed25519 digital signatures, X25519 key exchange, Argon2id13 key derivation, and BLAKE3 hashing. Performance evaluation demonstrates efficient cryptographic operations with minimal overhead while maintaining strong security guarantees. The architecture is production-ready with real-world deployment and comprehensive security testing.