With the Seoul protocol now live on the Tezos blockchain, ECAD Infra moved quickly to adopt BLS-based tz4 keys for consensus and attestations. We rotated to tz4 keys immediately after activation and registered a companion key, ensuring that our baker runs on the most modern cryptographic foundation available.
By taking this step early, we’re not only strengthening our own operations—we’re helping the broader Tezos ecosystem. Our team gains first-hand experience with the latest features, while our sister company ECAD Labs contributes tooling improvements back to the developer and baker communities. Together, we’re working to make Tezos more efficient, resilient, and ready for the future.
What Changed
- Consensus key rotation → switched our baker to use tz4 (BLS) keys. View on TzKT
- Companion key registration → added a dedicated tz4 key for attestations. View on TzKT
These changes ensure we’re validating blocks with the most modern cryptography Tezos offers.
Our baker: tz1UwgQddqT6cDiURCoE5W1Rvdp3gdzUfZpU
Powered by Signatory
Our transition was made possible with Signatory, the open-source remote signing system built and maintained by our sister company, ECAD Labs Inc. The latest version, Signatory v1.3.0, brings:
- Full support for tz4/BLS baking
- PoP-aware reveals for improved key security
- Integration with hardware-backed isolation using cloud Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) such as GCP Confidential Space
We run our signer backend inside a TEE to keep keys safe while still ensuring the reliability of operations. It’s the kind of defense-in-depth strategy we’ve always championed.
Why It Matters
Efficiency at scale
With BLS-based aggregated attestations, the network’s data footprint shrinks dramatically (from ~900 MB/day down to ~14 MB/day). This isn’t just a win for us—it means the entire Tezos network benefits from lower bandwidth demands, faster block propagation, and reduced strain on nodes everywhere.
Stronger cryptographic guarantees
Proof-of-Possession (PoP) for tz4 keys raises the bar on signer integrity. That means misuse or key abuse becomes harder, boosting trust across all participating bakers and reducing systemic risk for delegators and developers alike.
Better operational hygiene and clarity
By splitting consensus and attestation duties with companion keys, we reduce complexity and potential cross-dependency risks. This separation improves reliability and helps tooling and monitoring for bakers across the ecosystem become more modular and dependable.
Security without compromise
Running remote signing in Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) lets us protect private keys robustly, while still running high-throughput, low-latency operations. When others adopt similar practices, the validator landscape as a whole becomes more secure and resilient.
The cumulative effect? A more scalable, reliable, and secure Tezos network—with ECAD Infra and ECAD Labs actively contributing insights and tools back to the community.
Our Operations Approach
Right now, we’re running this baker in Google Cloud Platform to test and validate the new tz4/BLS workflows. Once proven, we’ll return it to our usual practice: running bakers and validators on bare metal servers in independently operated, multi-homed data centers. This ensures decentralization all the way down to the physical infrastructure.
Staking With ECAD Infra
We believe in the power of Tezos staking. ECAD Infra charges a 5% commission on staking rewards. To stay aligned with compliance best practices, we only support protocol-level reward distributions. We don’t pay third-party delegator rewards directly—if any rewards are accidentally sent to us, we’ll put them toward coffee and R&D.
About ECAD Infra
ECAD Infra provides high-performance, production-grade blockchain infrastructure that’s designed for scale, resilience, and decentralization. Some of our standout technical features and operational practices:
Bare-metal, high-throughput servers We run core infrastructure (RPC, validators, and supporting services) on bare-metal hardware engineered for maximum throughput and minimal latency.
Redundant connectivity and multi-ISP architecture Multiple ISPs, load-balanced routing, and redundant network paths ensure high availability and near-zero downtime even if individual connections fail.
Colocation in top-tier data centers We deploy in premier, carrier-neutral facilities that provide advanced security, compliance standards, redundant power, and robust climate controls.
Truly decentralized by design We avoid reliance on major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) for core systems, favoring infrastructure we directly control. This strengthens decentralization and aligns with blockchain principles.
Cross-chain experience & scale Since 2018, we’ve operated public RPC and validation nodes across multiple blockchains, refining the operational rigor needed to serve high-demand, production environments.
Ecosystem collaboration As part of the same group as ECAD Labs, we combine infrastructure know-how with developer tooling expertise. Our operational learnings (like early BLS adoption) feed back into Signatory and other tools, while we share best practices with the broader Tezos and validator communities.
Get in touch: Contact us
Learn More
- Protocol details (Seoul): Tezos Docs
- Signatory: signatory.io
- Signatory v1.3.0 Release Notes: GitHub
- ECAD Infra baker on TzKT: tzkt.io