Digital Signature Quantification in the Bitcoin Blockchain: A Statistical Approach

Digital signatures are crucial for blockchain security, ensuring transaction authenticity, integrity, and nonrepudiation. This reliance on secure digital signatures also extends to emerging blockchain applications like in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and the Internet of Devices (IoD). However, the emergence of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) poses a potential threat to blockchain performance by significantly increasing the size of digital signatures and public keys. This paper examines the number of signatures per block in the Bitcoin network using a real-world data-driven analysis. We propose an efficient signature counting algorithm that processes transaction data and accounts for all acceptable digital signature formats. To evaluate the methodology and the quality of the data, we apply the Shapiro-Wilk test for normality and use the Coefficient of Variation (CV) to assess data distribution and variability. This research advances blockchain analytics by offering a systematic approach to quantifying digital signatures.