Keyrotation

🔒 Buiding Continuum - Chapter 12 — Rotation and the Fear of Exposure

Key rotation in cryptographic identity systems does not merely replace a secret — it creates an entirely new key pair and therefore a new public identity. In Nostr, that means a new npub. Security improves, but continuity fractures. At the time of writing, Continuum does not yet implement formal rotation workflows, but the architectural pressure is clear. This chapter explores the tension between safety and continuity, why rotation is unavoidable in long-lived sovereign systems, and how identity must be understood as integrity across multiple key pairs over time.

On Identity, Keys, and Key rotation.

In this article I argue that identity is rooted in expression and relationships rather than cryptographic keys, and propose leveraging webs of trust and Musig-based associations to enable resilient identity continuity and key rotation.

Cover image for On Identity, Keys, and Key rotation.