Assign Ed25519 precompile to native loader

proposals/0417-assign-ed25519-precompile-to-native-loader.md

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+---
+simd: '0417'
+title: Assign Ed25519 Precompile to Native Loader
+authors:
+  - Dean Little (Blueshift)
+  - David Leung (Blueshift)
+category: Standard
+type: Core
+status: Review
+created: 2027-11-27
+feature: (fill in with feature tracking issues once accepted)
+---
+
+## Summary
+
+This proposal restores nominal functionality of the Ed25519 precompile to 
+testnet without any changes to mainnet and devnet.
+
+## Motivation
+
+As a result of the Ed25519 program belonging to the System Program instead of 
+the Native Loader on testnet due to an old cluster configuration issue 
+https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/pull/23219, recent activation of SIMD-0186
+broke the Ed25519 precompile on the testnet cluster due to this branch of code 
+*correctly* enforcing the behavior we should have initially solved for: 
+
+https://github.com/anza-xyz/agave/blob/89ead14a0fd576a13c37513419f8e2406769684f/svm/src/account_loader.rs#L607-L610
+
+## New Terminology
+
+N/A
+
+## Detailed Design
+
+Introduce a feature gated change to the bank that, upon activation, updates 
+the owner of the Ed25519 program to the Native Loader program if it is not 
+already owned by it, also explicitly flagging its account as executable, 
+and setting the data to `ed25519_program` to match all other clusters. All
+other fields remain unchanged.
+
+```rust
+if new_feature_activations
+    .contains(&feature_set::assign_ed25519_precompile_to_native_loader::id())
+{
+    if let Some(account) = self
+        .get_account_with_fixed_root(&solana_sdk_ids::ed25519_program::id())
+        .and_then(|account| {
+            if !native_loader::check_id(account.owner()) {
+                Some(account)
+            } else {
+                None
+            }
+        })
+    {
+        let new_account = AccountSharedData::from(Account {
+            owner: native_loader::ID,
+            executable: true,
+            data: b"ed25519_program".to_vec(),
+            ..Account::from(account)
+        });
+
+        self.store_account(&solana_sdk_ids::ed25519_program::id(), &new_account);
+    }
+}
+```
+
+## Alternatives Considered
+
+- Patch SIMD-0186 to add an exception in the case of the Ed25519 program
+- Leave the functionality broken on testnet
+- Only activate feature on testnet
+
+## Impact
+
+When activated on testnet, this feature will restore nominal behavior to the 
+Ed25519 precompile. When activated on mainnet and devnet, nothing will change.
+
+## Security Considerations
+
+None.
+
+## Drawbacks
+
+None.
+
+## Backwards Compatibility
+
+This feature is backwards compatible with mainnet and devnet, but results in 
+breaking changes on testnet required to resolve the existing regression.