diff --git a/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.js b/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ede6cf70f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { TwistedCurveParams } from "../../../bindings/crypto/elliptic-curve-examples.js";
+import { createCurveTwisted } from "../../../bindings/crypto/elliptic-curve.js";
+import { array, equivalentProvable, map, onlyIf, spec, unit } from "../../testing/equivalent.js";
+import { Random } from "../../testing/random.js";
+import { assert } from "../gadgets/common.js";
+import { Point, CurveTwisted, simpleMapToCurve } from "../gadgets/twisted-curve.js";
+import { foreignField, throwError } from "./test-utils.js";
+const Ed25519 = createCurveTwisted(TwistedCurveParams.Ed25519);
+let curves = [Ed25519];
+for (let Curve of curves) {
+  let field = foreignField(Curve.Field);
+  let scalar = foreignField(Curve.Scalar);
+  let badPoint = spec({
+    rng: Random.record({
+      x: field.rng,
+      y: field.rng,
+      infinity: Random.constant(false)
+    }),
+    there: Point.from,
+    back: Point.toBigint,
+    provable: Point.provable
+  });
+  let point = map({ from: field, to: badPoint }, (x) => simpleMapToCurve(x, Curve));
+  let unequalPair = onlyIf(array(point, 2), ([p, q]) => !Curve.equal(p, q));
+  equivalentProvable({ from: [point], to: unit, verbose: true })((p) => Curve.isOnCurve(p) || throwError("expect on curve"), (p) => CurveTwisted.assertOnCurve(p, Curve), `${Curve.name} on curve`);
+  equivalentProvable({ from: [unequalPair], to: point, verbose: true })(([p, q]) => Curve.add(p, q), ([p, q]) => CurveTwisted.add(p, q, Curve), `${Curve.name} add`);
+  equivalentProvable({ from: [point], to: point, verbose: true })((p) => Curve.double(p), (p) => CurveTwisted.double(p, Curve), `${Curve.name} double`);
+  equivalentProvable({ from: [point], to: point, verbose: true })(Curve.negate, (p) => CurveTwisted.negate(p, Curve), `${Curve.name} negate`);
+  equivalentProvable({ from: [point, scalar], to: point, verbose: true })((p, s) => {
+    let sp = Curve.scale(p, s);
+    assert(!sp.infinity, "expect nonzero");
+    return sp;
+  }, (p, s) => CurveTwisted.scale(s, p, Curve), `${Curve.name} scale`);
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/provable/gadgets/twisted-curve.ts b/src/lib/provable/gadgets/twisted-curve.ts
index f48b9c603..a75382440 100644
--- a/src/lib/provable/gadgets/twisted-curve.ts
+++ b/src/lib/provable/gadgets/twisted-curve.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import { arrayGetGeneric } from './elliptic-curve.js';
 export { CurveTwisted };
 
 // internal API
-export { Point, initialAggregator, simpleMapToCurve, arrayGetGeneric };
+export { Point, simpleMapToCurve, arrayGetGeneric };
 
 const CurveTwisted = {
   add,
@@ -272,14 +272,14 @@ function scale(
   scalar: Field3,
   point: Point,
   Curve: CurveTwisted,
-  config: {
-    mode?: 'assert-nonzero' | 'assert-zero';
+  config?: {
     windowSize?: number;
     multiples?: Point[];
-  } = { mode: 'assert-nonzero' }
+  }
 ) {
+  config = config ?? {};
   config.windowSize ??= Point.isConstant(point) ? 4 : 3;
-  return multiScalarMul([scalar], [point], Curve, [config], config.mode);
+  return multiScalarMul([scalar], [point], Curve, [config]);
 }
 
 // check whether a point equals a constant point
@@ -293,8 +293,7 @@ function equals(p1: Point, p2: point, Curve: { modulus: bigint }) {
 function multiScalarMulConstant(
   scalars: Field3[],
   points: Point[],
-  Curve: CurveTwisted,
-  mode: 'assert-nonzero' | 'assert-zero' = 'assert-nonzero'
+  Curve: CurveTwisted
 ): Point {
   let n = points.length;
   assert(scalars.length === n, 'Points and scalars lengths must match');
@@ -307,11 +306,6 @@ function multiScalarMulConstant(
   for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
     sum = Curve.add(sum, Curve.scale(P[i], s[i]));
   }
-  if (mode === 'assert-zero') {
-    assert(sum.infinity, 'scalar multiplication: expected zero result');
-    return Point.from(Curve.zero);
-  }
-  assert(!sum.infinity, 'scalar multiplication: expected non-zero result');
   return Point.from(sum);
 }
 
@@ -322,17 +316,11 @@ function multiScalarMulConstant(
  *
  * where P_i are any points.
  *
- * By default, we prove that the result is not zero.
- *
- * If you set the `mode` parameter to `'assert-zero'`, on the other hand,
- * we assert that the result is zero and just return the constant zero point.
- *
  * Implementation: We double all points together and leverage a precomputed table of size 2^c to avoid all but every cth addition.
  *
  * Note: this algorithm targets a small number of points
  *
  * TODO: could use lookups for picking precomputed multiples, instead of O(2^c) provable switch
- * TODO: custom bit representation for the scalar that avoids 0, to get rid of the degenerate addition case
  */
 function multiScalarMul(
   scalars: Field3[],
@@ -341,18 +329,15 @@ function multiScalarMul(
   tableConfigs: (
     | { windowSize?: number; multiples?: Point[] }
     | undefined
-  )[] = [],
-  mode: 'assert-nonzero' | 'assert-zero' = 'assert-nonzero',
-  ia?: point
+  )[] = []
 ): Point {
   let n = points.length;
   assert(scalars.length === n, 'Points and scalars lengths must match');
   assertPositiveInteger(n, 'Expected at least 1 point and scalar');
-  let useGlv = Curve.hasEndomorphism;
 
   // constant case
   if (scalars.every(Field3.isConstant) && points.every(Point.isConstant)) {
-    return multiScalarMulConstant(scalars, points, Curve, mode);
+    return multiScalarMulConstant(scalars, points, Curve);
   }
 
   // parse or build point tables
@@ -368,13 +353,9 @@ function multiScalarMul(
     sliceField3(s, { maxBits, chunkSize: windowSizes[i] })
   );
 
-  // initialize sum to the initial aggregator, which is expected to be unrelated
-  // to any point that this gadget is used with
-  // note: this is a trick to ensure _completeness_ of the gadget
   // soundness follows because add() and double() are sound, on all inputs that
   // are valid non-zero curve points
-  ia ??= initialAggregator(Curve);
-  let sum = Point.from(ia);
+  let sum = Point.from(Curve.zero);
 
   for (let i = maxBits - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
     // add in multiple of each point
@@ -389,11 +370,7 @@ function multiScalarMul(
             : arrayGetGeneric(Point.provable, tables[j], sj);
 
         // ec addition
-        let added = add(sum, sjP, Curve);
-
-        // handle degenerate case
-        // (if sj = 0, Gj is all zeros and the add result is garbage)
-        sum = Provable.if(sj.equals(0), Point, sum, added);
+        sum = add(sum, sjP, Curve);
       }
     }
 
@@ -405,20 +382,6 @@ function multiScalarMul(
     sum = double(sum, Curve);
   }
 
-  // the sum is now 2^(b-1)*IA + sum_i s_i*P_i
-  // we assert that sum != 2^(b-1)*IA, and add -2^(b-1)*IA to get our result
-  let iaFinal = Curve.scale(Curve.fromNonzero(ia), 1n << BigInt(maxBits - 1));
-  let isZero = equals(sum, iaFinal, Curve);
-
-  if (mode === 'assert-nonzero') {
-    isZero.assertFalse();
-    sum = add(sum, Point.from(Curve.negate(iaFinal)), Curve);
-  } else {
-    isZero.assertTrue();
-    // for type consistency with the 'assert-nonzero' case
-    sum = Point.from(Curve.zero);
-  }
-
   return sum;
 }
 
@@ -450,31 +413,6 @@ function getPointTable(
   return table;
 }
 
-/**
- * For EC scalar multiplication we use an initial point which is subtracted
- * at the end, to avoid encountering the point at infinity.
- *
- * This is a simple hash-to-group algorithm which finds that initial point.
- * It's important that this point has no known discrete logarithm so that nobody
- * can create an invalid proof of EC scaling.
- */
-function initialAggregator(Curve: CurveTwisted) {
-  // hash that identifies the curve
-  let h = sha256.create();
-  h.update('initial-aggregator');
-  h.update(bigIntToBytes(Curve.modulus));
-  h.update(bigIntToBytes(Curve.order));
-  h.update(bigIntToBytes(Curve.a));
-  h.update(bigIntToBytes(Curve.d));
-  let bytes = h.array();
-
-  // bytes represent a 256-bit number
-  // use that as x coordinate
-  const F = Curve.Field;
-  let x = F.mod(bytesToBigInt(bytes));
-  return simpleMapToCurve(x, Curve);
-}
-
 function random(Curve: CurveTwisted) {
   let x = Curve.Field.random();
   return simpleMapToCurve(x, Curve);
diff --git a/src/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.ts b/src/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.ts
index c57ea96ac..afbc2033c 100644
--- a/src/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/provable/test/twisted-curve.unit-test.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ for (let Curve of curves) {
   equivalentProvable({ from: [point, scalar], to: point, verbose: true })(
     (p, s) => {
       let sp = Curve.scale(p, s);
-      assert(!sp.infinity, 'expect nonzero');
       return sp;
     },
     (p, s) => CurveTwisted.scale(s, p, Curve),